John Boyd其人其事
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flak 於 2002/11/28 11:36 | |
John Boyd其人其事 | |
John Boyd可能是美國自從馬漢以來最重要的軍事思想家,也是二次大戰後世界上最成功的軍事思想家。他從空軍飛行員出身,曾經參與過韓戰,以及內華達沙漠的假想敵部隊。他根據熱力學第一定律所發明的「能量機動性」理論不但將繁雜空戰纏鬥理論一以貫之,也是世界各國第四代戰機的根基。但他之後由空戰飛行員的決策理論發明的OODA Loop,影響更普及三軍,成為美國三軍指揮官普遍的戰鬥決策方法。 Harry Hillaker則是GD的設計師,他根據John Boyd的能量機動性理論設計出第二架(第一架是F-15,它現在的樣子是經由John Boyd大幅改寫設計才形成的)第四代戰機:F-16,但卻是戰機黑手黨完全夢想所實現真正的心血結晶。這篇文章是他追憶John Boyd的行誼與事蹟,很長,都是英文,但讀者要知道他兩人將空戰理論萬法歸宗的歷史性成就,各國現役戰機都是它們的徒子徒孫,不認識他們兩個人別說你懂得現代戰機設計。 As I sat sipping an after-dinner drink in the Officers Club at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida panhandle, I was distracted by the antics of three pilots, still in their flight suits, standing at the bar. One of them, tall with dark curly hair and a cigar in his mouth, talked in a loud animated manner. He used his hands to emphasize his words as fighter pilots are prone to do. I commented to my host, a colonel and chief of development planning, Theres a guy who obviously thinks hes the worlds hottest fighter pilot. Thats John Boyd, who may well be one of the hottest pilots around, my host responded. You should meet him. I wasnt too interested because I dont cotton much to loud, showy people. My host, however, insisted. It turned out that Boyd didnt cotton to me either. Upon learning that I was from industry and working on the F-111, he really blistered me. You call the F-111 a fighter? he asked. Its designated a fighter-bomber, I countered, which didnt placate him in the least. You guys in industry this, and you contractors that, he ranted. He thought I didnt know beans (not the exact word he used) about fighters. The atmosphere, to say the least, was icy. Our lively discussion continued. As we bantered, we slowly began to understand each other. We parted on somewhat amiable terms. Little did I realize how profound that meeting would be. A few days later, back home in my office, I received a phone call from an associate of Boyds who also knew me. Boyd had decided that I knew more than a little about aircraft conceptual design and wanted to know if I would be interested in meeting with him again. This time for a more productive purpose: to help him translate his new energy-maneuverability theory into relevant and meaningful aircraft parameters. I had gleaned just enough from our fiery discussion to pique my curiosity. I agreed, and thus began a long and extremely satisfying and productive association. Over the next six years, I participated in many all-night sessions in Washington DC with Boyd and his small elite group. The group was dubbed the Fighter Mafia because of its close-knit underground operation. The mafia dissected and analyzed every facet of air combat and its relevance to aircraft parameters. In the process, we defined a concept for what became known as the Lightweight Fighter, progenitor to the F-16. Boyd, as a combat pilot in Korea and as a tactics instructor at Nellis AFB in the Nevada desert, observed, analyzed, and assimilated the relative energy states of his aircraft and those of his opponents during air combat engagements. For nearly five years at Nellis, he flew two to three times a day against other fighters, mostly F-100 SuperSabres. He found that he could gain the advantage under one set of maneuvering conditions and that his opponent could gain the advantage under another set of maneuvering conditions. He also noted that, when he was in a position of advantage, his energy was higher than that of his opponent and that he lost that advantage when he allowed his energy to decay to less than that of this opponent. By applying this knowledge, he sharpened his skills to such a high degree that he became known as Forty-Second Boyd. He had a standing bet that in forty seconds or less, he could wipe out anyone who would take to the skies against him. He never lost the bet. All were astounded and humbled by his incredible skill. Boyd himself was not overwhelmed by such feats. He fully understood that his knowledge of how to use the strengths and weaknesses of an airplane to his advantage enabled him to prevail over his opponents and not necessarily his pilot skills, as good as they may have been. He