USAF Academy Celebrates 3 Years of Laboratory

The USAF Academy is celebrating the third anniversary of its Multi-Domain Laboratory (MDL), showcasing its impact on future warfighter education and industry collaborations, including PLEXSYS Interface Products.

The MDL is a 9000+ square foot facility featuring two modular suites. Each suite includes:

Joint All-Domain Operations Center (JADOC): 24 strategic/operational workstations replicating an Air Operations Center (AOC) and other command centers; Immersive Learning Devices (ILDs): 12 simulators for a variety of platforms, including aircraft, maritime, land, and space vehicles, with first-person shooter views; Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Stations: three stations for both pilot and sensor operator positions; and Command & Control, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance Stations: Six stations simulating platforms like AWACS.

Salient CRGT, now part of Government CIO, completed the MDL design and delivery, with PLEXSYS playing a crucial role as a subcontractor. PLEXSYS contributed to creating fully integrated JADOCs, Flight Bays, and RPA flight rooms. This collaboration resulted in a sophisticated, interconnected training environment, aimed to enhance decision-making processes. PLEXSYS worked alongside industry partners ZedaSoft Inc. and MVR Simulations.

“The MDL's primary goal is to provide rich, contemporary, immersive learning experiences, preparing USAF/USSF 2nd Lieutenants with a robust understanding of joint, multi-domain combat planning, execution, and assessment,” said Christopher “Fuego” Gausepohl, Lt Col, USAF. “Graduates enter their specialized career fields with a comprehensive knowledge foundation of ‘how it all fits together.’”

The MDL supports a modular and scalable approach to learning, accommodating a variety of users and scenarios throughout the day. Highlights of current operations include:

Operation Northern Eclipse: The primary scenario focusing on INDOPACOM coalition Agile-Combat-Employment against near-peer Anti-Access/Area-Denial threats, engaging over 1600 cadets annually.

Cadet Wing Culmination Exercise (CULEX): Involving 250 upper-class cadets in air-space-cyber leadership training.

Basic Cadet Training and Recognition: Engaging over 1100 cadets each year.

The MDL will soon offer opportunities to integrate and interact from off-site locations using a Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) communications protocol through ASCOT.

This opportunity brings together critical concepts of C2ISR, multi-domain battle simulation, Joint operations, Agile combat employment and allows the user to visualize how Space, Air, Sea and Land battlespaces interact in real-time, preparing students and military members for conflicts of the future.