AEDC Ballistic Range S-3

[1] The gun validated many of the canopies designs used on fighter aircraft over the last several decades.

The range also played an instrumental role in developing the ASTM F330 specification: Standard Test Method for Bird Impact Testing of Aerospace Transparent Enclosures.

The gun uses a large compressed air reservoir to launch a projectile out of a 7-inch (180 mm) diameter barrel.

[2] The barrel can also be reconfigured to launch square or rectangle projectiles.

The most commonly used projectile is a dead chicken prepared in accordance with the ASTM specification.