Compact, cost-efficient data collection devices make their way to more operational fighter jets News, Sports, Jobs

Hill Air Force Base — Advances in technology have allowed the United States Air Force to go smaller with greater impact when it comes to collecting in-flight data from operational fighter jets.

On March 23, an F-35A at Hill Air Force Base was the first operational fighter jet to receive the Quick Reaction Instrumentation Package device. According to Micah Garbarino, public affairs officer for the 388th Fighter Wing, HAFB operators and maintainers are pleased with the QRIP results.

Before the device was installed on operational jets, it was used in a dozen test F-35s in the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

Lt. Col. Nathan “Shake” Malafa, 59th Test and Evaluation Squadron commander at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, said in a Nov. 10 Defense News interview that he hopes to expand the use of QRIPS to more Air Force fighters. like other planes.

Roughly the size of a football, QRIP takes up far less space than its former counterpart—a 2,500-pound pod—that costs $25 million per unit. It can also record almost one terabyte of data per flight

Malafa said the former device, used only in the test F-35, was too cumbersome and expensive to consider even for operational aircraft.

QRIP costs a fraction of the older system and is linked to aircraft computers, which expands and speeds up data collection. With the prior system, it could take weeks or months to access the data.

To date, the 59th Test and Evaluation Squadron has installed QRIPs in 19 operational Air Force F-35s at multiple locations around the world.

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