BAE and Red 6 Introduce Augmented Reality for Hawk Aircraft - National Defense Magazine

ORLANDO, Florida — Pilots grooming connected BAE Systems’ Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer craft volition present beryllium capable to spot things that aren’t there.

BAE and Red 6 announced a caller collaboration to integrate the latter’s Advanced Tactical Augmented Reality Systems, oregon ATARS, onto the Hawk platform. It volition let pilots to spot virtual adversaries and threats during unrecorded grooming flights. The 2 companies made the announcement astatine the National Training and Simulation Association's yearly Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference successful Orlando. NTSA is an affiliate of the National Defense Industrial Association.

The Red Hawk has been flying successful the United Kingdom for astir 50 years, said Lucy Walton, caput of grooming for BAE Systems’ aerial sector. “We’ve truly gone from analog cockpits to digital, and it’s the exertion that Red 6 brings that we tin commencement to look astatine however bash you proceed to germinate what that level is susceptible of doing, which is precisely wherefore we are collaborating with Red 6.”

BAE trains much than 450 pilots a year, and time, outgo and show are the astir captious metrics, she said.

“I don't deliberation there's immoderate aerial unit successful the satellite that you could talk to astatine the infinitesimal that wouldn't archer you they privation to propulsion their pilots done faster, oregon much pilots that they privation pushing done the system,” she said. “So, with the AR capableness successful the platform, alternatively of having to motorboat 3 unrecorded assets, I tin present motorboat 1 unrecorded plus and person 2 augmented world wingmen and bash that training.”

That cuts down connected logistics and the costs of launching further reddish forces and allows for grooming much pilots with the aforesaid magnitude of clip and funding, she said.

ATARS tin reproduce affable and force craft and adjacent incoming missiles, said Red 6 CEO Daniel Thompson, who flew Raptors successful the United Kingdom and past flew F-22s with the U.S. Air Force.

“When I was flying Raptors, the happening that I ever lamented was that if I wasn’t teaching connected that airplane … I would accidental 60 to 70 percent of my clip was pretending to beryllium a atrocious guy,” helium said. “To the laic idiosyncratic connected the crushed that looks similar 2 radical getting training. The world is lone 1 idiosyncratic is getting grooming due to the fact that we’re doing thing that we would ne'er bash for real, truthful that’s really antagonistic training.”

When helium came to the United States and flew F-22s, helium saw that determination were akin challenges with getting capable training. The limiting factors were the same, not capable aircraft, not capable pilots and not capable money, helium said.

“Critically, the occupation I wanted to lick was the quality to bid to relevancy against adjacent adversaries, and adjacent with the F-22 it is becoming progressively hard to bash that,” helium said.

Bringing virtual world into unrecorded formation was the logical solution and 1 the marketplace hadn’t solved yet, helium said. “Augmented world is truly hard to nutrient the level of brightness and solution with a tract of presumption that’s wide capable to marque it work,” Robinson said connected the sidelines of the conference.

“We’ve produced the astir susceptible AR headset successful the world,” helium said. “And by virtuousness of doing that we’re capable to bash augmented world connected the visor successful the helmet, but ohio by the way, a secondary effect of that is we to bash each the helmet-mounted cuing worldly arsenic good … truthful it truly is customized optics and tracking solutions that alteration the exertion to work.”

“In essence the cardinal architecture for the exertion from time 1 was built and designed to beryllium level agnostic,” helium said, noting that ATARS is an optical strategy that tin enactment with immoderate helmet. “There’s past a grade of customization to enactment it successful presumption of ngo systems, abstraction available, powerfulness systems, truthful we bash that customization connected a case-by-case basis.”

And the strategy allows for customization of grooming based connected the capabilities, oregon deficiencies, of idiosyncratic pilots, helium added.

“So augmented world mitigates a batch of accidental outgo and nonaccomplishment of assets crossed the accumulation of pilots due to the fact that we're capable to customize grooming to the individual,” helium said.