“Changing the rules of engagement.”

Mikael Grev talks about the origins of the company, the impact of AI-driven Decision Support Systems and why collaborating with a team of former Swedish Air Force Pilots is a unique experience.

Mikael Grev, co-founder and CEO of Avioniq, started flying jets at the Swedish Air Force Flying School at Ljungbyhed in 1995. He entered active service with the Viggen fighter in 1998, and between 2005 and 2012 his ‘office among the clouds’ was the Gripen multirole fighter aircraft. Grev, who started programming computers at the age of ten, is also the lead software engineer of the company and the brain behind several of its innovative AI-driven software tools. That unique set of skills – elite Fighter Pilot and computer prodigy – is the driving force behind Avioniq and its state-of-the-art products.

What is the fundamental idea behind Avioniq?

“As a pilot, I was very performance oriented and always focused on getting the maximum out of the pilot/aircraft package. I wanted to be the absolute best at BVR (Beyond Visual Range) combat, but over the years I became frustrated with the incoherence between the pilot’s way of thinking and the aircraft’s way of working. The man/machine interface was far from optimal for fighting with the new long-range missiles and stand-off weapons. That’s the main reason we exist.”

As a programmer, you felt there was something you could do about it?

“Yes, fighter aircraft are generally too hardwarecentered. Rather than supporting the pilot’s way of forward-thinking, they just show what is happening right now, piling up the cognitive workload. Meaning, there are big benefits if you can make the aircraft actually solve the problems for the pilot, rather than just show them.”

Rattlesnaq, your main product, is the embryo of that conclusion?

“Exactly. I worked at FLSC (Swedish Aerial Combat Simulator Center) for a while. During my spare time, I thought a lot about how the aircraft presents data and how performance is affected when pilots need to translate what’s being presented, while at the same time keeping track of everything that’s going on in the threat environment. So, I put together my own flight simulator where I could test this brand-new way of presenting. Instantly, I could see enormous benefits. Our Decision Support System, Rattlesnaq, has since been developed into an advance AI-driven tool, and has been evaluated successfully at government level. Our first customer deliveries were completed in 2020.”

What makes collaboration with Avioniq a unique experience?

“For sure, it’s our Fighter Pilot DNA. We operate as a fighter squadron with laser focus on our targets. Pilots who test our systems will instantly feel at home. We believe you shouldn’t have to sit down and explain it to a professional, you shouldn’t need advanced tests where the operator must learn a large number of symbols, statistics and percentages to start working. It should be completely intuitive and make sense from the very beginning.”

Describe your customer offer?

“We offer top level know-how for Decision Support Systems in the military aircraft arena. Our products truly help operators to better carry out their missions. It’s a niche that’s been absent from the defense industry, which is still overly hardware-focused. There is immense untapped potential for cutting-edge Decision Support Systems with superior UX, like ours. Systems that offer significant value through increased combat effectiveness, compared to existing products.”

Can you develop that thought?

“I can compare it to the days when we traded in our Viggen for Gripen. Previously, you had to look at the angle-of-attack meter all the time, while trying to maneuver towards the target. In Gripen, you could focus entirely on the target, as the aircraft did not allow you to cross the G-limit or take too much Angle-of-Attack. That freed up the pilot to do what he was there to do. Today, we are doing much the same thing with BVR combat. We have raised the pilot’s duties by a level of abstraction, so that he just needs to think about the overall strategic decisions. Who should be fought and why, the question of ‘how’ is almost entirely solved by our Decision Support System.”

Why should customers choose to collaborate with Avioniq?

“To start with, our unique expertise in the field. At Avioniq, fighter pilots are integrated in product development from day one. Myself, I am both an engineer and a fighter pilot and we are dedicated to creating an environment where everyone is fluent in both languages. Another important aspect is that we already have these products in the market. Should anyone else start doing what we do, it will take 5–10 years to get to where we are today, if not more.”

Does this qualify as a quantum leap?

“Absolutely. Think about the different generations of aircraft. Gripen, for instance, is a generation 4–4.5 aircraft, F 35 –F 22 with its stealth technology is generation 5. A Gripen equipped with our Rattlesnaq decision support would, in fact, qualify as a gen. 6. From that perspective, I believe we’re not just challenging the current status-quo. We are changing the rules of engagement.”