The United States Air Force core missions of rapid global mobility and global strike share a need for timely and accurate wind knowledge for successful mission execution. Uncertainty in the winds between aircraft and ground can cause large errors in many of these operations. To mitigate threat risk and improve fuel efficiency, Air Force operations are desired at higher altitudes which further enhance error in mission accuracy from wind uncertainty.
Aircraft Mission planning involves the creation of a flight plan based on multiple inputs including threats, targets, terrain, weather, aircraft performance capability, and configuration. It is an essential task that must be completed prior to any fixed or rotary wing aircraft sortie, says USAF. The planner must have the ability to plan weapon, cargo, passenger, and/or fuel delivery, calculate fuel requirement and assess the route based on known enemy threat location and type. Mission planners must be able to optimize and de-conflict flight routes with other aircraft; review, print and brief the plan; download pertinent flight information to on-board aircraft avionics; and, conduct dynamic/in-flight replanning as applicable
To support the need of Air Mobility Command (AMC) to improve airdrop precision, AFRL is exploring different technologies to measure the wind between aircraft and ground for better Computed Air Release Point (CARP) calculations. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has been researching groundbased and airborne Lidar and Radar sensors to provide real-time wind profiles to improve aiming solutions for airdrop payloads and gunship munition trajectories.
QinetiQ North America (QNA) has secured a contract to supply its wind profiling portable radar (WiPPR) technology to the US Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC). The $3m contract requires the company to design and build a prototype airborne WiPPR unit based on its ground-based WiPPR system.
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