The United States Air Force (USAF) has a major problem to solve – a lack of pilots. Due to the extreme skills needed to fly a fighter jet and the massive costs associated with traditional training, each year there is a major shortage of qualified pilots who can meet the required standards.

For this reason the USAF gave genesis to a new initiative called ‘Pilot Training Next’ (PTN), with the aim of dramatically improving the way new pilots are trained-up. As part of this project, late last year they launched a project called the “Revolutionizing Pilot Training Open Challenge!”

150 Solutions

This allowed commercial companies with emerging technologies to offer solutions to their problem. A massive 150 proposals from leading companies around the world were entered into the competition, with the chance of the top 5 being awarded contracts to work with PTN, as well as receive funding to develop their applications to the needs of the program.

NeuroTracker made it into the top 5, being the only cognitive-based technology integrated into the program. New recruits started the PTN second phase program in January, which lasts six months, and aims to gradate pilots in one third of the time of traditional training.

Commenting on the relevance of training the mental dimension of pilot performance, former Air Force Instructor, Bob O’Malley said, “Employing tools like NeuroTracker will improve pilot cognitive skills allowing the Air Force to produce pilots faster and better”

Redefining Training

PTN is not only about training this year’s pilot more rapidly, it is attempting redefine the way military personnel should be trained. To do this it is integrating a variety of technologies, including virtual and augmented reality, advanced biometrics, artificial intelligence, and data analytics.

With an advanced team of experts and researchers, it is expected that new applications of NeuroTracker will be evolved, as well as deeper analytics on the cognitive profiling of high-level human performance.

You can read a recent press release on the project here. Also look out for an upcoming Expert’s Corner blog on how this program could redefine the way high-skilled career roles are trained.

If you’d like to learn about the ways in which NeuroTracker has been used to assess pilot performance, then check out this blog.

Revealing the Minds of Jet Pilots

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