Air Combat Maneuvering Performance Measurement

Abstract

Due to the complex, dynamic and fast-moving nature of the air combat task, performance assessment during air-to-air combat provides many unique measurement problems. A combined analytical and empirical technical approach was used to develop a candidate measurement structure and algorithm for the measurement of pilot performance during one-versus-one air combat maneuvering. Nearly all of 28 candidate measures were found to discriminate between high and low skilled pilots during free engagements on the Simulator for Air-to-Air Combat. Discriminant analyses provided a measurement algorithm consisting of 13 measures which accounted for 51% of the variance in the performance data and which predicted membership in high or low skill groups with 92% accuracy.