Assessing expected fractional damage of above-ground buildings from air-to-surface weapons based on indirect fire concept

For the expected fractional damage of building targets from air-to-surface weapons, the US has used the JMEM/AS method, which is based on the direct-fire concept. However, the damage redistribution assumption in the direct-fire concept could induce serious errors in damage estimation of building targets. In this paper, a method for the expected fractional damage of building targets is proposed based on the indirect-fire concept. From the proposed model, it is shown that the joint munitions effectiveness manuals/air-to-surface (JMEM/ AS) method is not appropriate for building targets, especially for attacks with multiple aiming points. It is recommended that the indirect-fire concept should be adopted for weaponeering even for air-to-surface weapons.