The Air Force plans to incorporate an Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System in its F-16 Block 40 and Block 50 aircraft in 2014 in order to dramatically reduce the risk of Viper crashes. Since the Air Force fielded the F-16 in 1979, there have been 87 aircraft and 69 lives lost as a result of controlled-flight-into-terrain, or CFIT, mishaps. With Auto GCAS, USAF officials hope to lessen that risk by 98 percent. Auto GCAS will “save lives, and it will save aircraft, and will save a lot more money than it will cost to do it,” said Gen. Donald Hoffman, Air Force Materiel Command boss at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. In addition to the F-16, Air Force officials intend to integrate Auto GCAS on the F-22 and the F-35. They also are looking for ways to add it to older F-16s. (Wright-Patterson report by Daryl Mayer)
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.