THE FUTURE OF Aircraft Survivability Building an intelligent, integrated survivability suite by Mr. Mark Calafut T 74 Army AL&T Magazine January–March 2015


he interconnected world of electronic systems—in which it is common for a person to own several advanced devices, including a laptop computer, tablet, smartwatch and smartphone, all wirelessly networked to one another and the Internet—provides an opportunity and a challenge for Army Aviation.


As the Army develops its next-generation survivability systems, it has the opportunity to cost-effectively leverage advanced commercial electronics and integration technologies. However, it also faces the challenge of maintaining its technological edge, because many of those same commercial electronics are available to potential adversaries.


Currently, Army aircraft are protected by a collection of survivability technologies, including onboard electronic survivability systems. Each onboard survivability system is designed to be independently effective at detecting or defeating a specific class of weapon systems, such as electro-optic and radio-frequency guided missiles or ballistic munitions. When adversaries employ these weapon systems against Army aircraft, the appropriate onboard survivability system automatically detects and defeats the threat, protecting the aircraft and crew.


Historically, onboard survivability systems were designed and developed independently. As technology matured and new weapon systems emerged, the Army upgraded exist- ing survivability systems, or in some cases, added entirely new survivability systems to the aircraft. Instead of a truly integrated survivability suite, the result is a piecemeal approach whereby modern aircraft are protected by a collection of proprietary systems,


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