The U.S. Air Force plans to certify the T-7A Red Hawk aircraft's technical orders via methods that rely on virtual reality and 3D modeling.
The effort's assigned team and its partners at Boeing will use the latter's virtual reality technology to certify the technical orders in a way that mitigates risks, Air Force Materiel Command said Friday.
The VR laboratory, known as the Boeing Integrated Development Center, is located in St. Louis, Missouri.
“The goal is to align with the Air Force Materiel Command Digital Campaign where the desire is to create a collaborative, integrated digital environment that guides, orchestrates, and delivers the means for each individual across the enterprise to access the data, functions and elements needed to do his or her job in a purely digital manner,” said Fred Tschirner, T-7A VR team lead.
Tschirner said the facility can also help the team meet the effort's aggressive seven-month schedule.
The aircraft's verification plans will undergo further updates that will define new VR confirmation processes.