Team Eglin names local small business as training software developer

  • Published
  • By Maj. James Brenning
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Engineers at Eglin's 693rd Armament Systems Squadron chose Joint Technology Engineering, Inc., located in Valparaiso, Fla., as a local small business to partner with to enhance mission planning test and training software for the F-16CJ Fighting Falcon.
"The warfighter expressed the urgency of this capability and so I challenged our small team of dedicated experts to pull this off in a very short timeframe," Lt. Col. Al Iannaccone, 693rd ARSS commander. "My folks seized the opportunity to work with the 46th Test Wing, a number of organizations with the 53rd WG, and even reached out to the 157th Fighter Squadron at McEntire (Joint Air National Guard Base, S.C.,) to support testing. JTE was incredibly responsive."

The High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile Targeting System, or HTS, is employed on F-16CJ aircraft. It is the cornerstone of the suppression of enemy air defenses mission, known as SEAD, providing substantial situational awareness to pilots regarding the types and locations of surface-to-air defense radars.

"This is huge. We might actually get some reasonable SEAD training now," said Maj. Rider Caroom, a pilot assigned to the 35th Operations Support Squadron, Misawa Air Base, Japan.

The latest HTS development effort, referred to as Release 7, provides multi-ship ranging targeting solutions sufficient to target weapons in support of the destruction of enemy air defenses mission. HTS R7 software also has an enhanced training mode. During mission planning, training mode scenarios can be designed to meet specific test or training requirements.

Once a specific training mode scenario has been selected by the pilot, the HTS R7 pod can detect both real and virtual threat emitters. This new capability allows F-16CJ squadrons to train with HTS more efficiently, without having to schedule ranges or pay for threat simulator support. Even for squadrons with ready access to training ranges, a training mode scenario can be designed to augment existing training range radars and be customized for specific training objectives.

Highlights of the development also included initial delivery of the software only two months after contract award, followed by the final software release one month later.

"Overall, this was another huge success for our team, having delivered on time in less than six months, on cost, with nothing but positive feedback from the pilots who will be using this software in enemy airspace," Colonel Iannaccone said. "All in all, this true team effort was achieved at no additional cost to the overall HTS program, and resulted in meeting a critical fielding date overseas."

The software entered a truly combined developmental and operational test program at Team Eglin. The 53rd Wing provided testing of the mission planning environment, while the 36th Electronic Warfare Squadron provided user inputs. The 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron provided both pilot feedback on the software and flew missions using the new training mode scenarios. Out in the field, the 157th FS provided pilot feedback and testing with the latest software configuration.

The version of this software tool, compatible with the Joint Mission Planning System, is currently in operational testing here and is expected to field in March 2009.

"It's just a pleasure to work with JTE," said Capt. Jeff Edens, 693rd ARSS system engineer. "They're responsive, great at what they do, easy to work with, and ultimately, it's evident that they take great pride in what they deliver to the Air Force. It shows. Money well spent."