- (indistinct) - The Air Force has announced the creation of a new information operations technical training school. (air whooshes) - The first man, simply must arm our airman to outtake, outperform, outpartner, outinnovate, any potential adversary. - Air Force basic military training has an updated curriculum with a new focus on readiness and lethality. - The first command, "The Air Force Starts Here." - Hey, hey everybody, welcome in. Thanks for the subscribe, screen or download, however you might be consuming the pod whether you're on Spotify, Google Play, Apple podcast wherever you might be out there in the world today, thanks for tuning in. I'm Dan Hawkins from the AETC Public Affairs office and your host, for this professional development podcast, dedicated to bringing Total Force, Big A Airmen, insight tips, tricks and lessons learnt from the recruiting, training and education world. On the pod today, we're talking with Major Adam Smith, Cosine Boomer, the architect of the Remotely Piloted Aircraft Training Next program or RPA Training Next. And he's gonna go in depth on this 19th Air Force Initiative and how it is integrating modern technology and innovative strategies in an effort to transform how our RPA pilots and sensor operators are developed. It also ties directly to our AETC priority of transforming the way we learn so at the end of the day we can develop the airmen that we need. And as you listen to Boomer throughout the pod today, it's really fascinating as he describes the effort to move to a competency-based training concept where the RPA students undergo a tailor-made program or a learner-centric program based on their capabilities and needs, rather than that traditional model where an entire class follows a rigid construct and then transitions through the entire pipeline together. And that really has been the long-term goal to transition to that tailor-made program. And so incorporating lessons learned from Pilot Training Next. One of the big keys to this program was streamlining the initial pipeline from two courses down to just one course called the RPA course where future pilots and sensor operators train together and learn in the context of the mission in a holistic sense. And another really cool aspect or a big part of this RPA training is cross-checking and task management. Boomer talks about the Training Next program for RPA's baselining technology across all phases of training, including past the initial skills point out to the formal training units and even thinking about the operational context. So Boomer is also going to talk to the artificial intelligence aspect of the RPA Training Next program and how building trust in AI principles and instruction early will help benefit the pilots and sensor operators of the future. And he also talks to the integration of the sensor operators earlier in training with the pilots which before was just a four-day process and now that's been expanded out to almost four weeks. So a lot more interoperability and integration included there. And the sensor operators also will have the benefit of some T-6 simulator modifications that are being made to add realism and more depth to the training. RPA Training Next on "The Air Force Starts Here" launches right now. ( air whooshes) So Boomer, tell us a little bit about yourself. - So I've been in the Air Force about 22 years now. The majority of that has been working with RPAs in one form or another going back to the earlier days of the RQ-1 in the Bosnia days. So I've seen almost every aspect of RPAs from the sensor operator side to the pilot side to the exploitation side and the third side as well. So I think I have a unique perspective on how we utilize RPAs in the Air Force and the DOD at large. - So you end up at Haldeman, and you get asked to look at the RPA training enterprise. Can you talk to the evolution of RPA Training Next and where you started and how you've evolved and ended up where you're at today? - Sure, so I was picked up about two years ago, a little under two years ago to take a look at the RPA Training enterprise and try to determine if there's better ways to train leveraging new technologies, new methods learning to really accelerate how to get our pilots, sensor operators through the training pipeline. One of the initial steps I did was to go take a look at what Pilot Training Next was doing in Austin at the time. So I spent a lot of time with those guys learning what they had done, the things that worked out for them, the mistakes that might've been made along the way so I can learn from their mistakes and learn from their successes as well and adapt a lot of what they were doing to the RPA enterprise. So that was the initial step is working with a great team the Pilot Training Next to start to formulate the plan for RPA training. One of the things we realized early on with RPA Training Next was that, we couldn't take a simplistic look at undergraduate training and apply fixes to that part of the pipeline 'cause then all we would be doing is shifting the bottleneck that we had at that point in time from the undergraduate phase to the graduate phase at the FTU level. And that would just create a backlog in another part of that pipeline. So, what we determined we needed to do was to take a holistic approach to training, take a look at the entirety of the pipeline from what we're calling cradle of the combat and find better ways of learning, better technology, increase the realism of the training in order to produce higher caliber of pilot and sensor operators for remotely piloted aircraft platforms. - Yeah, and it's part of that overall force development push here in air education and training command to develop the airman we need. And so can you talk about how