Tactics Development Experimentation: AWAKENING

The experiments were conducted using trained pilots and weapon operators in an immersive virtual environment comprising realistic weapon apparatus and flight simulators. These were used to determine the vulnerability of different operational flight profiles given specific weapon engagement scenarios, which included additional analyses of human machine interfaces, human performance and TTPs.

Platform and weapon operators were consulted to ensure operationally relevant attributes were included into the Design of Experiments (DOE) framework which provided a robust approach to test optimisation and the mitigation of biases and confounding errors which are prevalent in human based studies.

Military Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) were consulted to support the validation of visual scenes, engagement profiles and immersive qualities to ensure the sense of realism was appropriate for the studies across both the weapon and flight simulator apparatus.

Quantitative and qualitative data analysis was used to evaluate the results of the experiments and the Modified Cooper Harper Scale was used to collect subjective participant feedback.

The experimentation reports including observations were disseminated to SMEs and stakeholders to identify the key strengths and weaknesses of the evaluated capabilities and assist in the delivery of insights and recommendations to the ADF.