REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (Sept. 2, 2025) – Placing pilots in realistic simulated aviation scenarios results in critical feedback directly from the Warfighter.
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center’s APEXII Lab recently conducted a Crew Station Working Group to evaluate prototype pilot-vehicle interfaces designed for integration into the AH-64E Apache’s avionics systems, addressing uncrewed aerial system detection and mitigation within the modern battlefield.
CSWGs facilitate the evaluation of rapidly prototyped PVIs through simulated mission rehearsals and hands-on interactions with Soldiers. Through these evaluations, their input and human factors analyses are utilized to refine PVI requirements to ensure the designs that are fielded are intuitive, enhance situation awareness and do not unnecessarily increase workload.
“The CSWG utilized realistic mission scenarios based on counter uncrewed aerial system concepts of operation to test the effectiveness of the proposed PVI,” said Human Factors Engineer Jena Salvetti. “Ten Apache pilots, with varying levels of experience, participated in simulated missions, providing valuable feedback through workload assessments, situational awareness surveys, usability evaluations and after-action reviews. This process allowed pilots to assess if the prototyped PVI would support their ability to detect, track and mitigate UAS threats, while conducting other standard tasks, ultimately enhancing aircraft and aircrew survivability.”
Pilots from the US Army Aviation Center of Excellence, 110th Aviation Brigade, at Fort Rucker, 1-229th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Redstone Test Center’s Aviation Flight Test Directorate at Redstone Arsenal participated in this design evaluation exercise, providing the DEVCOM AvMC team with vital feedback.
Data from the pilots about the PVI indicated that the proposed designs, while requiring some small modifications, were ready for immediate integration into the aircraft. Points of praise were the seamless integration of system capabilities and the intuitive cockpit display symbology.
Salvetti said that the PVI design and success can be attributed to collaborative efforts of an integrated product team including stakeholders from PEO Aviation, the Apache Product Office, Army Capability Managers, DEVCOM AvMC and industry partners.
“This event underscored the importance of pilot feedback in refining systems to meet the needs of the Warfighter,” Salvetti noted. “While also demonstrating the value of collaborative design and development efforts in addressing modern battlefield challenges.”
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As part of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, a subordinate of the U.S. Army Futures Command, DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center serves as the Army’s primary center for developing, integrating, demonstrating and sustaining Army aviation and missile systems. For more than six decades, DEVCOM AvMC has delivered cutting-edge aviation and missile technologies and it continues to drive the advancement of future capabilities to ensure war-winning future readiness and battlefield dominance.
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