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This handbook provides guidelines for requirements to qualify an armament system for use on-board a U.S. Army air vehicle. Air vehicles include rotorcraft, fixed-wing aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Air vehicle and air platform are synonymous. The terms "armament" and "weapon" are used interchangeably in this handbook. Weaponization includes the addition of armament to the air vehicle and integration of the air vehicle and armament. The armament includes, as a minimum, explosive devices, guns, guided and unguided rockets, missiles, dispensed munitions, bombs, and directed energy weapons such as anti-sensor weapons and lasers. Additionally, the entire air vehicle is considered a weapon if there exists a purpose or intent to fly or direct the air platform into a target; e.g. a UAV. An armament that is fired from an airborne vehicle is normally considered to be a subsystem of the air vehicle. This document provides the requirements to fully qualify armament on a U.S. Army aircraft. See ADS-45-HDBK for the data and tests that are needed to obtain an Airworthiness Release (AWR) or Contractor Flight Release (CFR) for the testing of armament on U.S. Army aircraft. The Army organization that assesses the airworthiness, when the weapon system is mounted or used on an Army aircraft, is the Aviation Engineering Directorate (AED) in the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. This is so even when another agency is the proponent or materiel developer for a weapon such as a gun or ammunition.

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