Brenda Marie Rivers
Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force have partnered to develop and implement a virtual reality system for training the service branch’s F-35A aircraft maintenance personnel.
The Air Education and Training Command said Wednesday that Lockheed and the 56th Component Maintenance Squadron deployed a VR Maintenance Trainer to support the latter’s training activities related to egress maintenance.
The VR trainer also used a full-size 3D modeling of an F-35A canopy to visualize maintenance needs for the aircraft’s emergency ejection seats.
According to AETC, the training modernization effort is meant to reduce the time allocated for skills refinement tasks by half.
Kristopher Velazquez, a system engineer at Lockheed, said the VR system has the capacity to simultaneously implement four different learning styles such as auditory, visual, kinesthetic and tactile to speed up training.
“The feedback we received from the Air Force in the development of this technology was a hugely invaluable recourse for us,†he said.
The Air Force noted that the 3D-printed model developed under the partnership may be used for other efforts including installation activities for flexible linear shaped charge materials.
