Project Arc

At the request of the Office of the Air Force Chief Scientist, a PACAF technician probed past reported physiological events experienced by F-15 pilots at Kadena Air Base, Japan, that could lead to hypoxia. Characterized by lack of oxygen in bodily tissues, this condition can strike pilots flying at high altitudes in poorly pressurized cabins. Symptoms include confusion, bluish skin, difficulty breathing, fatigue and rapid heartbeat. Deploying to Kadena AB, the technician team gathered data with members of the 67th Fighter Squadron, 18th OSS Physiologists, F-15 System Program Office, Air Force Research Lab/711 Human Performance Wing, and 586th Flight Test Squadron. In less than a month, the team presented three courses of action for an aircraft agnostic, flight-test approved and relatively low-cost solution to provide the minimum physiological monitoring capabilities needed to provide real time warning of hypoxic conditions to pilots in the cockpit. The team is currently working with the AFCS to eventually sponsor an unfunded request to purchase and deploy the solution.

Technicians embedded with the 621 Contingency Response Wing are evaluating the ability of mesh radio networks to solve the interoperability challenges of austere communication networks. Currently, the team is leading a $1 million field exercise integrating 20 devices from various locations across the US to demonstrate the mesh networks’ capability to develop a common operating picture and securely and seamlessly integrate MPU5 radios, Starlink, ATAK devices and other mission comm nodes. If successful, this operational test will inform command requirements and spending to outfit the entire wing with the capability.

Two technicians developed an onboard system to load cargo in the KC-135 without the support of a forklift or scissor truck. Able to be stored in the aircraft within one cargo pallet position and assembled by two crew members in 30 minutes or less, this cargo lift will expand the tanker’s cargo loading capabilities in austere conditions, e.g. hoist a body on a stretcher in medevac missions or load and unload ACE equipment. The team is working with the 92d Air Refueling Wing to demonstrate this capability at AMC’s July Exercise, Mobility Guardian.

A technician embedded in the 56th Maintenance Group, Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., constructed a removal tool for the F-16 finger brace, a part that connects the wing to the body of the aircraft and when damaged during required maintenance requires a complete replacement of the wing, which costs roughly $1 million. Before the inception of this tool, Luke AFB, was averaging three wing changes a month due to finger brace damages during regular major aircraft inspection. Where implemented, this tool will eliminate recurring causes of damage, saving roughly $9 million and improving aircraft availability by 7 percent annually per F-16 Fighter Squadron.

Two technicians at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, worked with the base contracting office to develop tools in the Python programming language that automatically redact sensitive information on contracts and track their status through completion, a process that otherwise would take up to three hours per contract. Augmenting their work with these tools, contracting officials are now able to expedite the timeline for contract approvals while maintaining proper privacy, security, and accountability.

Project Arc engineer scoped an intercept scenario between one adversary and two friendly jets to develop an autonomous agent for providing actionable recommendations to the pilot following a priority list of Survive, Kill, Mutual Support and Analyze with F-16 squadron at Luke Air Force Base and secured agreement with Air Force Research Laboratory’s Autonomy Capability Team/Autonomous Air Combat Operations to develop modules in AACO virtual training environment. Project Arc received a programmer from MIT Artificial Intelligence Accelerator Program to work four months full time on developing the agent. The end outcome is to have an agent that executes tactics in a virtual intercept environment to analyze most favorable actions for mission objectives.

A technician embedded at the Air Combat Command Federal Laboratory worked with the Joint Program Office and a non-traditional contractor to “jailbreak” the F-35 through a proof-of-concept onboarding of STITCHES, a DARPA developed combat decision aid software. The technician used his coding prowess to prepare the circuit cards for the software. This project, if successful, will secure government-owned and DevOps capable space on the jet and build trust with the Joint Program Office for future government-led technical efforts.