ACES 5 – THE NEXT GENERATION IN AIRCREW EJECTION SAFETY · 2020. 5. 1. · • Fighter aircraft have evolved; so too has the Advanced Concept Ejection Seat (ACES) • The US Air

© 2018 Collins Aerospace, a United Technologies company. All rights reserved.

Collins Aerospace Proprietary. This document contains no export controlled technical data.

ACES 5 – THE NEXT GENERATION IN A IRCREW EJECTION SAFETY 9 APRIL 2019

John Hampton Chief Engineer, Military Escape Systems Colorado Springs, CO, USA

© 2018 Collins Aerospace, a United Technologies company. All rights reserved. 2

ACES 5 – THE NEXT GENERATION

ACES I I EJ ECT ION H ISTORY

ACES II has an outstanding history… • 663 successful ejections to date • Over 91% success rate for all

ejections (including those out of the envelope)

• Lowest risk of injury, facilitated by • Low catapult acceleration • Unequalled seat stability

• STAPAC • Torso harness restraint

Not just about lives saved… just as important is the airman’s

condition post ejection

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ACES I I E X T R E M E R I S K W I T H C U R R E N T H E L M E T C O N F I G U R AT I O N S

• F-15/F-16 JHMCS HMD systems structurally fail above 450 KEAS • Neck tension loads are over 700 lbs. and increase with airspeed

• Aerodynamics generate high neck tension loads well above injury thresholds • Jan 2013 Aviano F-16 ejection fatality

• Night, high-speed ejection wearing NVG’s

F-16 ACES II Ejection Test With JHMCS



ACES I I

CURRENT SAFETY R ISK WITH HMDS

Without passive head and neck protection, safety risk increases exponentially with airspeed due to head/neck loading

Based on fleet legacy ejection and test data – no head/neck protection, no structural upgrade, C-9 parachute, JHMCS helmet



ACES FAMILY

EVOLUTION

F-16

F-15

ACES

F-15A F-15SE

F-16 Block 10

F-16 Block 70

ACES II ACES 5



ACES 5

DESIGN FEATURES

ACES 5 builds on the very successful ACES II ejection history with unique features that provide unmatched performance and lowest risk of injury • Passive Head & Neck Protection (PHNP) • Enhanced Drogue • GR 7000 Parachute • Passive Arm Restraint • CKU-5 Rocket Catapult • STAPAC • Passive Leg & Arm Restraints ACES 5 also provides modularity, greatly improving ease of maintenance and aircraft availability

Enhanced Drogue



ACES 5

MODULAR DESIGN

ACES 5 requires approximately 15 minutes for seat removal, and only 25 minutes for reinstallation

Enhanced Drogue Container

Enhanced



ACES 5

PASSIVE HEAD & NECK PROTECTION SYSTEM

• Passive Head and Neck Protection (PHNP) provides side-to-side, rotational and slam back protection, as well as increased helmet retention

• PHNP follows head to an optimum down position and retracts during parachute inflation; it does not force head into position

No PHNP

Head rotated left and down off of headrest

US Patent No. 7,878,452 B2, 1 Feb 2011

Airflow maximized to prevent negative aero effects



ACES 5

PASSIVE ARM RESTRAINT

• Passive system – no aircrew connections • No tethers or lanyards connected to aircrew • Compatible with PFE & HMD • Tested successfully to 600 KEAS



ACES 5

PASSIVE LEG RESTRAINT

• Leg Well Restraints • Seat stability minimizes flail potential • Installed in leg well, retracted as seat moves up rails • Retains legs against the front panel • Bucket side panel prevents flailing • Enhanced version of the qualified F-22 system

• Stronger • More maintenance friendly

Bucket Side Panel

Leg Restraint Cord



ACES 5

GR7000 MAIN PARACHUTE

6 Dec 2016 MIL-HDBK-516C Maximum Descent Rate

ACC 2009 CBA determined that from 1978-2009, 43% of the major injuries sustained post ejection (non-fatal) occurred during the PLF/landing



ACES 5

COMMONAL ITY WITH ACES I I • Most of ACES 5 CAD/PAD items are common with ACES II and have

average service lives in excess of 10 years



ACES 5

UPGRADE THRU RETROFIT K IT

ACES 5 retrofit Kit + Common parts from ACES II seat = ACES 5 Seat



ACES 5

COMMONAL ITY WITH ACES I I

ACES 5 maximizes commonality with ACES II sub-systems & components • STAbility PACkage (STAPAC) • Inertia Reel & Control System • Emergency Oxygen System (EOS) • Pop-up Pitots • Ejection Handle • Emergency Back-up System • Safe / Arm Lever • Lap Belt • Torso Harness • Seat Cushions, Pan, & Survival Kit (SSK) • UWARS & Parachute Riser Fittings

Most ACES 5 CAD/PAD items are common with ACES II with average service lives in excess of 10 years!



