AIR_TO_AIR_LAUNCH_COMPUTER_GENERATOR

tool AIR_TO_AIR_LAUNCH_COMPUTER_GENERATOR
tool AIR_TO_AIR_LAUNCH_COMPUTER_GENERATOR
 ... weapon_tools Commands ...
 ... COMMANDS Commands ...
 ... WSF_AIR_TO_AIR_LAUNCH_COMPUTER Commands ...
end_tool

Overview

AIR_TO_AIR_LAUNCH_COMPUTER_GENERATOR is a specialization of weapon_tools to produce a WSF_AIR_TO_AIR_LAUNCH_COMPUTER. The generator contains a WSF_AIR_TO_AIR_LAUNCH_COMPUTER instance internally, which is modified into a final output product so many of the commands are common between the two. The launch computer is created with a sizable matrix of air-to-air engagement conditions. The Tool then traverses this matrix of engagement conditions, placing an airborne shooter and target at selected conditions. Engagement is repeated while range is iterated upon to yield three values, a minimum, maximum, and a range of no-escape, and weapon times-of-flight for each. Iterations are a binary search to find the edge condition (range) at which the engagement transitions from success to failure, or vice versa. A weapon is fired at the target immediately after it is placed, and given a perfect track to the target. The missile flies out, and if kinematically possible, the target is intercepted and killed. Note that the Probability of Kill given sufficiently small miss distance, should be 1.0. If the engagement results in a target kill, the range and time of flight is saved into an array of results. If the target is not killed (at any range), a -1 is recorded. The process is repeated for each engagement condition. When all engagement results have been recorded, the results are written into an WSF-input format text file, defining the conditions appropriate to launch this weapon.

The engagement independent variables that affect lethal ranges in an air-to-air battle include shooter altitude and Mach, target altitude and Mach, target Aspect angle, and target Lead angle. Target aspect and lead are both measured from velocity vector to line-of-sight to the other player in the engagement. It is important to note that the matrix of conditions to consider for engagement are held within the WSF_AIR_TO_AIR_LAUNCH_COMPUTER, and that input commands to it define the matrix of test conditions that this generator will consider. This launch computer object is aggregated within this generator object so it will accept those same commands as valid input.

Warning

AIR_TO_AIR_LAUNCH_COMPUTER_GENERATOR does not support any launch platform with a deferred launch time.

COMMANDS

minimum_range <distance-value>

The shortest engagement range that will be tested. DEFAULT = 1000 meters.

maximum_range <distance-value>

The longest engagement range that will be tested. DEFAULT = 120,000 meters.

range_tolerance <distance-value>

This is a convergence test value; if two engagement ranges are found which bracket [success, failure], and they differ by less than the tolerance value, the transition edge is considered found.

maximum_iterations <positive-integer>

This is a terminate search constraint; if convergence is not attained within this many iterations per engagement, iteration is stopped for the engagement.

Example Input File

# ****************************************************************************
#             WEAPON TOOL INPUT FILE - Air-to-Air Launch Computer Generator
# ****************************************************************************
# Example input data file to configure and exercise the Air-to-Air Launch Computer
# Generator Weapon Tool.  Examples for all possible input keywords and values
# are given below; however, default values are often sufficient, and when so,
# the input keyword and its corresponding default value is commented out to
# show the input is not mandatory.
# ****************************************************************************

include ../base_types/weapons/aam/aim-9x.txt

# *****************************************************************************
# This lethality is "perfect" if within lethal range.  Necessary, because
# for the Tool to work properly we must have a kill if the missile is
# kinematically able to pass within lethal range of its target.
# NOTE:  The weapon's fuse should not have 'hit_proximity_range' set
#        greater than the radius indicated below.

weapon_effects WEAPON_TOOL_LETHALITY WSF_GRADUATED_LETHALITY
   radius_and_pk 30.0 ft 1.00 # All Platforms
end_weapon_effects

# The following is used as the launch platform type

platform_type LAUNCH_PLATFORM_TYPE WSF_PLATFORM
  icon F-18E
  # (The default weapon fired by all Weapon Tools is the first one
  #  encountered on the launch platform.)
  weapon launching_weapon AIM-9X end_weapon
end_platform_type

# The following is used as a target

platform_type TARGET_PLATFORM_TYPE WSF_PLATFORM
  icon F-18
  mover TARGET_MOVER end_mover
end_platform_type

tool AIR_TO_AIR_LAUNCH_COMPUTER_GENERATOR

  # === Tool Input Keywords ===

  #tool_debug

  # The inputs below position the test case somewhere
  # on the globe, and indicate the firing conditions

  #altitude            10000 ft   # ATA Launcher defaults to 10000 ft alt.
  #position     00:00n 00:00w
  #heading                 0 deg
  position      34:54n 117:53w   # Near Edwards AFB

  #frame_step            0.5 sec # Time interval between Tool updates

  #target_platform_type TARGET_PLATFORM_TYPE
  #launch_platform_type LAUNCH_PLATFORM_TYPE

  # The default is to select the first weapon on the launch_platform_type
  #weapon_name <first_weapon_on_launch_platform_type> # (No matter what it is named.)

  # (The PK should usually boosted to 1.0 for this generator to work properly.)
  #weapon_effects WEAPON_TOOL_LETHALITY

  # The following two string values are used to assist with naming output
  # objects and files, if the names are not explicitly provided by user input.

  #tool_produces _ata_launch_computer

  #output_file_extension .txt

  # The user may have letter case preferences on file names, or a preferred naming
  # convention, so may choose to explicitly override the two Tool-provided names below:

  # 1. Output object name
  # (If not provided, the default name is to aggregate the two items shown below.)
  #output_object_name <weapon_platform_type><tool_produces>

  # 2. Output file name
  # (If not provided, the default name is to aggregate the two items shown below.)
  #output_file_name   <output_object_name><output_file_extension>

  output_object_name AIM-9X_ATA_LAUNCH_COMPUTER_10KFT_0.6MACH       # *** TEMPORARY NON_DEFAULT OVERRIDE
  output_file_name aim-9x_ata_launch_computer_alt10kft_0.6mach.txt  # *** TEMPORARY NON_DEFAULT OVERRIDE

  # === WsfAirToAirLaunchComputer Input Keywords ===

  #maximum_iterations     20
  #range_tolerance         5 m
  #minimum_range      1000.0 m
  #maximum_range     12000.0 m

  # ==== The file included and read in below will specify the independent ====
  # ==== variable engagement conditions for which results are generated    ====

  #load_table test_air_to_air_launch_computer_table.txt

  # ====        OR ALTERNATELY, READ IN IV's BELOW                 ====
  # ==== (NO DV's are given here, as the Tool will Generate them.) ====

  launch_computer_table
     no_escape_maneuver 7 g
     independent_variables
        shooter_altitudes 10000 ft 20000 ft 30000 ft end_shooter_altitudes
        shooter_machs 0.8 1.0 1.2  end_shooter_machs
        target_altitudes 10000 ft 20000 ft 30000 ft end_target_altitudes
        target_machs 0.8 1.0 1.2   end_target_machs
        target_aspects     0 deg 30 deg 60 deg 90 deg 135 deg 180 deg  end_target_aspects
        target_lead_angles 0 deg 30 deg 60 deg 90 deg 135 deg 180 deg  end_target_lead_angles
     end_independent_variables
  end_launch_computer_table

end_tool

dis_interface
  record lc_generation.rep
end_dis_interface