NGRAIN, the Vancouver-based company that makes the software, claims that the combination of these glasses and their software allows engineers to work 30 percent faster, and with accuracy up to 96 percent. Those numbers are huge for a company like Lockheed Martin. If even one F-35 fighter jet needs additional repairs and can't be sold or deployed, that costs the manufacturer big piles of money.
Using augmented reality on fighter jets means that people with a minimum amount of training can do their jobs consistently well, which translates to less cost and time for training. By doing, rather than just listening in a classroom or reading a manual, the retention of knowledge doubles. "[It's] the difference is between passively observing and actively doing," says Barry Po, director of product management at NGRAIN.