Advantages of Engineered Targets and Range Systems

Engineered live-fire targets and range systems offer clear advantages for organisations seeking safe, reliable, and cost-effective training solutions.

Because these targets are ballistically tested, their performance characteristics are well understood, allowing trainers to rely on verified data regarding durability, impact behaviour, and overall functionality.

This rigorous testing also supports safer close-range engagements by minimizing or eliminating hazardous splash and ricochet, a critical factor in both indoor facilities and confined tactical environments.

Compared to highly technological or energy-driven systems, Ballistex targets provide a more economical option without sacrificing realism or training value.

Their mechanical simplicity reduces maintenance demands and long-term operating costs.

Another key benefit is their compatibility with existing infrastructure: engineered targets can be readily integrated into current indoor ranges and urban training facilities since they behave predictably and are already validated as a known quantity.

This seamless integration enables organisations to enhance training effectiveness while maintaining safety and budget discipline.

1. MIL-STD-882E (System Safety Standard)
   • Requires that any system involving kinetic hazards (including ballistic environments) undergo structured hazard identification, risk mitigation, and design-for-safety.
   • Notes that COTS/OEM components rarely satisfy safety-critical requirements without formal assessment.
   • Supports: engineered targets designed to mitigate splash/ricochet vs. using off-the-shelf items with unknown ballistic beha viour.
2. “Systems Engineering and Safety” – Leveson, Engineering a Safer World (MIT Press, 2012)
   • Demonstrates that engineered safety is achieved only through understanding a system’s functional behaviour, constraints, and interactions — not by relying on untested components.
   • Supports: need for ballistically understood, empirically tested target materials.
3. NASA Systems Engineering Handbook (NASA/SP-2023-6105)
   • NASA Systems Engineering Handbook
   • Emphasises that V&V (Verification and Validation) is essential because off-the-shelf components may not meet safety or performance requirements without tailored engineering.
   • Supports: ballistic testing and performance-characterisation as part of proper system engineering.
4. INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook
   • International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), Systems Engineering Handbook: A Guide for System Life Cycle Processes and Activities.
   • Establishes that engineered systems must undergo requirements definition, verification, validation, and risk/hazard analysis, which ensures suitability and predictable performance — advantages not present in ad-hoc or off-the-shelf solutions.
   • Supports: engineered targets being predictable, validated, and tested.
5. ISO 15288 – Systems and Software Engineering: System Life Cycle Processes
   • Defines requirements for engineered systems, including verification, validation, and technical risk management.
   • States that suitability cannot be assumed from commercial products without evaluation.
   • Supports: designing targets as part of an engineered safety-critical system.
6. Defence Systems Engineering (DOD)
   • US DoD Systems Engineering Guidebook for Defense Acquisition Programs (DAG)
   • States that safety-critical physical systems require systematic hazard analysis and controlled testing, not assumptions based on commercial components.
   • Supports: engineered live-fire targets vs. arbitrary commercial materials (e.g., untested plastics, steel, etc.).