Distributed Cognition Sheds Light on Munitions Trajectories in Close Air Support

• Patrick Chisan Hew ^[1]
  1. [1] Department of Defence (AU)
• Localización: Ergonomics in Design: The Quaterly of Human Factors Applications, ISSN 1064-8046, Vol. 25, Nº. 2, 2017, págs. 12-14
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Close air support is characterized by aircraft delivering munitions onto ground targets. I applied Hutchins’s theory of distributed cognition to understand how the trajectories of munitions were specified. In the baseline case, the aircrew specifies the munitions’ entire trajectory. With alternative options enabled by information and communications technologies, the joint terminal attack controller (JTAC) specifies the munitions’ impact point, time on target, and even the direction and angle of impact. The desire to affect the trajectories increases the amount and specialization of equipment and training placed onto the JTAC, aircraft, and aircrew. The analysis was important to the people who advance and sustain the capabilities of close air support by identifying the effects that are desired and developing new and better ways of providing those effects.