Measuring Effects of Payload and Radius Differences of Fighter Aircraft

Abstract

This research develops and applies an analytical framework to measure how inherent differences in F-15E and F-16C Block 50 payload and radius characteristics influence the ability of the two aircraft to deliver CBU- and GBU-class air-to-ground weapons against a variety of target sets. F-15Es and Block 50 F-16Cs both carried LANTIRN navigation and targeting pods for air-to-ground missions to provide a qualitatively comparable precision attack capability. Several alternative assumptions were made about F-16C carriage of external fuel tanks to assess their potential for improving radius and loiter capability. The F-16Cs carried either standard 370-gallon tanks or larger 610-gallon wing tanks that only the Israeli Air Force currently uses. Excursions were also run replacing the F-16C's centerline electronic countermeasures (ECM) pod with a 300- gallon external tank.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1993
Accession Number
ADA474507

Entities

People

  • Gary Liberson
  • William Stanley

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Corporations
  • Countermeasures
  • Electronic Countermeasures
  • Fighter Aircraft
  • Fuel Tanks
  • Information Operations
  • Standards

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Materials Science

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Microelectromechanical Systems