AF: Collision Avoidance Saves Fighter Pilots

By Kris Osborn

An Air Force collision-avoidance technology is already saving fighter pilots’ lives by re-directing F-16s on a crash course with the ground in order to avert a crash impact, service leaders told Scout Warrior. 

Auto-Ground Collision Avoidance System, now installed on digital F-16 fighters, uses computer algorithms to take over an aircraft’s flight trajectory and change a potential collision course with the ground or nearby terrain. 

The technology is already saving pilots lives and saving airplanes, senior Air Force officials told Scout Warrior. 

“The vast majority of aircraft that we have lost have been due to a ground collision with the pilot flying the airplane into the ground due to task saturation or flying low level and losing situational awareness” Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, Military Deputy for Acquisition, told Scout Warrior in an interview. 

Collisions with terrain can also happen if the fighter jet is pulling so many G’s that the pilot loses consciousness, Bunch explained. 

“With this technology there is now a chance that the pilot can regain consciousness and become situationally aware and prevent flying that airplane into the ground,” he added.

The technology calculates where the aircraft is and where it would hit the ground based upon the way it is flying at the time, Bunch said. If the fighter jet is flying toward a potential collision with the ground, the on-board computer system will override the flight path and pull the aircraft away from the ground.