Weather Effects in Selected Air Warfare Simulations.
Abstract
This report describes the results of a limited review of some of the literature on weather effects on electro-optical weapon systems, and how selected military models account for these effects. THUNDER simulates a conventional campaign that emphasizes the air war and accounts for the effects of ceiling and visibility on the air war. The Extended Air Defense Simulation (EADSIM) ignores weather effects. When executed at high resolution, THUNDER simulates some of the effects of weather on the air war, especially air-to-ground attack missions. Weather forecasts of ceiling and visibility affect mission planning and arming of aircraft; 'actual' ceiling and visibility affect the use of airbases and the probability of target acquisition, discrimination and kill. The only weather factors explicitly allowed are ceiling and visibility, both of which are user-provided. The user controls all input, including weather and probabilities, through formatted data files. THUNDER's approach to weather effects should be validated. For example, the goodness of probabilities of success of various portions of an attack mission affected by weather (e.g. Are probability models physics-based?), the realism of other weather-related user input, and the degree of THUNDER's sensitivity to weather input needs to be determined. Other conclusions and recommendations are provided.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA322088
Entities
People
- John Burgeson