Weapons Delivery Principles and Procedures
Weapons
Dive Angle
The angle between the line of flight and the ground.
Line of Flight
The path of the aircraft through the air.
Angle of attack
The angle between the armament datum line and the line of flight.
Line of Sight
A line from the pilot's eye through the pipper. This line does not normally pass through the target until
release.
Armament Datum Line
The armament datum line (ADL) is a fixed reference line on the aircraft. It will be parallel with the flight
path at 450 kt release airspeed. At other than release airspeed, it will vary from parallel. The angle
between flight path and ADL is called the angle of attack of the armament datum line; this is not the
same as the AOA measured by the aircraft instrument. This angle decreases to zero (ideally) as the
aircraft accelerates to 450 kts, so flight path and armament datum line are the same at release airspeed.
Trajectory Drop
The angular distance between the line of flight and the impact of the weapon.
Sight Angle
The angle between the ADL and the line of sight, sometimes called "sight depression angle." The sight
angle equals the trajectory drop of the weapon plus the angle of attack and any parallax. With a sight
angle of zero, the line of sight is parallel to the ADL. With any depressed sight angle, the line of sight will
be below the ADL. The sight angle is set with the SET DEP rocker on the data entry panel of the HUD.
Time of Fall
The length of time between release of a weapon and its impact with the ground. This is the time during
which gravity acts on the weapon to bend its trajectory below the aircraft's line of flight.
Slant Range
The straight-line distance from the point in space where the weapon is released to the impact point.
Down Range Travel
The distance over the ground that the bomb travels from release to impact.
Minimum Release Altitude (Z-min or R-min)
The lowest altitude that you are allowed to release a weapon. In the fleet, this will be based on a number
of things such as the fragmentation pattern of the weapon, adequate time of fall for the fuse to arm,
enemy weapons envelopes, etc. In the training command, your minimum release is designed to give you
an adequate terrain clearance safety margin. This altitude is labeled "min rel" on your Z-diagram and is
often referred to as "Z-min" or "R-min." Never pickle below Z-min for any reason!
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