this helps further that? - Yeah, absolutely. We didn't wanna just grab the latest and greatest technology, you know the shiny thing out there, which is VR and enforce that into how we train while it works well for in the undergraduate phase for certain phases of the training, for the FTU and some other parts of our training it doesn't really apply for remotely piloted aircraft pilots or even sensor operators for that matter. So it wasn't a matter of just grabbing technology and forcing it into a new construct. We actually needed to take a look at, what are the requirements for an RPA pilot sensor operator at the tail end of the pipeline. Once it gets to the operational unit and they're involved in combat operations, what are the requirements for those individuals? And then how do we trace that back through the entirety of the pipeline, ensure that they are getting the training they need at the right point in time to produce those higher caliber aviators. - Yeah, and it's really interesting because current RPA Training really has focused on training as we started at that beginning part on that undergraduate pilot training model for the T-6 Texan II. Can you talk about what the Genesis was to really examine that from an RPA perspective and make that change and say we need to maybe do this a different way? - You're exactly right there. The RPA Training pipeline was born out of necessity. We needed more RPA pilots at the time and they took a close look at how we train through UPT and determined that RPA pilots at the time didn't necessarily need all of that training. So they shortened the pipeline, they grabbed something off the shelf which they already knew and had instructors ready to train too which was the T-6 model. So easy beginning phases of the RPA pipeline, RPA pilots will fly the T-6 in the simulator only, and that's where they get the predominant amount of the training for the undergraduate phase. A large part of the focus of that was on instrument flying which is very important, but they went very far in depth into that instrument training. So we took a close look at that and we determined there were some things that could probably be removed. There were other things that could be altered to better reflect how RPA aviators actually fly their aircraft. So one of the things we did was we took a look at how we navigate with RPAs and the multi-tasking capabilities that our aviators have. So they have a great number of screens they are looking at in their RPA cockpits and trying to process all of that data that's coming into the cockpit constantly. So we wanted to ensure that multitasking capability and that navigation capability reflected what was required of an RPA aviator. So we brought the tactical situational display. That is very similar to what we leveraged in the MQ-9. And we're moving that into the undergraduate phase. There'll be more chat in there as well. So we have all these additional screens that the students will be monitoring even as they're flying their T-6 simulator. So they can build that cross-check that replicates crosscheck required of an RPA aviator. And then also navigating mainly using GPS on the tactical situation display very similar to how the MQ-9 and the RQ-4 navigate at this point in time. One of the limitations we saw also was that, the center operators were showing up to the FTU without a solid understanding of crew resource management or CRM. We traced that back to, potentially being a problem in undergraduate pipeline where they weren't getting exposure to that. The sensor operators and pilots were only paired up for a handful of days, about four days of training together in the undergraduate phase. And what that meant was when they showed up at the FTU level, they then had to learn those skills. They had to learn how to run checklists together, handle emergency procedures together and operate as a crew. So what we're working on doing right now is increasing that level of training in undergraduate phase, where we're going from full days of training to full weeks of training together where the pilot sensor operator will be sitting side-by-side and undergraduate training in the simulator running checklist together, handling emergency procedures doing some rudimentary level IFR and things of that nature to improve and enhance the training. - And these kinds of changes that you're talking about both in curriculum and with technology, it really speaks to competency-based training. Whereas maybe in the past we just followed this tailor-made program that had certain checkpoints along the way and everybody in the class followed that construct together with no real flexibility, right? - That's very true. When you have a rigid pipeline that doesn't allow that flexibility, what you get is everyone enters at the same time and everyone exits right around the same time. There are individuals that can move quicker. There are individuals that require a little more time. And by not tailoring the training to those individuals I think we're missing a lot opportunities to build those higher quality aviators and get them to the operational units potentially sooner not only sooner, but also that frees up some dates for then within the pipeline to potentially increase the numbers that are going through in that typical training year. - Yeah, and I think the competency-based training concept is something obviously Pilot Training Next and the different Learning Next Initiatives across AETC are really looking at to maybe provide a lot more flexibility to the pipeline. So if you could maybe talk about the old version of RPA Training it had two phases of training, whereas now you're looking at creating in essence, a blended course. - For the undergraduate phase of the the old pipeline