A Preliminary Investigation of Weapon-System Dispersion and Crew Marksmanship.

Toward a Theory of Adaptive Training

“…Fingerman (1978), for example, reported that with perfect sight pictures we can expect to hit the target using the 105 mm gun of M60 series tanks about eight times in ten. Undesired effects (e.g., superstitious behavior) on learning to take a correct sight picture before firing might be reduced as follows: Early in training, we might award a hit every time a simulated main gun was fired when the sight picture was correct.…”

Simulation of a Model Tank Gunnery Test

“…In particular, when assessing the accuracy of gunnery (i.e., strike of the round on target) it is known that the weapon system itself adds considerable variance. Thus, even when the gunner aims perfectly, the strike of the round includes a dispersion component that is literally random and that the crew members have no control over (Brodkin, 1958;Pfleger & Bibbero, 1969;Fingerman, 1978). Such random dispersion exists in addition to biased dispersion components over which the tank crew does have control, including, for example, errors in zeroing or boresighting, and systematic variations in performance among various lots of ammunition.…”

“…TACED) and to compare these data to strike-of-the-round information. Previous comparisons of this type have proved quite valuable (Fingerman, 1978). Use of the video gun camera system would permit explicit scoring of the sight picture, a key indicator of the crew's gunnery performance, independent of any weapon system effects.…”

“…If sophisticated equipment is available, clock times can actually be superimposed on the video image, and read directly from the tape as recorded events are played back. Such a system has been used recently by the Armor Engineer Board at Fort Knox (Fingerman, 1978).…”