Augmenting military realities

The development of augmented reality in mission planning, design, and maintenance offers considerable advantages for operator and industry alike. Credit BAE Systems

A​​​​​​​ir forces in Western militaries are increasingly exploring the abilities of extended reality (XR) systems —including virtual (VR), mixed and augmented reality (AR) technologies — to improve issues like maintenance, readiness, and training.

Major defence firms including Boeing and BAE Systems have partnered with companies involved in VR, AR, supercomputing, and data analytics to create synthetic environments that tackle these issues.

Pilots and trainers, ground crew, and engineers are already testing AR to achieve tasks like maintenance inspections, qualifying new staff, or practicing virtual combat operations while operating jets in the real world.

The AR-device sub-sector is experiencing rapid growth as early tests mature into systems with viable real-world applications. Both the US and UK air forces have begun integrating AR programs into devices and equipment for use in the field while defence companies are also finding uses for AR in defence supply chains.

A growing use for AR systems in the aerospace sector is combining them working together to create synthetic training systems for pilots. For example, the UK’s Royal Air Force (RAF) is experimenting with helmet visors that create digital copies of wingmen, surface-to-air missiles, or enemy jets.

This device lets RAF pilots flying BAE Systems’ Hawk T2 training jets gain experiencing operating combat aircraft in the real world without the RAF needing to use support aircraft or other Hawk 2 planes in the air at the same time, producing considerable cost savings on training exercises.

The project has the potential to give RAF pilots more training per flying hour than at present, as well as making efficiencies in areas like fuel usage.

Commodore Steve Jose, head of the UK Military Flying Training System (MFTS), said: “We are always looking for opportunities that innovative technologies potentially offer to improve our training delivery. Working collaboratively with industry we were able to deliver this contract at pace to allow the RAF to investigate this exciting technology to help inform future decisions around fighter pilots training.” 

US-based augmented reality technology provider Red 6 is also working with BAE Systems and US software modelling and simulation systems specialist Plexsys Interface Products on BAE Systems’ Project Odyssey.

This project aims to build a common synthetic military training environment that will allow fighters using it to train together inside a single AR battlespace. Ron Wiegand, CEO of Plexsys, said: “The integration of our [Advanced Simulation Combat Operations Trainer] technology into Project Odyssey represents a leap forward in training realism and effectiveness.

“This synergy will provide unparalleled training solutions, preparing military forces for the complexities of the future battlespace with an unprecedented level of immersion and interactivity.” 

AR systems also have important potential away from the front-end pilots and in areas like aircraft design, repair and maintenance. Defence firm Boeing’s Australian subsidiary used Boeing's Augmented Training Operations Maintenance (ATOM) technology to enhance rapid repairs of US Air Force (USAF) planes in the field during 2023’s Mobility Guardian exercises.

USAF and Royal Australian Air Force crews did not have access during the exercise to the conventional specialist Boeing crews who repair and maintain planes like the C-17 Globemaster. However, using Boeing’s ATOM devices, they were able to gain virtual support to trouble shoot issues like thrust reverser faults while out in the field.

This demonstrated that ATOM could help with troubleshooting inside contested spaces and cut the length of time aircraft under repair were taken out of the field for. 

Lisa Sheridan, an International Field Services and Training Systems programme manager at Boeing Defence Australia, said: “Ordinarily, when a C-17 is away from a main operating base, operators don’t have access to Boeing specialist maintenance crews, grounding the aircraft for days longer than required.

“ATOM can operate in areas of limited or poor network coverage and could significantly reduce aircraft downtime by quickly and easily connecting operators with Boeing experts anywhere in the world, who can safely guide them through complex maintenance tasks.”

Boeing also uses AR devices in-house to cut costs and improve plane construction times, with engineers at Boeing Research & Technology using HoloLens headsets to build aircraft more quickly.

The headsets allow workers to avoid adverse effects like motion sickness during plane construction, enabling a Boeing factory to produce a new aircraft every 16 hours.

Elsewhere, the US Marine Corps is using AR devices to modernise its aircraft maintenance duties, including to spot wear and tear from jets’ combat landings on aircraft carriers. The landings can cause fatigue in aircraft parts over its lifetime, particularly if the part is used beyond the designers’ original design life expectation.

Using AR devices in everyday objects, marine maintenance personnel can receive an accurate real-time three-dimensional representation of an aircraft part in virtual or real-life images via their glasses, headsets, or other AR equipment.

The USAF is also examining AR’s application to aircraft maintenance, including via a study from the Air Force Institute of Technology. This tested the impact of using the Manifest AR platform designed by software firm Taqtile to boost technicians’ performance on routine jet engine maintenance planning and operations.

Taqtile said technicians using traditional methods installed the wrong equipment part 57% more often than technicians using its Manifest platform. 

Australia could be one of the main beneficiaries of this dramatic increase in demand, where private companies and local governments alike are eager to expand the country’s nascent rare earths production. In 2021, Australia produced the fourth-most rare earths in the world. It’s total annual production of 19,958 tonnes remains significantly less than the mammoth 152,407 tonnes produced by China, but a dramatic improvement over the 1,995 tonnes produced domestically in 2011.

The dominance of China in the rare earths space has also encouraged other countries, notably the US, to look further afield for rare earth deposits to diversify their supply of the increasingly vital minerals. With the US eager to ringfence rare earth production within its allies as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, including potentially allowing the Department of Defense to invest in Australian rare earths, there could be an unexpected windfall for Australian rare earths producers.