Deliver Your News to the World

Department of Defense Enlists Red Hat to Help Improve Squadron Operations and Flight Training

Red Hat Open Innovation Labs human-centered design engagement helps Defense Innovation Unit teams achieve a digital, user first answer to a decade-old challenge


RALEIGH, N.C. – WEBWIRE

Application development for mission-critical processes, like United States Armed Forces flight scheduling, needs to start at a fundamental level by understanding and addressing the real problem.

Red Hat, Inc., the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, announced that the Department of Defense (DoD) worked with Red Hat to help improve aircraft and pilot scheduling for United States Marine Corps (USMC), United States Navy (USN) and United States Air Force (USAF) aircrews. Using modern development practices and processes from Red Hat Open Innovation Labs that prioritized end user needs, the project team identified unaddressed roadblocks and gained new skills to build the right solution, a digital “Puckboard” application, for their unique scheduling challenge. 

“Application development for mission-critical processes, like United States Armed Forces flight scheduling, needs to start at a fundamental level by understanding and addressing the real problem.” Michael Walkerglobal senior director, Red Hat Open Innovation Labs, Red Hat

Taking on the “puckboard”

The problem facing squadrons was seemingly straightforward: how to improve and digitize the management of flight training operations. The existing process was entirely manual, each representing pertinent information like a pilot’s name, associated with their training syllabus, location and time of flights. Simple at a glance, the number of cognitive variables contained within this undertaking made it stressful for the operator and difficult to scale across squadrons and bases.

For more than a decade, various project teams within the DoD had tried to improve the system via custom built applications, aircraft scheduling software and hybrid solutions. None of these deployments withstood the test of time or could be replicated if the operator took a new role elsewhere. The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), an organization tasked with accelerating commercial technologies into the military, took on this challenge.

Process and power from open innovation

To help understand the holistic problem and not just discrete elements, a cross-functional team from DIU, USMC, USN and USAF engaged with Red Hat Open Innovation Labs, a DevOps and open source residency program guided by Red Hat’s Global Services experts. During the immersive, human-centered design engagement, Red Hat experts worked alongside the project team to evaluate and validate the problem space and develop a strategic approach for creating a new flight scheduling system. What became clear was that with the variety of planes and pilots facing each operator, each with their own requirements, any ultimate solution would need to address all of these variables, not just a handful.

Beyond helping the team identify the core underlying problem for end users, Red Hat Open Innovation Labs helped provide guidance and strategies for more effective application development within the associated USAF, USN and USMC groups. This led to the replacement of the traditional waterfall approach with an agile methodology, lean product development and DevOps practices that are more adaptive. 

Building an internal, open pipeline

The skills and tools gained from the Red Hat Open Innovation Labs engagement has enabled the project team to lay the groundwork for a flight scheduling solution that isn’t tied to a single person or unscalable technology. But perhaps most importantly, the team is now able to share their knowledge and processes across their organizations with the intent to build an internal open source pipeline of not just technology, but also open practices that can help shorten development cycles and bring usable applications to end users faster.

With the digital “Puckboard” application in development, the project team now hopes to be able to more effectively capture data that was previously disparate or not captured at all (like on a puck or whiteboard). By enabling a digital transformation of the manual flight scheduling process, the USMC, USN and USAF hope to add artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) predictive capabilities to the solution, providing even more efficiency to the process.

Supporting Quotes

Michael Walker, global senior director, Red Hat Open Innovation Labs, Red Hat

“Application development for mission-critical processes, like United States Armed Forces flight scheduling, needs to start at a fundamental level by understanding and addressing the real problem. The USMC, USN and USAF, along with the DIU, knew the reality of the challenge facing them and, with the help of Red Hat Open Innovation Labs, now have not only the technological skills but also the development and organizational processes in place to build a solution that can scale across organizations and teams.”

Additional Resources

  1. Learn more about Red Hat Open Innovation Labs



Connect with Red Hat

  1. Learn more about Red Hat

  2. Get more news in the Red Hat newsroom

  3. Read the Red Hat blog

  4. Follow Red Hat on Twitter

  5. Join Red Hat on Facebook

  6. Watch Red Hat videos on YouTube

  7. Follow Red Hat on LinkedIn



About Red Hat

Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of enterprise open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver reliable and high-performing Linux, hybrid cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. Red Hat helps customers integrate new and existing IT applications, develop cloud-native applications, standardize on our industry-leading operating system, and automate, secure, and manage complex environments. Award-winning support, training, and consulting services make Red Hat a trusted adviser to the Fortune 500. As a strategic partner to cloud providers, system integrators, application vendors, customers, and open source communities, Red Hat can help organizations prepare for the digital future.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: risks related to the ability of the Company to compete effectively; the ability to deliver and stimulate demand for new products and technological innovations on a timely basis; delays or reductions in information technology spending; the integration of acquisitions and the ability to market successfully acquired technologies and products; risks related to errors or defects in our offerings and third-party products upon which our offerings depend; risks related to the security of our offerings and other data security vulnerabilities; fluctuations in exchange rates; changes in and a dependence on key personnel; the effects of industry consolidation; uncertainty and adverse results in litigation and related settlements; the inability to adequately protect Company intellectual property and the potential for infringement or breach of license claims of or relating to third party intellectual property; the ability to meet financial and operational challenges encountered in our international operations; and ineffective management of, and control over, the Company’s growth and international operations, as well as other factors. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic and political conditions, governmental and public policy changes and the impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Red Hat and the Red Hat logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries


( Press Release Image: https://photos.webwire.com/prmedia/7/250003/250003-1.png )


WebWireID250003





This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.