What is GearFit?
GearFit creates a feedback loop between gear users and acquirers, enabling data-driven decisions about gear problems and priorities like never before.
With GearFit, you can truly empower your frontline personnel — from fighter pilots to firefighters — to perform their best in service to your organization's critical mission.
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Tackle your toughest gear challenges
Without the ability to collect, manage, and respond to feedback from the field well, your organization runs the risk of supplying gear that's ill-fitting, ineffective, and misused.
GearFit allows you to avoid negative impacts to these critical areas:
- Health
- Safety
- Mission effectiveness
- Quality of life
- Money
Long-term health issues
"The Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) has done irreparable damage to nearly every F-16 pilot I have flown with in my career. The price of addressing it will quickly be offset by preventing the loss of experienced pilots to neck issues and having to pay years of disability."
Long-term health issues
"The Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) has done irreparable damage to nearly every F-16 pilot I have flown with in my career. The price of addressing it will quickly be offset by preventing the loss of experienced pilots to neck issues and having to pay years of disability."
Safety risks
"Current Aircrew Eye and Respiratory Protection System (AERPS) gear poses a significant safety risk in the event of bailout and ejection via parachute. Even if the equipment is worn correctly, the straps can cover the parachute itself, preventing proper opening, which will almost certainly lead to death."
Decreased mission effectiveness
"The standard ear-cups on my helmet are insufficient for me to accomplish my job effectively. They are uncomfortable, don't have a good enough seal on my ears so while performing duties on the tail of the aircraft, I can't hear radio and communications transmissions."
Lower quality of life
"The length and weight of the Eagle Combat Integrated Armor Carrier System (CIACS) vest is not conducive to my stature as a female in the pilot seat. The armor plate sits under my chin when I am seated due to my short torso, making mobility next to impossible. Moving the flight controls or accessing any equipment is incredibly difficult and unsafe."
Budget waste
"The PACE ear protection system is very susceptible to damage. In just three months, I broke four of these externally-configured adaptors. I don't know one person who actively uses this product, which is not ideal because perception in the fighter cockpit is everything. The device must be reinforced or be capable of mounting in a different position to prevent such damage."
What GearFit offers your organization
Centralized feedback channel
Collect and keep track of feedback from the field, all in one tool. You can customize forms to collect the desired information — anonymously or not.
Coming soon!
Surface priority gear problems, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions with analytics tools. Easily manage feedback at scale by leveraging conversational AI, large language models, and natural language processing.
Workflow management
Access flexible support for your organization’s process and privacy needs with role-based access controls and customizable workflows.
Integrated resource and knowledge hub
Provide gear technicians and operators with access to an integrated content management system for gear information, resources, and training.
Flexible, secure platform
Leverage a modern architecture that enables flexible hosting, customization, and integration options to meet your organization's specific needs — such as Cloud One hosting for DoD customers.
Customer spotlight
U.S. Air Force - Human Systems Division
Agile Combat Support (ACS) Directorate, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC)
The USAF Human Systems Division (HSD) mission is to acquire and support human systems to enhance warfighter performance, protection, and survivability. The GearFit program arose after a female fitment event in 2019, where women expressed a desire to provide feedback about their gear.
Challenges
- Limited support for female aviators. Much of today's gear was designed using data from the 1960s, when only men were in aviator roles. As a result, female pilots have faced unique issues with their gear. For HSD, providing better fitting gear to women was a top priority that went all the way up to Congress.
- Limited pathways for feedback. Without a formal system for collecting and analyzing feedback from the field, feedback was disjointed and valuable insights were often missed. Also, the Air Force’s historical culture of “grin and bear it” suppressed the free flow of gear feedback.
- Aviators are busy. Aircrew are constantly moving and focused on the mission, leaving little time for computer work. Even in uncomfortable or imperfect gear, they find ways to carry on. This makes it difficult to recall feedback on the spot.
Solutions
- Targeting female aircrew. After initially launching to 100+ female fighter pilots, GearFit opened to 3,500+ aircrew across 10 MAJCOMs to address the limited gear support for female aviators. Many female GearFit users have expressed gratitude to the Air Force for listening to their concerns and providing an avenue to submit feedback.
- New feedback pathways. After gear data and feedback is collected, we built a subject matter expert (SME) feedback-response workflow with an anonymous mode for submissions. The GearFit team also produced 75 pages of content on common gear solutions and information in order to arm aircrew and gear technicians with comprehensive knowledge.
- Clear and simple submit flow. GearFit's design is simple, accessible, and straight to the point. When aircrew have feedback, they select the gear they use and describe the problem in just a few clicks. GearFit can sort and display gear based on the impact it has on aircrew, making it easy for leaders to understand at a glance which gear needs attention the most.
GearFit's impact
After receiving ~1,000 feedback submissions, GearFit helped identify 50+ gear improvement opportunities — including procurement actions, gear requirement changes, safety updates, and technician training — and collected innovative suggestions for improving gear throughout the acquisition life cycle.
- Health
- Safety
- Mission effectiveness
- Quality of life
- Money
Surfacing critical female fitment issues
A female pilot shared that she could not wear her parachute harness without significant pain and restriction of movement because the chest straps were cut too short by the manufacturer. A safe, short-term solution for a harness strap extender was crafted by MAJCOM gear reps while longer-term fixes are in progress.
Surfacing critical female fitment issues
A female pilot shared that she could not wear her parachute harness without significant pain and restriction of movement because the chest straps were cut too short by the manufacturer. A safe, short-term solution for a harness strap extender was crafted by MAJCOM gear reps while longer-term fixes are in progress.
Improving safety and mobility for smaller-stature pilots
Many aircrew, especially those with small stature, have submitted feedback in GearFit that their survival vests restrict mobility when flying, introducing significant safety concerns. Innovative pilots have contributed ideas within GearFit to make survival vests lighter, smaller, and more agile for when they're needed most.
Reducing bulk of life-preserver unit to increase mobility
Aircrew were experiencing restricted motion wearing their life-preserver unit (LPU), which prevented them from “checking their six” (looking behind them) in a dogfight. A gear technician at another base found a solution in packing the LPU to a certain thickness around the neck, a modification that’s being added to the Technical Order (TO) to address the issue for other aircrew.
Preventing bald spots for those with afro-textured hair
Some aircrew shared experiences with helmets causing bald spots in their afro-textured hair due to a lack of flight-approved hair wraps. These submissions shed light on a problem previously unknown to AF gear officials, who shared that "this is exactly the type of feedback we need."
Ensuring proper ear protection installation
New ear protection devices were breaking down, causing the local flight equipment shops to use their funds to frequently replace these devices. A GearFit submission highlighted the issue, and gear experts investigated and remedied a training gap for the shop.