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Technology Explained
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The Modern Fighter Cockpit
One of the most demanding tasks for current aircraft systems is getting information across to the pilot. As aircraft fly faster, combat roles become more complex, the environment becomes more hostile, and the demands become far greater. Whatever aspect of modern aerial combat we examine, from ECM to dogfighting, it is evident that the flow of information is crucial.
The last thirty years have seen the development of a whole range of weapon and target acquisition systems and each of these have very particular ways of presenting what they have to say. Radar is the most obvious example. From a crude device barely capable of resolving a close target, it has developed to the stage where large volumes of space can be covered, in the presence of clutter and countermeasures, where multiple targets can be tracked and identified. This illustrates the changing demands – thirty years ago the operator would directly interpret the target’s behaviour from the returns on his scope – now this has become nearly impossible.
The conventional cockpit falls short of practically all the requirements given by contemporary aerial warfare. As good as the placement of instruments may be, the pilot must still take his eyes off the target and refocus on the plane of the instrument panel. This, aside from increasing reaction time, gives the enemy an opportunity to make a break for it – a high g turn at that instant may very well put the target out of the field of view. The fact that the information itself must be found on the faces of a number of separate instruments doesn’t help, just as interpreting a radar image takes time.
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