Collins Aerospace, an RTX company, has unveiled an electric power systems laboratory at its Rockford, Illinois facility to develop and test components for hybrid-electric engines for use in future aircraft.

Dubbed The Grid, the $50 million high-voltage lab has an initial test capability of 8 MW to support the testing and demonstration of electric motors, controllers, generators and distribution systems, RTX said Wednesday.

“Hybrid-electric aircraft will help our industry significantly reduce carbon emissions, and with The Grid, the most sophisticated lab of its kind, we are investing to help these aircraft take flight,” said Henry Brooks, president of power and controls at Collins Aerospace.

The Grid will test Collins Aerospace’s 1-megawatt electric generator and support flight demonstration and system integration work for RTX’s solid-state circuit breaker.

The Department of Energy has selected nine projects to receive $16 million in funding to conduct small-scale research experiments on the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, an Office of Science scientific user facility operated by General Atomics.

DOE said Wednesday the selected technology projects will develop new systems on the DIII-D tokamak and advance collaborative research to establish the scientific foundation for developing a fusion energy source.

“While establishing the scientific basis for fusion energy, we must also improve the maturity of existing fusion technologies and explore entirely new innovations that have the potential to revolutionize the fusion landscape,” said Jean Paul Allain, associate director of the Office of Science for Fusion Energy Sciences.

The projects will strive to assess and improve the technical maturity of plasma actuators, provide tools and algorithms to sustain high fusion performance, resolve key plasma transport issues, improve access to burning plasma regimes and optimize the fusion reaction process.

The awardees were selected by competitive peer review under the Innovative Fusion Technology and Collaborative Fusion Energy Research in the DIII-D National Program funding opportunity announcement released in January.

Air Force Special Operations Command has developed a framework for incorporating immersive learning technologies into training activities across the entire command.

The Extended Reality Training Framework employs virtual, mixed and augmented reality technologies to redesign the command’s training landscape and provide a more realistic autonomous learning environment, AFSOC said Wednesday.

The framework focuses on four distinct lines of effort: building a virtual hangar for aircraft and munitions maintenance workforce training; incorporating VR into all flying training units responsible for training AFSOC aircrew; integrating XR into operational units; and utilizing AR for aircrew and special tactics teams.

“The use of XR in training allows Air Commandos to experience highly realistic simulations of complex scenarios, missions, and environments they may encounter in real-world operations,” said Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, commander of AFSOC.

New research from RAND Corporation‘s National Security Research Division found that the Navy and Marine Corps face a new threat environment that demands them to reevaluate the survivability of their current fleet of surface connectors.

RAND said the U.S. military’s existing fleet of amphibious connectors was designed and developed under different operational concepts and “might not be as survivable when they operate in a contested environment against an evolved adversary.”

The nonprofit research organization recommended that the naval services address the survivability of their current fleet of amphibious craft by developing and formalizing an analytic framework for connector survivability.

According to RAND, the Navy and Marine Corps must also invest in the survivability of the current connector fleet; develop techniques, procedures and associated training to support the new operating concepts; and utilize operational and tactical intelligence for amphibious forces.