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2006 Press Releases
Synthetic Battalion Lab Demonstrates Benefits of U.S. Army's MFOQA Program
Lab results will help define
how the technology will be developed and used in the field
FORT RUCKER, Ala., Aug. 31, 2006─ A developmental exercise conducted
in a synthetic battalion environment at the U.S. Army Aviation
Warfighting Center in Fort Rucker, Ala., has demonstrated the
potential benefits of the U.S. Army’s military flight operations
quality assurance (MFOQA) program, and will help define how the
technology will be developed and used in the field.
Like other branches of the military, the Army’s MFOQA program
emerged from a Department of Defense directive to significantly
reduce aircraft mishaps. The program is designed to increase the
safety of military flight operations by converting crew and aircraft
performance data into meaningful and actionable information that can
be used to improve decision-making capabilities, particularly in
regard to identifying and addressing problems or risk areas prior to
a mishap.
The purpose of the developmental exercise, which took place May
15-31, 2006, was to capture user information requirements for the
MFOQA program to ensure safer and more efficient battalion
operations, as well as enhance warfighting capabilities by providing
near real-time situational awareness of unit capabilities and
available resources.
The exercise involved a thorough demonstration of the MFOQA
program’s maintenance, operations, safety and training capabilities
to a battalion staff using a simulated environment and data.
Seasoned aviation personnel who, after participating in virtual
scenarios typical of an aviation battalion, were challenged with the
task of better managing the information they were given, including
the flow of information within the battalion.
Their recorded observations—more than 660 of them—have been
synthesized into 65 prioritized operational requirements and
processes for the MFOQA program, along with the initial capabilities
needed to field them.
Westar Aerospace & Defense Group, Inc., which was contracted by Army
Aviation to develop the concept and initial phases of its MFOQA
program, designed and built the synthetic battalion laboratory in
less than six months, after spending a year working with Army
Aviation to define the program’s direction and scope.
In the lab were workstations equipped with information tools and
data analysis capabilities for each of the battalion’s principle
players, such as the battalion’s commander, standardization officer,
maintenance officer, flight operations officer, aviation safety and
quality control officers, master gunner, etc. Some of the active
duty support personnel had been recently deployed in combat. Also
present were Westar support personnel as subject matter experts and
other government officials.
Data from onboard recording devices, as well as from a variety of
other data systems, such as Pilot Night Vision, Unit Level Logistics
Systems-Aviation (Enhanced), Aviation Mission Planning System, and
other associated battalion operations, were captured, processed, and
disseminated to MFOQA lab team members through a “battalion portal,”
an information web site on each player’s desktop.
During the 12-working-day exercise, the battalion portal provided
the team with a single place to go to find all the information it
needed to visualize, analyze and define MFOQA capabilities that will
be useful to an operational unit.
“This is where and when the magic happened—army leaders, government
officials and active-duty soldiers interacting with subject matter
experts to identify user requirements and document initial
battalion-level capabilities. What they saw on the portal stimulated
their thinking,” said Westar Sr. VP Bill Braddy.
According to Braddy, the portal gave the players information they
had never seen before in single location. The portal also gave
active duty members access to flight analyses and flight
visualization software from SimAuthor, Inc., a Westar subsidiary.
The software enables replay of actual flights of either single or
multiple aircraft missions to support the after-action review
process.
Said Dottie Holmes, Program Manager of Westar’s MFOQA services and
subject matter expert, “The MFOQA Developmental Exercise was highly
successful in identifying and capturing the battalion-level user
information requirements the Army needed. It pointed out the merit
of ‘connecting the dots’ in current stove-piped data systems, to
support the military decision-making process and to mitigate risk.
The Army’s MFOQA team can build on the developmental exercise’s
results to define a holistic set of requirements for exploiting the
data capabilities embedded in Army aircraft and generated by Army
flight operations.”
In addition to designing and operating the synthetic battalion
laboratory, Westar provided program management and technical
support, and produced the final technical report of findings and
recommendations for the Director of Combat Developments, United
States Army Warfighting Center.
About Westar
Headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., Westar Aerospace and Defense Group,
Inc. is a systems engineering contractor with more than 1100
professionals around the world dedicated to providing high-value
engineering, software solutions, logistics and IT support services
to the U.S. Department of Defense, allied governments and select
commercial customers. Westar is a wholly owned subsidiary of
UK-based QinetiQ (London: QQ.), an international defense and
security technology company with approximately 2,500 employees in
the U.S.
For more information about Westar Aerospace &
Defense Group: www.westar.com
Media Contact:
Mike Ruggeri
Vice President, Communications
Westar Aerospace & Defense Group, Inc.
636-300-5151
Ruggeri@westar.com