**7.3 Military certification**

There is a difference in concept of civil and military aircraft certification. While military certification has a general concern of airworthiness as well as


#### **Table 1.**

*Design consideration—Civil and military aircraft [13].*

rules for design and performance evaluations, each country has its own rule to 'self-certify' its state aircraft as airworthy and compliant to some specified and controlled airspace performance requirements. While certifying a military aircraft, the operational risk and operational process are defined for each type of aircraft. Even though the purpose of airworthiness control is the same, the civil and military certification differs on the fact that [13]:


Military certification also differs from civil procedure due to the fact that military certification looks for induction of the aircraft into service use. The certification tasks also include vehicle performance evaluation and system qualification for induction into service. The induction clearance is given through issue of 'release to service' document. The general certification procedure follows the following routes:


**19**

*Military Aviation Principles*

programme.

flight tests.

fied elements like:

[13, 14, 18–27, 29].

a.Handling qualities

c.Specific operations in wartime

d.Military role and mission and tasks

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.87087*

f. Finally a 'release to service document' is issued.

b.Weapons, ammunition stores and self-defence suites

*7.4.1 Military certification procedure in the United Kingdom*

General of the MAA (DGMAA) is accountable to SofS, for:

b.According airworthy clearance through certification

now been superseded by RA 5800 and RA 5820 [19–21].

c.Approving aircraft inspection process for the acquisition

a.Providing airworthiness regulatory framework

defence aviation environment

**7.4 Military certifications in different countries**

d.Finally the aircraft-level performance is evaluated through flight test

e.A compliance document is prepared capturing the evidences generated through analysis, lab test, aircraft inspection, system integration test and

Military aviation is an important factor in security and defence preparedness of each state. All military airworthiness activities are conducted and regulated on a national basis, and in general most military authorities have not published military airworthiness design standards for an acceptable level of safety. In general for the military airplanes, the military specification and documents nominate some speci-

While the principle remains the same, the practices evolved in different countries over a period of time, differ from each other to a varying degree. The range of control over all the activities in design, development evaluation, and testing varies from total control to delegated system of working, with emphasis on contracts and penalties for shortfalls in performance, time and cost overruns

With effect from 1 April 2010, the Secretary of State (SofS) for Defence created the Military Aviation Authority (MAA) by charter as the single independent regulatory body for all defence aviation activities in the United Kingdom. The Director

d.According airworthiness assurance of all air systems held in the inventory of

Accordingly DGMAA prepares and releases regulatory publications (MRP) and has the authority to issue them on behalf of the SofS. The MAA has published the document 'RA 1500 – Certification of UK Military Air Systems'. This document has *Military Engineering*

Accepted failure tolerance/flight

Use of advanced technology

Stealth tech/EW protection

**Table 1.**

rules for design and performance evaluations, each country has its own rule to 'self-certify' its state aircraft as airworthy and compliant to some specified and controlled airspace performance requirements. While certifying a military aircraft, the operational risk and operational process are defined for each type of aircraft. Even though the purpose of airworthiness control is the same, the civil and military

Design life High economic life High maneuverability, extreme

**Objectives Civil aircraft design Military aircraft design** Requirement Independent market survey Military staff requirement

flying hours

Providing national security Issue operational clearance

As per Mil-STD-882; permitted failure

flying hours

High performance, navigation and weapon aiming, secure COM and reduction in pilot workload

Level 2: p < 10−2 Level 3: p < 10−4

rate 1 in 107

under development

operating envelope

Only certified material/technology Cutting edge technology; certified/

Not considered Most essential consideration

Certification goal Civil-type certification used by airlines

Design safety As per SAE ARP 4671; permitted

Avionics architecture Better FCS, navigation, reduce pilot

Level 2: p < 10−4 Level 3: p < 10−6

failure rate 1 in 109

workload, increase payload

c.Military certifications differ on the degree and coverage of the evidences

needed. This is in general limited by contract, budget, lack of past legal liability

d.Acceptance of specific tasks and the risk levels can vary with aircraft purpose

Military certification also differs from civil procedure due to the fact that military certification looks for induction of the aircraft into service use. The certification tasks also include vehicle performance evaluation and system qualification for induction into service. The induction clearance is given through issue of 'release to service' document. The general certification procedure follows the following routes:

b.The first-level clearance includes qualification of component and equipment

c.The second-level clearance includes demonstration of systems' performance

certification differs on the fact that [13]:

*Design consideration—Civil and military aircraft [13].*

and aircraft type and legacy.

through lab-level test.

and type.

a.Governments can 'self-certify' their state aircraft.

a.Approval builds up in a building block method.

through aircraft on ground tests and system simulations.

b.Operational risk is defined and accepted by the service.

**18**

