GCAS saved USAF F16 from slamming into Syria soil during ops

[Stratofreighter]

http://aviationweek.com/defense/ground- ... f-16-syria

Ground Collision Avoidance System ‘Saves’ First F-16 In Syria

Feb 5, 2015

LOS ANGELES – A U.S. Air Force F-16C believed to be taking part in combat operations against Islamic State (ISIS) forces in Syria has become the first to be officially ‘saved’ from certain impact
with the ground by the recently fielded Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS).

Details of the incident, believed to have involved an Air Force F-16 operating from Jordan during a air-to-surface attack last Nov. 10, remain unconfirmed.

But the Air Force does acknowledge the system saved an aircraft and its pilot.

Auto GCAS, which was developed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and NASA, has only recently been integrated in to the USAF Block 40/50 fleet by Lockheed Martin’s Integrated Fighter Group.

Installation in the Air Force fleet began last September 2014 as part of the latest M6.2+ Operational Flight Program (OFP) software update.

The system protects pilots by taking temporary command of the aircraft and executing an automatic recovery maneuver when it detects that an impact with terrain is imminent.

The system constantly compares the trajectory of the F-16 with a terrain profile generated from onboard digital terrain elevation data (DTED).

If the system detects a threat, an evasion command is issued.

If no action is immediately taken by the pilot, the system automatically assumes control.

The recovery includes an abrupt roll-to-upright followed by a 5g pull until clearance of the terrain is assured.

Auto GCAS can also be overridden by the pilot at any time.
The system incorporates a "Pilot Activated Recovery System" (PARS) function which provides a disoriented pilot with a way to manually engage an automated recovery.

The early save of an aircraft using the system so soon after fleet installation is an important milestone for the long-running Auto GCAS effort, which aims to reduce losses from controlled flight into terrain by up to 90%.

According to the Air Force, 26% of aircraft losses and 75% of all F-16 fatalities are caused by such accidents.

Based on historic accident rates, the Air Force predicts Auto GCAS has the potential to save 10 lives, up to 14 aircraft and $530 million over the projected remaining service life of the U.S. F-16 fleet.

More than 440 of the 631 later-build F-16s have now been fitted with Auto GCAS.

Most of the remaining fleet still awaiting retrofit is at Luke AFB, Arizona, where modifications are expected to be completed pending the upgrade of the aircraft’s flight control computers with new processors.

A system for earlier production Block 30 F-16s with
non-digital flight control computers
has also been proposed,
and an AFRL-funded flight test effort is scheduled to begin early this year.

The system is aimed initially at the U.S. Block 30 fleet.