System and method for aircraft gunnery training and accuracy evaluation

A gunnery simulating system for use with an aircraft during gunfire training and accuracy evaluation, comprising:

• a sighting panel presenting a field of view, including a target, to a gun operator;
• means for generating data signals describing the motion of said aircraft;
• display means for presenting and for displaying simulated bullet indicia, each said bullet indicium including a pair of bullet trajectory indicia;
• means controlled by said operator for simulating the firing of the guns of the aircraft at said target;
• and
• means for controlling the operation of said display means to present said simulated bullet indicia responsive to said simulated firing of the guns of the aircraft and for displaying simulated trajectory paths for each of said presented simulated bullet indicia in said field of view in response to said data signals whereby the display of said simulated trajectory paths of said simulated bullet indicia correspond to the actual trajectory paths which would be followed by real bullets fired from the guns of said aircraft at said target.

A method of practicing gunnery with an aircraft by firing simulated bullets at real targets comprising the steps of:

• initiating a simulated bullet each time the trigger of an aircraft is activted by a gun operator;
• supplying data signals reflecting the instantaneous motion of said aircraft;
• generating a pair of bullet trajectory indicia associated with each said initiated simulated bullet;
• simulating the trajectory path of a real bullet fired from guns of said aircraft by generating a simulated trajectory path for each said pair of bullet trajectory indicia from the values of the said data signals supplied at the time said associated simulated bullet was initiated and from the elapsed time since the said associated simulated bullet was initiated;
• and
• displaying said pair of bullet trajectory indicia as said pair of inidica traverse said simulated trajectory path.

A method of practicing gunnery with an aircraft by firing simulated bullets at real targets comprising the steps of:

• initiating a simulated bullet each time the trigger of an aircraft is activated by a gun operator;
• supplying data signals reflecting the instantaneous motion of said aircraft;
• generating a pair of bullet trajectory indicia associated with each said initiated simulated bullet;
• simulating the trajectory path of a real bullet fired from guns of said aircraft by generating a simulated trajectory path for each said pair of bullet trajectory indicia from the values of the said data signals supplied at the time said associated simulated bullet was initiated and from the elapsed time since the said associated simulated bullet was initiated;
• and
• displaying on a head-up display unit visible to said gun operator said pair of bullet trajectory indicia as said pair of indicia traverse said simulated trajectory path.

A method for practicing gunnery with an aircraft by firing simulated bullets at a real target comprising the steps of:

• initiating a simulated bullet each time the trigger of the aircraft is activated by a gun operator;
• supplying the values of data signals reflecting the instantaneous motion of said aircraft;
• simulating the trajectory path of a real bullet fired at said target by said aircraft by:
• (1) generating a simulated bullet trajectory path for a said simulated bullet, said simulated bullet trajectory path reflecting the values of data signals supplied at the time said simulated bullet was initiated;
• (2) generating a pair of bullet trajectory indicia for said initiated simulated bullet;
• (3) displaying said pair of bullet trajectory indicia said displayed indicia being equidistantly spaced from the simulated bullet trajectory path and separated from each other by a distance related to a dimension of said target;
• and
• (4) controlling the displaying of said pair of bullet trajectory indicia such that said pair of bullet trajectory indicia visually appear to traverse said simulated bullet trajectory path toward said target as if a said real bullet were traveling from said aircraft toward said target.