Award for system

ARDU Aircraft Stores Compatibility Engineering Agency Director Mal Tutty, ARDU Senior Armanent Engineer Squadron Leader Anthony Checker and ARDU ASC Separations Engineer Graham Akroyd at the Institution of Engineers Australia presentation.

The Air Force’s Aircraft Research Development Unit in Adelaide has developed a multi-faceted system using commercially available software tools to help engineers, scientists and testers determine that it is safe to release new weapons from military aircraft.

ARDU Separations Engineer Mr Graham Akroyd has developed the system that consists of three physics-based R&D assessment tools.

The system is so impressive that Mr Akroyd was recently awarded a South Australian Division Award from the Institution of Engineers Australia.

“When a weapon is released from an aircraft there can be a significant aerodynamic and mechanical interaction that can result in the weapon colliding with the aircraft, with possible loss of aircrew and aircraft,” Mr Akroyd said. “In other cases the separation may be safe but results in disturbances that render the weapon operationally ineffective.”

In only a year, Mr Akroyd has developed the Air Armament Separation Analyses Tools to assist engineers, scientists and testers in evaluating a “safe separations envelope”. The tools have resulted in fewer flight tests needing to be conducted and enhanced the clearance envelopes for the Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile from the F/A-18 Hornet and the Small Smart Bomb from the F-111 weapons bay.

The system has contributed significantly to the overall safety of ARDU’s aircrew and aircraft.

The Air Armament Separation Analyses Tools consists of three main elements – Weapon Separation Analysis System (WSAS), Trajectory visualisation and virtual “fit check” tool (TRAJ3D) and Store Trajectory Estimation in a Matlab Environment (STEME).

WSAS is used to measure the trajectory of the weapon from cine film of the separation flight trial using an image matching photogrammetric technique; TRAJ3D uses fully rendered 3D graphics to view the separation trajectory as an animation or a series of time lapse images; and STEME is an advanced store separation simulation tool used to predict the weapon separation behaviour through numerical integration.

“Given the high cost of modern smart weapons the savings are significant and the enhanced capabilities being provided to our war fighters at lower risks are breathtaking,” Mr Akroyd said.

Defence Minister Robert Hill congratulated Mr Akroyd on winning the South Australian award. “Defence’s engineers are often unrecognised but they are critical to ensuring our military have access to cutting edge capabilities,” Senator Hill said.

• By Deanna Nott
  
  

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