HILL AIR FORCE BASE — Advances in technology have allowed the U.S. Air Force to go smaller with greater impact when it comes to collecting in-flight data from operational fighter jets.

On March 23, an F-35A at Hill Air Force Base was the first operational fighter jet to receive the Quick Reaction Instrumentation Package device. According to 388th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Officer Micah Garbarino, HAFB operators and maintainers are pleased with results from the QRIP.

Prior to installing the device in operational jets, it was used in a dozen test F-35s in the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

Lt. Col. Nathan “Sheik” Malafa, 59th Test and Evaluation Squadron commander at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, said in a Nov. 10 Defense News interview that he hopes to expand use of the QRIPs to more Air Force fighters, as well as other aircrafts.

Roughly the size of a football, the QRIP takes up significantly less space than its former counterpart — a 2,500-pound pod — costing $25 million per unit. It can also record nearly a terabyte of data per flight.

Malafa said the former device, used only in test F-35s, was too cumbersome and expensive to even consider for operational aircraft.

The QRIP costs a fraction of the old system and is wired to the aircraft’s computers, expanding and expediting data collection. With the former system, it could take weeks or months to access the data.

To date, the 59th Test and Evaluation Squadron has installed QRIP to 19 operational Air Force F-35s at numerous locations around the world.

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