ACES 5

F I E L D L E V E L R E T R O F I T – L E S S T H A N 1 D AY

Retrofit kit to ACES 5 configuration • Remove the aircraft canopy or hatch • Remove the ACES II ejection seat • Remove common components • Install common components on the retrofit kit

to build up an ACES 5 • Install the ACES 5 ejection seat (Form, Fit,

Function; same connections in the cockpit) • Reinstall canopy or hatch; for the last time! • Aircraft is ready to fly; aircrew safety is now

state-of-the-art; seat maintenance now performed without canopy or hatch removal

• Aircraft readiness increased

ACES 5 provides ease of maintenance and increased aircraft availability


I n t e g r i t y - S e r v i c e - E x c e l l e n c e

ACES 5 (SSIP) Preventable Injuries

16, 31%

12, 23% 10, 20%

9, 18%

4, 8%

Major Injury Ejections - SSIP Mitigating Improvements

GR7000 Parachute

Arm Restraints

Leg Restraints

Passive Head &Neck ProtectionFast/EnhancedDrogue

6, 27%

6, 27% 5, 23%

5, 23%

Fatal Injury Ejections - SSIP Mitigating Improvements

Passive Head andNeck ProtectionFast/EnhancedDrogueArm Restraints

Leg Restraints

16

Source: ACES Steering Committee Meeting (data thru 30 Sep 2015)



ACES 5

ADVANCED EJ ECT ION SAFETY

• ACES 5 injury risk is significantly reduced compared to legacy ACES II ejection injury risk for both aircrew weight and ejection speed



• Over 800 system level, sub-system level and component tests completed • 43 ejection tests to date, well beyond the 22 required for reliability demonstration • 2 platforms (including the B-2A) have completed qualification testing

• Compliance with MIL-HDBK-516C injury requirements • 6 F-16 ejection tests completed at 600 KEAS

• Compliance with MIL-HDBK-516C injury requirements • Minimal delta qualification required for other ACES 5 seat configurations

• Seat of choice for B-2, multiple P-Programs, and all 3 USAF T-X Primes

18

UTC AEROSPACE SYSTEMS PROPRIETARY US Export Classification: 9E610.a


ACES 5

QUAL IF ICAT ION TEST ING


M IL -HDBK-516C COMPLIANCE USAF TESTED

Collins Aerospace Proprietary. This document contains no export controlled technical data. 19

MIL-HDBK-516C/Chg. Notice 5 Requirement (103-245 lbs. crew)

Performance Requirement (See FBO link below for details)

ACES 5 Complance

Catapult Phase Accelerations DRI < 16 @ 70o F DRI < 20 @ 165o F

Free Flight Acceleration MDRC < 1 from 0 to 450 KEAS

Head Injury Acceleration Pconcussion <5%

Parachute deployment & inflation acceleration

<25G

Parachute Decent Rate < 23 ft./sec, 337 lbs. suspended weight

Stability +/- 20 Degree Yaw +/- 20 Degree Pitch

Limb Flail Protection Arm & Leg Restraints Required

Neck Injury MANIC < .47 up to 450 KEAS NMIx < .56 up to 450 KEAS MANIC < .65 at 600 KEAS NMIx < .86 at 600 KEAS

Escape Capability 0 to 600 KEAS, 0 to 60,000 ft. Altitude

ACES 5 is the only seat US government qualified to the new MIL-HDBK-516C Chg 5.

https://www.fbo.gov/index.php?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=29d23e53a8b629577362129144439f0d&_cview=0

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.fbo.gov_index.php-3Fs-3Dopportunity-26mode-3Dform-26tab-3Dcore-26id-3D29d23e53a8b629577362129144439f0d-26-5Fcview-3D0&d=DwMCAg&c=ilBQI1lupc9Y65XwNblLtw&r=SMfQncmD75KDeDnJmzBTpizfwsdFb0huVDOYmHEQNEQ&m=1y7hWGiitUlUCM3fhu-W1qIK9xM58ln_Riww7pwagho&s=tb-JJqqAXYthg0XkMw4hJcdq0Xjb00TmxqYtZDtLFxU&e=


ACES 5

SUMMARY • Fighter aircraft have evolved; so too has the Advanced Concept Ejection Seat (ACES) • The US Air Force recognized increased injury risk with HMDs (e.g. JHMCS and NVGs) • The 6 December 2016 Change Notice to MIL-HDBK-516C re-establishes an overall

risk of 5% for an incapacitating injury throughout an ejection event • ACES 5 provides a superior upgrade thru retrofit for the F-16 and F-15

• Demonstrated injury risk compliance throughout the ejection envelope • ACES 5 selected for B-2, multiple P-Programs, and ALL 3 USAF T-X Primes • ACES 5 modularity simplifies and speeds maintenance tasks (without a crane) and

correspondingly, significantly increases aircraft availability • ACES 5 provides unique level of safety to prevent head & neck injury, spinal injury, arm flail

injury, leg flail injury and minimize PLF related injuries

ACES 5 is the Next Generation in Aircrew Ejection Safety




ACES 5

QUEST IONS

Documents

ACES 5 – THE NEXT GENERATION IN AIRCREW EJECTION SAFETY · 2020. 5. 1. · • Fighter aircraft have evolved; so too has the Advanced Concept Ejection Seat (ACES) • The US Air