AEDC Ballistic Range S-3

AEDC Ballistic Range S-3 is a single stage air gun owned by the United States Air Force. The gun is commonly used for bird strike testing and is often called a chicken gun.

History

The first Range S-3 was developed by Eugene Sanders at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex for use in aircraft canopy testing.^[1] The gun validated many of the canopies designs used on fighter aircraft over the last several decades. The range also played an instrumental role in developing the ASTM F330 specification: Standard Test Method for Bird Impact Testing of Aerospace Transparent Enclosures.

Capabilities

The gun uses a large compressed air reservoir to launch a projectile out of a 7-inch (180 mm) diameter barrel. Launch speeds of 200 to 1,400 ft/s (61 to 427 m/s) can be attained.^[2] The barrel can also be reconfigured to launch square or rectangle projectiles. The most commonly used projectile is a dead chicken prepared in accordance with the ASTM specification.

See also

• Arnold Engineering Development Complex
• Ballistics
• NASA Chicken Gun