NavalX Meets Virtually for Dialogue Collaboration

By Kate Finkel, Staff Writer

Representatives from the NavalX Central Florida Tech Bridge at Central Florida Tech Grove in Orlando, Florida, and the NavalX Southern Maryland Tech Bridge at TechPort in Patuxent River, Maryland, met virtually for a dialogue collaboration, Aug. 6.

Navy Capt. Kevin “Tripper” McGee, program manager for Naval Aviation Training Systems and Ranges (PMA-205), and Gregory Ouellette, program director for Aviation, Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) discussed the relationship between NAWCTSD and PMA-205. During their meeting, they also talked about the future of their programs and how they would like to work with industry to provide warfighters with the best training environments.

During the exchange, they addressed a long-term vision of where they would need to go if they were in a battle and they suddenly learned something new.

“We need to be able to very quickly take that new information and incorporate it into our training systems to develop new tactics and procedures in a much quicker manner,” McGee said. “Usually, that takes six to nine months to develop, when ideally it would be as soon as the war kicks off. We learn something new that day, and two days later the training system is on the ship with the new environment you are ready to train in, with the updated aircraft equipment.”

McGee explained that evaluators have collected real-life training data manually to assess aircrew proficiency and performance for several years. Those evaluators pour over the data, analyze it, and independently see how trainees did – but that is not sustainable for the entire fleet.

“What we need to do is get systems that can take that data, quickly analyze it for a number of criteria, and then provide that feedback to combatant commanders,” McGee said. “If we can put the technology in place using all of this data that is now available, we will fundamentally change our combat effectiveness by maximizing the time we have to actually train to where we need it.”