for RPA Training there were two main courses they went through at Randolph and that was the RPA instrument qualification course and the RPA fundamentals course. The RPA instrument qualification course was a T-6 simulator-based course which focused predominantly on instrument flying of the T-6. So there was some basic aviation skills instilled, some pattern works and contact works, some various maneuvers and then from that point onward it was all focused on flying of the instruments to ensure that the students coming out of there understood instrument flying and were able then to enter the FTU prepared. After the instrument qualification course they went through RPA fundamentals course, which was more of an academic course focused on RPAs in general. So some information on data links, EM theory, infrared payloads, et cetera threats awareness and avoidance. So it was mainly academic like I stated, focusing on helping get them spun up on RPA. So when they showed up at the FTU they at least knew a little bit more about RPAs and how we operate with them. There was a desktop trainer that was leveraged for that training as well to show them how to build an operational mission or an emergency mission for an RPA to show them how to control an RPA, how to fly it. And then, a little bit of time spent working together with the pilot and sensor operator where the sensor operator would patrol the payload, the targeting system of the MQ-9 flight simulator. With the new pipeline, we're kind of getting away from that concept and we're blending them together. So instead of two separate courses, there'll be one course. And we're also focusing a lot on mission-based training. So that is the students doing things within a simulator, there's a mission-based reason for doing those things. So for example, holding. While teaching T-6 instrument flying, they might do a teardrop hold, they might fly up a VOR attack and et cetera. A lot of things that we don't do with RPAs. So they'll get a little bit of exposure to that in the new course, but not as in-depth of a level. And then while they're doing their holds with the T-6 it'll be in a similar hold pattern that RPA might leverage. So for example, the MQ-9, a wheel hold, circling around a target or doing a figure eight hold to the West so that they can see the West side of a building or entry doorway. And what that does is help them to better understand the mission-based reasons for doing things. When they're doing that figure eight hold to the West or they're doing some other type of hold, there's a reason for it. It's to stay out of a threat envelope or it's to coordinate with the JTAC prior to entering the RA's. Or like I said, it's for an ISR type reason being able to see that Western door on the building prior to infilling on target. So we're trying to bring that mission-based training to the left. There'll be some rudimentary way top level exposure to catch or close air support. They'll learn where the nine line is. They'll learn how to run a nine line on the radios in the simulator, working with a simulated JTAC. There's some basic level of weapons employment is the plan as well so that when they show up at the FTUs they're not experts on these things but they've had some exposure so that now we can focus on adapting that to how the MQ-9 operates at the FTU level. For the RQ-4 guys, they'll get some other exposures such as oceanic crossings, diplomatic clearances, IKO procedures, high altitude IFR. So they'll get that exposure to how they're going to actually be operating with their RQ-4 in the operational realm. - And it's really interesting because with the left loading of a lot more introductory concepts, you're really training the next generation of RPA pilots and sensor operators to not just how to either fly an RPA or manage the sensors on aircraft but also just how to train in the context of a mission. So they're better prepared to do the mission when they get out to their operational locations sooner. - Exactly. We think that exposures can be very helpful and by getting that to them earlier, I think in the training phase, they're gonna feel more tying to what they're going to be doing operationally once they graduate from the FTU level. We also think that by getting that early exposure we can now at the FTU level focus on higher level skills or tailoring those skills that they've already developed to how our other combat platform actually operates. - And so what does the timeline look like under the RPA Training Next concept? What are you expecting that process to actually look like from a student perspective in terms of time or is that just really dependent on a lot of other factors? - It really is dependent on a lot of other factors. We hope to get a tech craft through here in the short term. And that's really gonna give us a lot of data on how we need to adapt it to meet the needs of the FTU and the operational units downrange. So we're gonna be gathering a lot of data to determine that, but we're thinking probably about a 20% savings in time with this new course we'll get rid of some bottlenecks. And then, like we said, we'll focus on the actual skills required of RPA pilots and sensor operators, and that's gonna help us with some time savings as well. But like I said earlier, we're taking that holistic approach to training, looking at the entirety of that pipeline cradle in combat. And while, one phase of training might see some minimal gains, I think when you look at the entirety of the pipeline that's where you're gonna see those huge gains and we'll really get that data once we started to get some of these test classes through that entire pipeline all the way through the mission qualification training at the operational units. - One thing that I