had a passion for insight and an unbending commitment for truth and understanding. He sought to understand the intricacies of maneuvering flightÑWhat was it about the airplane that would limit or prevent him from making it do what he wanted it to do? To gain a finer understanding, he probed the principles of thermodynamics. He wanted to understand the states of energy; their conversion and their equilibrium. He knew that, when turning from a steady-state flight condition, the airplane under a given power setting would either slow down or lose altitude or both. The result meant he was losing energy (the drag exceeded the thrust available from the engine). From these observations, he concluded that maneuvering for position was basically an energy problem. Winning required the proper management of energy available at the conditions existing at any point during a combat engagement. This train of thought led Boyd to develop a means of quantifying pertinent maneuver parameters into a meaningful form, a form that became the yardstick for identifying and measuring areas of advantage of opposing fighters within the combat arena. The parameters could also be used to establish areas of maximum maneuver potential in the design of new aircraft. His concept is based on fast transients, that is, quick changes in speed, altitude, and direction. By fast he didnt mean speed. He meant time. The idea of fast transients advances the theory that, to win or gain superiority, you must get inside the adversarys time scale. Boyd called this time scale the OODA loop (OODA, for Observation-Orientation-Decision-Action). Boyd postulated that all engagements of opposing forces can be divided into four essential elements: (1) observe and interpret the situation, (2) become oriented to the condition and intensity of the situation, (3) make a decision as to what response to make, and (4) put that response into action. The key is to obscure your intentions and make them unpredictable to your opponent while you simultaneously clarify his intentions. That is, operate at a faster tempo to generate rapidly changing conditions that inhibit your opponent from adapting or reacting to those changes and that suppress or destroy his awareness. Thus, a hodge-podge of confusion and disorder occur to cause him to over- or under-react to conditions or activities that appear to be uncertain, ambiguous, or incomprehensible. Put more succinctly, deny your opponent the use of his maneuvering advantages against you while you convert your strengths into an advantage over him and cause him to make a wrong move, one that can be easily defeated. Time is the dominant parameter: the pilot who goes through the OODA cycle in the shortest time prevails because his opponent responds to actions that have already changed. In very simple terms, be unpredictable; operate at a pace and pattern that allows you to get him before he gets you. This approach favors a fighter that is superior in its ability to gain or lose energy while out-turning an opponent; a fighter that can initiate and control any engagement opportunity; and a fighter that has a fast transient capability to stay inside a hard-turning opponent when youre on the offensive (you are attacking him) or to force an overshoot of an opponent when youre on the defensive (he is attacking you). The F-16 Fighting Falcon has just that kind of agility, plus the situation awareness to capitalize on that agility. Boyds theories didnt make him too popular within the Air Force. Many couldnt accept his premise that speed was not as important as agility nor his criticisms of how the Air Force conducted itself on certain matters. His direct, forthright manner, often very blunt on controversial issues, didnt help his popularity much either. Many people saw Boyd as either a madman or a genius. Boyd savored that image as a tactical advantage. He was always seeking ways to seize the advantage and keep a firm grip on it. For Boyd, conversation was often a contact sport. With a booming voice, he would engage others nose-to-nose, thrusting his forefinger into a chest to emphasize a point and punctuating his conversation with, Do you hear what Im saying? or Do you get my