The agreement was initialled on Friday 19 February between the Commander of the Unit, Colonel Presicce, and the Vice-President of EADS-MAS, Gorlo. The agreement was signed, in the presence of the Commander of the Experimental Flight Centre, Air Division General Fabrizio Draghi, on behalf of the Experimental Flight Department by Colonel Francesco Presicce, Commander of the Department, whilst on behalf of EADS-MAS the agreement was signed by the Vice-President, Bertram Gorlo. The RSV is organised into four groups: the 311th Flight Group; the Technical Group; the Software Management Group; and the Space Systems Group. The primary role of the Software Management Group (GGS) is to oversee all phases of the on-board software life cycle, from maintenance to the integration of new avionics and weapon systems; indeed, it is directly involved in defining requirements, designing and coding the software, and conducting ground and in-flight testing of the final product. Thanks to these capabilities, the GGS has achieved, within the Experimental Flight Centre, ISO 9001 certification for the ‘Development of software modifications for weapon systems and related support systems in the aeronautical sector’. The fulfilment of these tasks, which are critical to the operational capability and development of the Armed Forces‘ aircraft – which are increasingly ’software-oriented‘ – has enabled the GGS to operate in theatres of operations, demonstrating autonomy and a deep mastery of military systems whilst circumventing the time and cost constraints associated with industrial solutions for real-world operational interventions. The GGS is also responsible for resolving software issues relating to aircraft mission planning and debriefing systems, as well as equipment for loading on-board software. Finally, the GGS also produces ’Computer-Based Training (CBT)‘ used in the Armed Forces’ training courses. The GGS has its own computing centre housing a range of equipment (including systems development equipment and ‘avionics rigs’) necessary for carrying out the aforementioned mission. The ‘avionics rig’ is the main piece of equipment used to carry out ‘real-time’ tests on new software modules and integration systems. The rig consists of actual aeronautical equipment mounted on ‘racks’ that replicate the avionics system of a specific aircraft, enabling operators to ‘fly’ a simulated mission. In this way, the use of the ‘avionics rig’ facilitates the investigation of all types of errors and problems, with the aim of ensuring the maintenance of the operational flight programmes running on the numerous computers on board the aircraft. In particular, it is possible to correct or improve the functionalities provided by the operating software in order to optimise its use on different platforms in a variety of scenarios or for different roles, such as, for example, the integration of ‘laser pod’ or ‘data link’ functionalities. The work carried out on the rig is preparatory to ‘flight testing’, the latter of which is carried out in collaboration with other groups within the Experimental Division, with a view to granting final certification to the operational software loaded onto the aircraft. GGS staff are specialised in electronics and IT; whilst at the GGS, they also obtain the qualification of ‘systems test engineers’.
