The Air Force signed a USD67 million in deals to improve and expand its virtual training. The Force began working with Mass Virtual last year, awarding the company a prototype contract at a pitch event.
The deals with Mass Virtual will support “real-time task manual instruction” and “aircraft familiarization”.

“The system simulates real workspaces for occupational safety and health, educational and training purposes. It will be used to provide aircraft maintainers with a virtual environment where they can develop and improve their skills on various aircraft platforms.” Per the contract release.

As it appears that Mass Virtual’s deals are more focused on giving pilots more familiarity with the aircraft, Air Force recently praised an increased reliance on virtual reality training and AR simulators. These systems mostly depend on big data sets of flight simulations, some of which are powered by AI to give pilots realistic training scenarios.

The Air Force is now operating on a new virtual training system called ‘Pilot Training Next’ which is incorporated into undergraduate pilot training.

“This helps students stay on track with extended breaks due to things like weather, maintenance, transitioning to new phases, or even holidays.” Per Air Force release.