SBIR/STTR Award attributes
According to Lt. Col. Robert Knapp, Operations Officer at Air Force Education and Training Command (AETC) Detachment 24 (DET 24), in a traditional pilot training environment, students use paper documents or an iPad with their training documents on it. They then transition from that into an extremely expensive traditional simulator where they can execute the full range of flight maneuvers. The problem with those expensive sims is that there are only a handful of them, and they are constrained on the number of times a student can get into them. Air Education and Training Command’s (AETC) Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Training Next (RTN) program has a national defense-related mission need to improve the rate and quality of pilot and sensor operator certification for the MQ-9 Reaper. RTN is a competency-based concept where RPA students undergo a tailor-made program based on their capabilities and needs rather than an entire class following a rigid construct and transitioning through the entire pipeline together. Every year, the MQ-9 Formal Training Unit (FTU) is expected to produce 650 Basic Combat Elements (BCE) (a crew consisting of a pilot and sensor operator). However, the FTU currently has the capacity to only graduate 550 BCEs due to instructor and simulator availability shortages. Moth+Flame's READY VR Toolkit accelerates Airmen training by augmenting current solutions with autonomous, scalable technology to help increase pilot production, and has 10 aircraft already contracted for integration onto its platform (Figure 2.3.1.1-1). This means 10 pilot and maintenance communities benefit today from current Air Force investment. By leveraging current AF investment, VR programs get off the ground faster and cheaper than starting from scratch. With tremendous advances in recent years, VR is the perfect solution to augment both basic skills and advanced training and supplement traditional simulators with an integrated, adaptive, immersive, and low-cost solution. Providing data-driven training enhancements to traditional practices, our mission-oriented VR solution brings technology for learning everything from checklist procedures, to formation flying, fighter maneuvers, and multiparticipant tactical scenarios. READY will refine the MQ-9 RTN training and systems roadmap, equipping RTN instructors and students with state-of-the-art VR training that will accelerate the rate of BCE production.