really found interesting as we did a little bit of homework and background into your program at RPA Training Next is the baselining of technology across all phases of training. Can you kind of talk to that and what that really means? - Sure, I think that's a extremely important facet to what we're doing with RPA Training Next. What we're trying to do is having that common baseline of technology across all phases of training through the whole pipeline. So we're actually reaching back even prior to the undergraduate level. We're trying to get some of this technology embedded at the Air Force Academy as well for them to leverage in their RPA training pipeline or program at the Air Force Academy. So by having that common baseline technology what that means is students that are in undergraduate training, they'll get used to certain levels of technology. They'll get used to using the multitask capabilities using their tactical situation display, using merch chat, using the other tools available to them but also the AI, the artificial intelligence technology that we're embedding in the undergraduate training phase. There's several components of that. One is called pattern of life which injects realistic entities into the scene. So you have these villagers running around behaving in a very realistic manner reacting to whatever's being thrown at them in the environment, and then the students could do IFR, they can do weapons deliveries, they can do these types of things against that environment. And actually see it play out in a realistic manner. Also artificial intelligence coaching. So Viper is what it's called. We worked with PTN on that one and we're adapting it to the needs of RPA aircrew. And we're gonna leverage that in our undergraduate training as well, so that a student can learn in the simulator without having to have an actual instructor present. If that instructor is present, however, a Viper will be watching what the student's doing writing some additional information to the instructor, help to decode the instruction of that individual student. Other than that baseline of technology, we plan also instituting at the FTU level. We've already started implementing some of it into our MQ-9 simulators at Haldeman. And so far all signs are pointing to it actually increasing the fidelity of the scenes providing more realistic training to our students. That same technology once we've validated it at the FTU and proven that it works and is actually beneficial to our students, the plaintiffs to push that off to the operational units as well for use in mission qualification training, mission rehearsals as well as continuation training, in those stimulators. So there'll be as common baseline technology across all phases of training. The students will get used to it in the undergraduate phase when they show up at FTU that same technology will be there. They'll already know how to work with it. They'll already know how to leverage it for their training and then ultimately at their combat lines as well that same technology being embedded there. One other component of that is a database tracking the individual students. We're still in the developmental phase of that, but so far, it looks like it's gonna work out. We're gonna have a database at the undergraduate phase that is tracking everything the students do in the simulator with the login assigned to each individual student. So we can actually go back and take a look at how they did in the scene, how did they perform, what is the AI saying about their performance metrics? And we can do some in-depth analysis on what they did in undergraduate phase. We wanna embed that same database at the FTU level as well so that we can push the information from the undergraduate phase to FTU level. And now we can track that student through the FTU so we'll correlate that data back to how they performed on undergraduate phase. Once again, once we've validated that capability, we want to push that to the operation units. So we'll have this common database following these students through all phases of training throughout the Air Force career so we draw some really unique correlations to say here's how this individual performed in this qualification training at the operational unit. And maybe if they had some struggles or issues there, we can attempt to correlate back to how they did at the FTU and how they did undergraduate training. So we can enact some improvements at those levels to help with future students coming through the pipeline. - Yeah, and you talked to, in an earlier conversation about how all of this experience with the baseline of technology ultimately will build trust in those AI principles. So throughout an airman's career, they can use that capability. How important is that? - Trust is huge. Anytime you're talking about artificial intelligence, trust is a big part portion of that because you're working with the computer, right? And if you don't trust what that computer is telling you or what that artificial intelligence software is telling you, you're probably less likely to heed what it's trying to teach you for or what it's trying to tell you to do in training. So the earlier we can develop that trust in the program, I think what that'll mean is in later phases of training, where they are leveraging the artificial intelligence software if it tells them something that they should be doing or something they had just messed up in their training profile, they're gonna trust that what it told them is actually true. And you're going to do that. I mean, if you think of navigating, let's say Google navigation, or even ways, the first time you drive down the interstate that tells you to turn off on just some random road, you're probably gonna be hesitant to