Issue Briefs
Congress Should Fully Fund The Air Force’s Long-Overdue Competition For A Safer Ejection Seat
August 1, 2019
By Loren Thompson
When a fighter pilot’s plane is hit by enemy fire, he or she may have only seconds to escape the doomed craft. Similar situations can arise in peacetime because fighters are designed to operate at extremes of speed and maneuverability, so training accidents are a hazard of the profession.
Ejection seats are designed to get the pilot clear from the plane fast. Using rockets or explosive charges, they expel the pilot and the protective seat from the cockpit of the plane, and then deploy parachutes to safely reach the ground. The U.S. Air Force has been equipping its combat aircraft with ejection seats since the 1960s.
The views and opinions expressed in this issue brief are those of the author.
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Loren B. Thompson is a Senior Adviser at GPI, Chief Operating Officer of the non-profit Lexington Institute and Chief Executive Officer of Source Associates, a for-profit consultancy. Prior to holding his present positions, he was Deputy Director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and taught graduate-level courses in strategy, technology and media affairs at Georgetown. He has also taught at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Mr. Thompson holds doctoral and masters degrees in government from Georgetown University and a bachelor of science degree in political science from Northeastern University. |