RAH-66 Comanche Integrated Fire and Flight Control Development and Tests

The fast and efficient engagement of targets determines, to a great extent, the operational suitability of an armed helicopter. Current helicopter weapons systems require the flight crew to manually point the weapons in response to cues from a fire control system. The fire control cues are presented on a fixed heads-up display or on a helmet mounted display/sighting system. This manual pointing task makes the targeting proficiency of the crew the principal driver of targeting success. The Comanche's armed reconnaissance mission requires the ability to engage ground and air targets both deliberately and with haste. The Comanche's systems - its fly by wire flight controls, sophisticated target tracking, and advanced fire controls - provide a unique opportunity to complete the weapons alignment task automatically. This paper describes how the Boeing/Sikorsky team undertook the task of developing a coupled Integrated Fire and Flight Control system (IFFC) to achieve targeting effectiveness improvements. The degree of success of the IFFC system can be measured by improvements in the time to engage the target, the accuracy of the weapons pointing, and mission suitability of the crew interface.