meaning? At other times, he would talk in a measured tone with careful, deliberate wording, pausing at times to let what he was saying sink in. When his voice became soft, almost inaudible, watch out, youd just been caught in a contradiction or an inaccuracy. If you attempted to equivocate, you would be greeted with an explosive, Ho, ho! followed by, Now youre waffling, or How does it feel to have to squirm? On such occasions, he was often called Genghis John in addition to his forty-second nickname because of his challenging and conquering exploits. He was also called the Ghetto Colonel because of his Spartan lifestyle. Boyds energy-maneuverability, or energy management theory, emphasizing the use of differential energy states first showed promise on a fateful day in April 1965 over North Vietnam. On that day, North Vietnam MiG-17s attacked a formation of four USAF F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bombers making a bomb run on the Than Hoa bridge. Two of the F-105s were immediately shot down. A third was hit and smoking as it sought escape. The fourth, flown by a command-level pilot, attempting to cover the crippled F-105 found himself helplessly in the clutches of one of the MiG-17s. All efforts to shake his tormentor were unsuccessful. As his situation became increasingly desperate, he recalled something he had rejected as being totally ridiculous the day before. A captain from the Fighter Weapons Center at Nellis had briefed this same F-105 squadron on the best maneuvers for air-to-air engagements against opposing MiGs. One of the suggested defensive maneuvers was to snap roll the F-105. Ridiculous, snorted this very pilot, any idiot knows the F-105 is a dog in that maneuver. With the MiG-17 still clinging tenaciously to his tail, the surviving F-105 pilot needed a miracle. So, he initiated a snap roll. The maneuver caused his airplane to decelerate at such a high rate that the MiG-17 over-shot him, exactly what the captain had said would happen. The American pilot found himself on the MiGs tail. He was so surprised by the result that he blew his chance to shoot down the MiG with his 20mm gun. The idiot pilot from Nellis was, of course, John Boyd. Boyd continued to refine his theory and saw it used to a limited extent to enhance the capabilities of the F-15. From that effort, Boyds theories gained some recognition. Subsequently, the Air Force awarded small contracts to General Dynamics and Northrop for a Study to Validate Expanded Energy-Maneuverability Through Trade-Off Analysis. At the completion of the study, each contractor was required to give a briefing on the results of its efforts to USAF officials at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. Being project leader of the study, I gave the briefing. Afterwards, I was complimented on the results and particularly on how I handled that major with his continuously probing and challenging questions. What they didnt know was that that major, John Boyd, and I had spent the previous evening orchestrating the presentation. We devised the questions and answers to emphasize the important and meaningful points. Boyd was willing to be used to make a point for the cause. The study showed that it was possible to have a fighter that was twice as maneuverable with twice the mission radius of the F-4D Phantom while weighing only 17,050 pounds. The study generated enough interest and gained enough attention to be a candidate for then Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packards directed experimental prototype program. The rest is history: an airplane that has made history. Boyds theories are now used as a yardstick for measuring and comparing the maneuvering capability of all modern fighters. He planted the seeds for the Lightweight Fighter, cultivated those seeds, and helped harvest them in 1972 while playing a major role in defining the requirements that were put into the request for proposal for the Lightweight Fighter. The proposal led directly to the YF-16 and YF-17 technology demonstration prototypes. His influences can be seen in such world-class fighters as the F-15, F-16, and F/A-18. After his retirement from the Air Force, Boyd elevated his theories