Effect of Target Background and Aspect Angle on Performance of Stinger Teams in the Realistic Air Defense Engagement System (RADES)

摘要

The Realistic Air Defense Engagement System (RADES) is a validated Forward Area Air Defense (FAAD) engagement simulation that has been used to test and train FAAD troops. Engagement performance data are collected from troops and weapons while they engage subscale jet and helicopter aircraft in a desert environment. The experiment measured the performance of 12 Stinger teams under conditions that varied the visual information available. Jet aircraft were flown in two different attack maneuvers (pop-up or lay-down) against two types of background (terrain or sky). Helicopters popped up from defilade against two types of background (terrain or sky). Helicopters popped up from defilade in two different aspects (0 degrees or 90 degrees) against either a sky or terrain background. Aircraft were either friendly (U.S.) or hostile (Soviet Bloc) scale models. Performance varied with conditions, being better in conditions of pop-up maneuver, sky background, and 90-degree aspect. The greater the visual contrast between target and background and the greater the visual size of the target, the better was the engagement performance. Detection performance was also better when the search sector was effectively reduced by the presentation of multiple targets. RADES results were compared with results from other published field experiments, where appropriate, and demonstrated consistency with those results. Keywords: Short Range Air Dense(SHORAD); Antiaircraft defense systems; Stinger missiles; Antiaircraft missiles; Guided missile personnel; Surface to air missiles; Aircraft aspect; Army training. (EDC)