Fighter jets with DynaSpeak speech recognition: "Yeehaw!"

The Air Force is looking to include speech recognition software in upcoming fighter jets such as the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, which should see runways in 2008. Implementing speech recognition software would give pilots another option rather than always having to look down and check their panels.
Right now, testing is being done using DynaSpeak, developed by SRI International and Adacel Systems. Using a microphone attached to the inside of a pilot's flight mask, the speech recognition is said to be so good that any pilot should be able to sit down and start using it without much calibration. Simple commands would allow the pilot to access information he would otherwise be able to by looking at his panels, which would then pop up on his helmet display. The software doesn't appear to allow for flight control, though — "land" probably wouldn't do much. — Kevin Hall