Assessing State-of-the-Art Mission Planning User Interfaces for Application to Next Generation Fighter Concept of Operations

Within the next ten to twenty years, nations and associations of nations are planning to roll out a new generation of air combat technology. Although playing a central role, this not only comprises a future fighter aircraft but rather a whole system of systems that incorporates manned as well as unmanned assets. It is envisioned that the management of those assets will be done from onboard the next generation fighter jet which ultimately affects the scope of work of the pilot: Shifting from the current tactical flying of the aircraft to the role of a commander tasking multiple unmanned combat aerial vehicles. With this, it is conceivable that there will also be a change in cockpit and human-machine interface design. In order to address this challenge, this paper presents a literature analysis that assesses the state-of-the-art in research on mission planning HMIs. From a combination of gained insights and the author's own ideas, three visualization methods for the display of an onboard mixed reality mission planning HMI for the future fighter are introduced. Additionally, benefits and drawbacks in the use of mixed reality are discussed and an outlook on future work is given.