Autonomous Weapon Effects Planning System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for weaponeering and weapon fire control in Close Air Support (CAS) are manual, slow, and often fail to achieve desired lethality or control collateral damage, making them unsuitable for time-sensitive targets and prone to human error.
Innovation Solution
An autonomous system for weapon effects planning that selects the appropriate weapon and fuze settings based on lethality and collateral effects information, shapes the weapon trajectory, and plans launch conditions to optimize weapon delivery, reducing the kill chain timeline and improving collateral damage control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual weaponeering and fire control methods are used, then operators can control weapon selection and launch, but the process is slow and fails to achieve desired lethality or collateral effects control
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical weaponeering processes with an autonomous computer-based system that automatically selects weapons, determines fuze settings, and plans launch conditions. This substitution enables rapid processing while precisely optimizing lethality and collateral effects based on target data and weapon inventory, resolving the contradiction between speed and precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The autonomous fire control system performs weaponeering and launch planning independently without requiring manual operator intervention for each decision. The system autonomously evaluates weapon options, calculates optimal parameters, and generates launch solutions, thereby achieving both high productivity and precise effects control simultaneously.
2Adaptability or versatility
If manual iteration through 'what if's is performed to find best solution, then operators can evaluate different options, but the timeline increases making the tool unsuitable for time sensitive targets
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates and stores weapon performance data, lethality models, and collateral effects information before engagement. When a target is identified, the autonomous system immediately queries pre-prepared data and rapidly evaluates multiple weapon options without requiring real-time iteration, thus maintaining adaptability while minimizing time loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual iterative evaluation process with an autonomous computational system that simultaneously assesses multiple weapon options using pre-loaded performance data. This substitution eliminates the sequential nature of manual iteration, enabling rapid adaptation to different target scenarios without time penalty.
3Productivity
If autonomous weapon selection and launch planning is implemented, then speed and precision are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The autonomous fire control system is designed as a multi-functional integrated platform that handles weapon selection, fuze setting, trajectory calculation, and launch planning within a single system architecture. This universality consolidates multiple functions into one coherent system, improving engagement speed while managing complexity through functional integration rather than proliferation of separate systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an autonomous fire control computer as an intermediary between target data input and weapon launch execution. This intermediary system automates the complex decision-making process, shielding operators from complexity while maintaining high-speed engagement capability. The intermediary manages the computational burden and presents simplified interfaces for operator oversight.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for autonomous weapon effects planning includes receiving the desired lethality and collateral effects information on a target and autonomously selecting at least one weapon and fuze setting from an inventory of weapons based on the received lethality and collateral effects information. The method further includes autonomously; determining which weapon with fuze setting and terminal elevation and heading angles satisfies the desired lethality and collateral effects; shaping weapon trajectory to satisfy weapon maneuverability, terrain clobber avoidance and guidance requirements and planning weapon launch conditions for the one or more autonomously selected weapons. The weapon launch conditions include at least a launch point or a launch corridor.