Having seen on numerous occassions, and been personally involved with, the blunders perpetrated by engineers and their ilk I would be skeptical of any purely-paper design however "solid" it may be deemed. (My apologies in advance, but we are, unfortunately, only human).
As for the rest of your arguments, they are correct to a degree, with birdstrikes to engines accounting for 17% of the total strikes and 34% of overall damage to aircraft (according to statistics provided by the Wildlife Mitigation Committee report to the FAA 1990-2001). The windscreen accounted for 18% of the strike locations, but only 7% of the reported damage, which is still signifigant. The other principal strike locations were the wing and nose/radome (total of 37% damage) which are locations which might also be tested (and are) through the use of a "chicken cannon" .
It must be remembered however, that these are civil statistics, and the flight characteristics and operating environments of military aircraft are very different. An article from Aerospace Engineering Online has some interesting info, including a picture of a birdstrike simulated with the chicken cannon. http://www.sae.org/aeromag/techupdate_3-00/05.htm
As the article states the cannon allows for the high-speed filming of the actual impact scenario, which provides the designers with further input to improve construction with "substantial savings to the aircraft programs".
And yes, one could build a brutishly solid design which would withstand any possible collision with wildlife, but these are aircraft we're talking about. The desire to reduce weight and bulk is paramount, so simple overdesigning may not be the preference.
Just for kicks however (and keeping in mind that I'm not a ballistician) a 4 pound bird (28,000 grains!) meeting an object at 900 mph (1300 fps) generates about 95,000 ft./lbs! Given that a .50 BMG puts out a meager 14,000 ft/lbs, and a 20mm M50 around 40,000 ft/lbs at the muzzle, that birdstrike is far in excess of even anticipated ballistic incursion. It's a good thing they're not tungsten-cored!
Clearly several sources have indicated that this programme is cost-effective, and since it has been ongoing since 1972, it is obviously of some value. I'm sure there are plenty of other projects which consume many more resources for comparitively little gain which criticism would be better directed at.
Having seen on numerous occassions, and been personally involved with, the blunders perpetrated by engineers and their ilk I would be skeptical of any purely-paper design however "solid" it may be deemed. (My apologies in advance, but we are, unfortunately, only human).
As for the rest of your arguments, they are correct to a degree, with birdstrikes to engines accounting for 17% of the total strikes and 34% of overall damage to aircraft (according to statistics provided by the Wildlife Mitigation Committee report to the FAA 1990-2001). The windscreen accounted for 18% of the strike locations, but only 7% of the reported damage, which is still signifigant. The other principal strike locations were the wing and nose/radome (total of 37% damage) which are locations which might also be tested (and are) through the use of a "chicken cannon" .
It must be remembered however, that these are civil statistics, and the flight characteristics and operating environments of military aircraft are very different. An article from Aerospace Engineering Online has some interesting info, including a picture of a birdstrike simulated with the chicken cannon. http://www.sae.org/aeromag/techupdate_3-00/05.htm
As the article states the cannon allows for the high-speed filming of the actual impact scenario, which provides the designers with further input to improve construction with "substantial savings to the aircraft programs".
And yes, one could build a brutishly solid design which would withstand any possible collision with wildlife, but these are aircraft we're talking about. The desire to reduce weight and bulk is paramount, so simple overdesigning may not be the preference.
Just for kicks however (and keeping in mind that I'm not a ballistician) a 4 pound bird (28,000 grains!) meeting an object at 900 mph (1300 fps) generates about 95,000 ft./lbs! Given that a .50 BMG puts out a meager 14,000 ft/lbs, and a 20mm M50 around 40,000 ft/lbs at the muzzle, that birdstrike is far in excess of even anticipated ballistic incursion. It's a good thing they're not tungsten-cored!
Clearly several sources have indicated that this programme is cost-effective, and since it has been ongoing since 1972, it is obviously of some value. I'm sure there are plenty of other projects which consume many more resources for comparitively little gain which criticism would be better directed at.
-Cordite