The U.S. Air Force revealed that the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, which will be out in 2008, will be the first U.S. fighter to respond to voice commands. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Human Effectiveness Directorate has been deliberating on the idea for some time, and has even tried out different systems from a variety of companies. They have finally zeroed in on The DynaSpeak speech recognition software, which has been developed by SRI International in conjunction with Adacel Systems. The system hooks on to the plane's onboard computer. It will be used to give commands for both communication and navigation. The requested data will then come up in the pilot's helmet display. With voice recognition commands handy, the pilot will be able to stay focused on maneuvering the planes and will not have to flip switches or press buttons to retrieve information. The DynaSpeak system for the military requires no particular accent or speech directives to be used. Any pilot flying the F-35 can start using it immediately

The Warfighter Interface Division of the Human Effectiveness Directorate is now testing the system in real planes and collecting data on its accuracy to make sure it's ready for operational tests, evaluation and implementation in 2008.