DVIDS – Information – 307th Bomb Wing, LRWERX, group with STRIKEWERX to innovate in-air refueling coaching

The working joke within the U.S. Air Drive bomber group is that you just don’t fly the B-52 Stratofortress; you wrestle it. However there may be nothing humorous for college kids within the B-52 Formal Coaching Unit attempting to carry out their first in-air refueling within the jet.

Final Thursday’s fly-off competitors at STRIKEWERX right here introduced collectively {hardware} and software program distributors competing to supply the Air Drive a coaching answer for in-air refueling, arguably one of the difficult facets of flying the B-52.

LRWERX, the 307th Bomb Wing’s AFWERX spark cell, centered on getting the correct software program for the venture.

They teamed up with Air Drive International Strike Command to usher in Specular Idea, a California-based software program know-how firm, to develop the digital actuality coach software program.

Final 12 months, the corporate was awarded a Small Enterprise Innovation Analysis (SBIR) Section III contract from the Dept. of Protection to start growth.

“We’ve spent a terrifying quantity of hours creating the software program,” mentioned Morris Might, CEO of Specular Idea. “However when you consider how a lot we’ve achieved constructing simulation software program like this from scratch, it’s been wonderful.”

Might’s firm, which has additionally developed comparable software program for the C-17 Globemaster, the KC-46 Pegasus, and the KC-135 Stratotanker, created the Experiential Air Refueling Light-weight Simulator (EARL) to ship coaching.

“That is the primary time one thing this light-weight was correct sufficient to provide significant dynamics wanted to fly the aircraft,” mentioned Might.

In response to info on the corporate web site, the simulator has a built-in teacher that allows particular person, group, and multi-aircraft coaching on one system.

U.S. Air Drive Maj. Mark Budgeon, 307th Operations Group director of innovation, helped to spearhead the LRWERX effort to usher in the brand new software program and marry it to the suitable {hardware}.

“That is the fruits of a 12 months of very onerous work, and I’m enthusiastic about at the present time,” mentioned Budgeon. “The potential influence of a coach like that is big.”

Two {hardware} firms, Vertex Options and VR Coaching, had been the finalists within the fly-off, each vying to run Specular Idea’s software program. An announcement concerning the winner is predicted later this month.

EARL is the second digital actuality collaboration between LRWERX and STRIKEWERX. The 2 entities teamed with King Crow Studios to launch the Digital Actuality Procedures Coach (VRPT) again in 2020.