Air Force Research Lab’s Human Effectiveness Directorate at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, has been key to the new speech recognition system that will premiere with the first production F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, reports the directorate’s John Schutte. The F-35 is the first US fighter that will be able to “hear” a pilot’s spoken commands to manage communications, navigation, and other subsystems. Work is still ongoing to “pinpoint problem phrases and recommend alternatives” to ensure “optimal performance” as the system heads into operational testing. SRI International’s DynaSpeak, developed for noisy environments, is speaker independent, so it doesn’t matter which pilot gives commands. SRI is working with Adacel Systems, Inc. to tailor the system for the JSF.
The Air Force is launching an effort to develop a new stand-off missile with a range of 1,000 nautical miles, or 1,150 miles, that would eventually be used for both air-to-air and air-to-surface missions.