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B-52 XR SIMULATOR PROTOTYPE DELIVERED
Bossier City, Louisiana 8/12, 2022

B52 XR Simulator 1sB52 XR Simulator 2s


Neil Levin - VR Training, Thomas Meiertoberens - Magic Bytes, Jordan Griffin and Brandon Naids - Talon Simulations

Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) B-52 pilots tested two prototypes that are designed to provide a solution for mid-air refueling simulation and training. Magic Bytes was involved with the development of one of the prototypes and assisted in selecting suitable component vendors, worked on mixed reality functionality, and integrated the Varjo XR-3 headset.  

The fly-off event took place August 10-11 in the Cyber Innovation Center in Bossier City, La which is located close to Barksdale Airforce Base. It was hosted by AFGSC and its innovation hub STRIKEWERX. Dozens of pilots performed test runs and provided critical feedback. Distinguished guests had an opportunity to witness the performances of both simulators. 

According to Dr. Donna Senft, AFGSC's chief scientist, “These simulators go beyond what other Air Force AR/VR simulators can do in terms of flight realism and training efficiency. This solution will result in reduced maintenance costs, no training delays, and improved pilot proficiency and readiness.”
Read entire STRIKEWERX statement here.

The project originally resulted from a challenge event in April 2021 from the US Air Force program AFWERX and AFGSC's STRIKEWERX with the goal of bringing together the best industry and academia solutions. Of more than 100 proposals only two got selected and funded. 

Magic Bytes LLC participated in the challenge and collaborated with VR Training,Talon Simulations, LLC, Bugeye Technologies, Inc. to provide a solution. VR Training as the lead collaborator was selected as one of the two finalists. Iris Dynamics Ltd., Silverdraft Supercomputing and Varjo Technologies provided special hardware components to build the simulator prototype which features 3DOF motion, next-gen control loading and high fidelity MR. Specular Theory provided their mid-air refueling simulation and training software called EARL™ which integrates the physical components.