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.
Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost—a trailblazer and one of the first 10 women to reach a four-star rank across the U.S. military—retired and passed control of U.S. Transportation Command to Air Force Gen. Randall Reed on Oct. 4, finishing an eventful tenure at TRANSCOM.