Weaponeering is the process of selecting the “best” weapon to cause a specified amount of damage to a given target. In the example shown, the target is a tank, and the aircraft can attack it using one of several weapon types:
- Unguided bombs
- Air-to-surface guided missile
- Laser or GPS guided bombs
- Unguided rockets
- Armor piercing gun rounds
- A cluster bomb
Our objective is to calculate the probability of damage for each weapon against this common target so that we can select the one with the highest value, consistent with other considerations such as potential collateral damage, risk to aircrew etc.
This site provides resources (books and short courses) to enable those interested to expand their knowledge of the subject at different levels. These resources are focused on the development of an unclassified Weaponeering Tool, together with an associated database that will enable students to evaluate real world case studies. These can involve any conventional weapon system from small caliber automatic gun systems (7.62mm) up to the largest GPS guided bombs (30,000 lb) for weapons delivered by aircraft, ships, submarines or land based platforms.
The comprehensive target set includes vehicles, artillery, personnel, and infrastructure elements such as buildings, bridges, runways and tunnels. Supplementary topics including target acquisition and collateral damage are also addressed.
Both the books and short courses discuss a wide range of case studies, evaluated using the Weaponeering Tool, that brings together the various theoretical components of the weaponeering process required to compute damage to the specified target.