Flight security

U.S. Air Force to test adaptive flight control system developed by Armenian scholar

After a successful flight test on Calspan’s variable-stability Learjet aircraft last year, an L1 adaptive flight control system is being modified for the U.S. Air Force’s VISTA F-16 aircraft by Professor Naira Hovakimyan and her graduate students, Kasey Ackerman and Javier Puig-Navarro. Hovakimyan, a W. Grafton and Lillian B. Wilkins Professor in MechSE, has been developing the L1 adaptive control theory since 2005, accoridng to the official website of the University of Illlinois. 

The VISTA flight test, conducted by the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, is expected to take place in September of this year at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The progression from testing on the Learjet to the VISTA F-16 was a natural one, said Puig-Navarro, and the next steps will be crucial. The Learjet testing itself was a huge milestone, but only certain aspects of the L1 system were tested on the Learjet aircraft. The Learjet was chosen for the first test at Edwards Air force base because it is less expensive to operate and allowed the researchers to collect over 18 hours of flight data.