Brooks City Base is procuring components for retrofit of the leg well leg restraint system into the USAF F-15/F-16 aircraft. However a date for fielding the TCTO to retrofit the system is still TBD and probably a couple years out. The F-15 and F-16 passive leg well leg restraint system has been sled tested many times. The system has been tested on manikins representing 103 lb to 245 lb aircrew to ensure robustness. The passive leg well leg restraint system is also on the ACES 5 seat and has been sled tested many times as well. The advantages of the F-15/F-16 leg well system over the F-22 system are that cords are stronger and can take more load and the velcro leg well keepers are replaced with rubber groves to make it easy to remove/install and more robust when kicked when the aircrew gets in and out of the aircraft.
The ACES 5 seat being developed and qualified for the USAF has several technologies to further enhance safety. It has a new passive head restraint (PHR) system to allow the HMD helmeted aircrew to safely eject up to 600 Knots. Today's aircrew are flying knowing that there is a very high risk of injury with JHMCS if you eject over 450 Knots. The new ACES 5 head restraint system dramatically lowers the risk of injury when wearing an HMD. In addition, the ACES 5 is qualifing a new advanced (PAR)passive arm restraint system that is compatible with aircrew 103 to 245 lbs. The ACES 5 is totally modular. The seat can be put in and taken out of the aircraft in modules. No more need for a crane and no more need to take the aircraft canopy off. Plus you can remove the bucket for fod checks instead of taking the whole seat out.
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