Research for OES

This study concerns the probability that a single fighter aircraft will make visual contact on a single target aircraft under daylight conditions of illumination. Quantitative results are presented which permit the computation of the probability of sighting by any given range as a function of each of a number of parameters. Some typical examples are worked out in detail showing the effects of such parameters as relative speed, angle of view, uncertainty in azimuth and in elevation. See also 10 000430.

The kind of information that can be obtained from analysis of Aircraft Vulnerability Report Forms is described, and the results of a preliminary study, made to determine the value of a larger-scale analysis, are reported. The study concludes that: (1) although hits from ground fire are uniformly distributed over both jet and conventional aircraft, the jets received a greater proportion from ahead and directly below; (2) in terms of aircraft lost per hit, the F-4U is twice as vulnerable as the F-9F, which is in turn twice as vulnerable as the AD; and, (3) the variation in vulnerability among aircraft can be markedly affected by design.

This study presents an analysis of the effectiveness of binoculars as an aid to visual search for submarines. The analysis is based on a comparison of sweep widths with the naked eye and sweep width using 7 times 50 binoculars. If meteorological visibility is less than 20 miles, the use of binoculars offers no theoretical advantage over naked eye search. Although binoculars do not increase the visual search effectiveness, they should be available and used for the identification of targets initially detected by the naked eye.

Discusses some of the details involved in the application of the theory developed in an earlier study and provides an illustrative example. See also 10 000248.