The U.S. Air Force plans to roll out an artificial intelligence-driven virtual training system for remote pilot exercises in 2021, DoD News reported Tuesday.
The Joint Immersive Training System will augment and integrate virtual reality, AI, machine learning and commercial off-the-shelf equipment to support training activities for fixed-wing aircraft, remotely pilot aircraft and helicopters.
Lt. Col. Eric Frahm, program manager for the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), said the Department of Defense (DoD) component is looking to deploy 50 JTS devices to Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma and Randolph AFB in Texas for T-38 and T-6 trainer aircraft.
"Our team will collect detailed feedback from everyday instructors and students to understand how the system performs for them," he said. “In the end, we want a system that will be flexible, adaptable, scalable and speeds the rate of competency attainment within our pilot force."
The Air Force and DIU partnered with Google to provide a cloud platform for hosting JTS immersive training devices and storing performance data. CAE, Discovery Machine and Vertex will also work with USAF and DIU to develop JTS.