do that if you've never used the software before because you think you know more about where you're going and what you're doing than this device that on you to turn. But then as soon as you reach that traffic in front of you maybe cars do a crash or some other problem with road construction you're gonna realize, wow, I should have maybe listened to what it said and turned back to the mile ago. And I wouldn't have been stuck in traffic for an hour. And I think once you start to build that trust in the software, that's when you really start to see some big gains coming through. - Yeah, and you're not only doing some of the technology from the pilot's perspective, but you're also doing it from the sensor operator perspective as well. - Yes, with RPAs, we work under a crew mentality. So in the MQ-9, the pilot sits in the last seat. They got the sensor operator right next to them controlling the multi-spectral targeting system laser designating targets finding the enemy on the battlefield. So we have to make sure that we're not just focusing on the pilots. We have to work with the sensor operators as well. So like in previously stated where we're working on expanding the number of days of training that we work together, so the sensor operator will be sitting next to the pilot in the undergraduate phase for about four weeks of training. We're working to build every student in the simulator, a targeting part onto the bottom of the T-6 to see if that maybe will meet our needs so that as the pilot is flying around in their simulated aircraft, the sensor operator has a targeting pod that they can be controlling to look for targets and start learning some of those skills that they're going to need at the FTU and the operational units as well for their training. So we need to make sure that like stated, we're not just focusing on the pilot, the sensor operator is an integral component to how we operate and fly RPAs in the Air Force today and well into the future so we need to ensure that they are getting the training that they need to be that combat ready air crew coming out of training. - And as we get ready to close up the podcast, you guys have been working on this, like you said for a couple of years. And so a lot of the things that you're working on you're getting past that development phase. How do you see the evolution and the actual implementation of a lot of these things that you guys have been working on moving forward? - We've been working on the entirety of the pipeline. So there's individual components at each level of training. We've got a lot we're doing at the undergraduate phase. There are several components that we're working on at the FTU. We've got a new syllabus that'll be coming out in the near future. We would see if it was closer to that competency-based training. But I think you're really gonna see little gains once all of these individual components meld together and become actual combat ready. That's where you're gonna see those huge gains developed. With RPA Training Next, with Pilot Training Next, with all these Next initiatives, I think it's important to maintain the momentum that has been originally generated well into the future. This just can't be something that just fades away. We've done a lot of good things, I think thus far for the RPA enterprise, but there's still much more to come. And as long as we're leaning forward, we're interfacing with industry, we're looking at what new technologies is out there, we're working with academia and Air Force Research Labs and a lot of other people. And as long as we continue that to look at new methods of learning, new ways of training to ensure our students are getting what they need, I think there's a bright future for not just RPA Training Next but the training enterprise writ large. So we are going to continue with RPA Training Next. We've got some new individuals coming on board about to take over the program and continue what we've been doing. But it's important that we continue to maintain the funding. We continue to maintain the support for these types of initiatives so that we don't find ourselves in this same boat 10 years from now asking the question of why are we still training the way we've been training for the past decade or more, right? So we have to continue that focus. We've got to continue that push and ensure that we're continuing to look at what's out there, how can we better our training and how can we generate these combat-ready air crews in the quickest amount of time, but also the highest level of capability. It's not just about time. It's about the skills they're actually graduating with and we can't sacrifice one for the other. It needs to be that holistic look at the, not just the individual, but the entirety of the pipeline, but actually we require of RPA aviators now and well into the future. - Well, I certainly appreciate your time today Boomer and pretty exciting stuff. - Absolutely, Thanks for having me. (air whooshes) - Really was interesting to see how these last couple of years have played out as we followed the RPA Training Next Enterprise. And Boomer Smith and his team have done a wonderful job bringing this learner-centric model to the RPA community and we'll see where it goes from here. Boomer Smith, big, thanks to him. He's getting ready to transition out of AETC and move on to his next assignment, but thanks to him and we'll keep tabs on how this progresses moving forward. As a reminder, you can follow AETC and the AETC Command Team on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as catch up on all the latest AETC news at www.aetc.air.mil. For entire AETC Public Affairs team, I'm Dan Hawkins. So long, we'll talk to you next time on "The Air Force Starts Here." (light-hearted music)