Aeronautical Design Standard (ADS) Handbook- Armament Airworthiness Qualification for U.S. Army Aircraft

1. SCOPE

1.1 This handbook provides guidelines for requirements to qualify an armament system for use on-board a U.S. Army air vehicle. Air vehicles include rotorcraft, fixed-wing aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Air vehicle and air platform are synonymous. The terms "armament" and "weapon" are used interchangeably in this handbook. Weaponization includes the addition of armament to the air vehicle and integration of the air vehicle and armament. The armament includes, as a minimum, explosive devices, guns, guided and unguided rockets, missiles, dispensed munitions, bombs, and directed energy weapons such as anti-sensor weapons and lasers. Additionally, the entire air vehicle is considered a weapon if there exists a purpose or intent to fly or direct the air platform into a target; e.g. a UAV. An armament that is fired from an airborne vehicle is normally considered to be a subsystem of the air vehicle. This document provides the requirements to fully qualify armament on a U.S. Army aircraft. See ADS-45-HDBK for the data and tests that are needed to obtain an Airworthiness Release (AWR) or Contractor Flight Release (CFR) for the testing of armament on U.S. Army aircraft. The Army organization that assesses the airworthiness, when the weapon system is mounted or used on an Army aircraft, is the Aviation Engineering Directorate (AED) in the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. This is so even when another agency is the proponent or materiel developer for a weapon such as a gun or ammunition.

2. APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS

2.1. General. The documents listed below are not necessarily all of the documents referenced herein, but are those needed to understand the information provided by this handbook.
2.2. Government documents.
2.2.1. Specifications, standards, and handbooks. The following specifications, standards, and handbooks form a part of this document to the extent specified herein. Unless otherwise specified, the issues of these documents are those listed in the issue of the Department of Defense Index of Specifications and Standards (DoDISS) and supplement thereto, cited in the solicitation.

• JSSG-2001 B Air Vehicle
• JSSG-2010-7 Crew Systems, Crash Protection Handbook
• MIL-A-8591 Airborne Stores, Suspension Equipment and Aircraft-Store Interface (Carriage Phase); General Design Criteria