to a higher plane to encompass the total battleÑnot just the air battle. He refined and expanded his combat theories of fast reaction and mobility and incorporated them into a four-hour Patterns of Conflict briefing that he presented to the Army and Marines to illustrate how his concepts could be adapted to the land battle. The briefing material became very popular and in much demand. However, because of its length, many requested a synopsis or shortened version. Boyd took a very hard line, as he did on many subjects. He would not give the briefing unless those requesting it committed to hearing it in its entirety. Many of the tactics used in Desert Storm were patterned after Boyds theories. Thirty-two years after that chance meeting in Florida, the F-16 has done John Boyd proud. It will continue to honor his memory. Boyd died of cancer in Florida on 9 March of this year at the age of seventy. He was laid to rest in the Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors on 20 March. John left his mark, wanting only to do what he thought was best for the Air Force, his air force. He changed the complexion of air combat and fighter design. No F-16 would be flying today were it not for his tenacious efforts. His legacy lives on in the hundreds of F-16s that grace the skies worldwide. Harry Hillaker, the chief designer of the F-16, is now a consultant to Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems. |
雪風Yukikaze 於 2002/11/28 13:42 | |
Re:John Boyd其人其事 | |
John Boyd傳記剛出版 Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War 作者: Robert Coram Hardcover: 320 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.36 x 9.57 x 6.37 Publisher: Little Brown & Company; ISBN: 0316881465; 1st edition (December 2002) 可以去Amazon.com看讀者給的5顆星評語 |
flak 於 2002/11/28 17:57 | |
Re:John Boyd其人其事 | |
>Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War 希望這本寫得不錯,之前有本傳記The Mind of War: John Boyd and American Security就寫得不怎麼樣 |
flak 於 2002/11/28 18:14 | |
John Boyd與F-15 | |
幾乎所有F-15的介紹文章一定會提到F-15的設計是因為蘇聯紅場閱兵的震撼,因為蘇聯突然公開MiG-23與MiG-25等戰機,使美國急起直追,意圖趕過蘇聯戰機科技。但我小時候就有一個問題,MiG-23與MiG-25明明是標準的兩馬赫以上第三代超音速戰機,如果美國要超越的話,應該是做出三馬赫的下一代戰機,為何F-15會是具有極佳運動性的第四代戰機? 其實這就是John Boyd造成的基因突變。原本美國的確是一路往超音速戰機的方向走,結果做出一架又大、又重、又貴的設計。那時候的越戰經驗已經瞭解到次音速纏鬥的重要,但要追上MiG-25的高速,又要達到次音速的機動性,結果就是可變翼的龐然大物,預算完全不能接受。 後來計畫小組徵詢John Boyd的意見,John Boyd認為可變翼根本是缺乏效益的怪獸,如果我們能設計一個中度後掠的大型機翼,就能以低翼負荷達到近似的機動性。如果我們有一具中旁通的渦扇引擎加上後燃器,就能彌補大型機翼的阻力,得到近乎需求的高速性能。結果John Boyd設計出來的戰機是一架達不到原始需求的戰機,但在各方面都能逼近水準。然而,重要的是,這架戰機的重量被戲劇性地縮減了1/3,使得其成本降到可接受的範圍。因此它並不是一架頂級戰機,卻是美國空軍最划算的選擇。 這就是今天的F-15,一架連前緣襟翼都沒有的簡單戰機。但從此之後,各國的可變翼風潮嘎然而止,大型梯形翼變成戰機設計的王道。 |
flak 於 2002/11/28 18:24 | |
戰機黑手黨與LWF | |
雖然John Boyd改造的F-15,但他並不喜歡它。John Boyd認為,超視距空戰是一場春夢,戰機仍然必須面對面幹架。而超視距空戰需要長距離偵測,就需要一具大孔徑雷達,而因為雷達在最前面,為了維持機身的流線,整架戰機就像吹氣球一樣地變大去適應機首的尺寸。因此戰機必須要使用雙引擎來推進,而這一切都帶來了呆重,所以實際航程不會因為戰機變大而有所改善。 如果我們認知超視距空戰的迷思,就可以把機首變小,則引擎就可以只裝一具。輕戰機的航程就一定會變短嗎?錯,P-51就是一個明顯的例子。只要我們使用單引擎,不但耗油減小,呆重變輕,阻力變小,設計師可以在機身中塞入更多燃油空間。 Harry Hillaker更進一步把進氣孔放到機首下,可見得它的機鼻有多小!而機身的空間卻足以塞足夠的燃油,達到比F-15更遠的無負載航程。這就是F-16。 |
黃金左腳 於 2002/11/28 19:54 | |
Re:John Boyd其人其事 | |
不知J大師有無對老俄Su-27/MIG-29系列戰機的設計思念之評論公諸於世過?? F-15設計時的另一缺憾好像在其進氣道設計部分,當時為求經濟起見,捨棄了效率與潛力絕佳但較為複雜的梅氏(?)進氣道設計,結果此一設計被老俄拿去設計Su27,最後誕生出一款史上最強氣動效率的機體,令F-15空有較大的戰鬥推重比,卻在加速性能,近距格鬥與能量空戰的領域上難望Su27之項背.................... |
flak 於 2002/11/28 20:21 | |
Re:John Boyd其人其事 | |
>不知J大師有無對老俄Su-27/MIG-29系列戰機的設計思念之評論公諸於世過?? Su-27的介紹文章一定也會提到原型機設計出來之後,因為F-15的情報更新,又大幅改版才成為現在的Su-27。對照F-15的發展史,很可能F-15情報之所以大幅更新,不是因為舊情報的錯誤,而是因為John Boyd改寫F-15設計的結果。則蘇聯的新設計,很可能是奠基於情報管道取得的John Boyd「能量機動性」一書的結果(此書據說共三冊,至今仍為美國軍事機密) Su-27的大機鼻正好更明顯地說明了John Boyd的輕戰機理論,雷達尺寸對戰機大小會造成多大的增加。而MiG-29的短腿更說明了盲目追求大雷達的結果,是一架短腿的雙引擎戰機。與John Boyd的理想戰機都是抵觸的。 當然John Boyd不是萬能的,他詛咒的超視距空戰仍然逐漸成為王道,電磁特性也完全滲入了戰機設計而蛻變出第五代戰機思想。但空戰史中仍只有這樣一位天才曾經以一人之力造成這麼大的改變,近八十年的空戰與戰機設計也被他的一本書所融會貫通。人類還需要多少年才能出現另一位天才把第五代戰機以後的理論化繁為簡? |
BWS 於 2002/11/28 20:59 | |
Re:John Boyd其人其事 | |
>>人類還需要多少年才能出現另一位天才把第五代戰機以後的理論化繁為簡? 全知神覺般的無人戰機作戰吧!!..... |
BWS 於 2002/11/29 19:26 | |
Re:John Boyd其人其事 | |
這裡有篇關於他的報導 http://www.belisarius.com/modern_business_strategy/coram/boyd_at_tech.pdf |
TTSO 於 2002/11/30 13:25 | |
Re:John Boyd其人其事 | |
>>人類還需要多少年才能出現另一位天才把第五代戰機以後的理論化繁為簡? 此人可能正在飛F-15 or F-16... btw |
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