Fighter pilots to be pitted against computerised system in three years

New Delhi: The Indian Air Force (IAF) will in another three years put in place a new high-tech system to select fighter pilots for its cutting-edge and high-performance aircraft fleet that will also help in reducing air crashes due to human error, it was announced yesterday.

The system, an over 200-million-rupee (Dh15.9 million) computerised mechanism developed by India's defence scientists, "accurately" evaluates the multi-tasking qualities of a candidate, like psychomotor, information processing, coordination and visualisation skills, said Manas K. Mandal, director of the Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR).

The IAF and the premier Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) jointly developed the system, Computerised Pilot Selection System (CPSS), which took nearly 10 years to take practical shape.

The new pilot selection system was developed as the existing system focuses on few aspects of the psychomotor skills, the eye-hand-leg coordination, of the pilot, Mandal said. "Today's fighter pilot is more than just a pilot. He is a systems manager who has to deal with multiple tasks. The system we have developed tests his ability to do this."

Chief controller of the DRDO, W. Selvamurthy, said the new system comes in two parts and has a mock-up of a fighter's cockpit and a comprehensive battery of cognitive assessmen. He said the cockpit part of the system provides visual and audio inputs of a target, the threat to the aircraft, the fuel available and other such parameters.