ACES II Structural Upgrade Program

摘要

The ACES II ejection seat was designed andqualified in the early 1970s. At that time therecognized aircrew weight range was 140 to211 pounds (nude weight). Accordingly, thestructure of the seat was designed toaccommodate this range. Today, changes inthe aircrew population have required that theweight range be expanded to accommodate 103to 245 pounds.Sled testing at 600 KEAS, using high fidelitymanikins weighing 245 pounds, has resulted infailure(s) of the ACES II ejection seat structure.A contract was awarded to the OEM by BrooksAFB to determine the root cause(s) and developa single retrofit concept that would eliminatethe failure mode(s).Root cause analysis and testing confirmed thatlarge aircrew are at risk during ejections above500 KEAS. In addition, the two basicconfigurations of the ACES II seat, one with acenter ejection handle and one with two sideejection handles, have challenged therequirement to come up with a single solutionfor retrofit. Also challenging is the limitedspace available in the various ACES IIequipped airframes to accept structuralmodification concepts.As a result of this original contract, Brooks hasawarded two additional contracts to Goodrichto finalize the retrofit configurations and qualify them. Qualification testing isanticipated to be complete by the end of thefirst quarter in CY’02.