76th SMXG – More than just code writers Published Aug. 15, 2011 By Brian Schroeder Tinker Public Affairs, Staff Writer Tinker AFB, Okla. -- Modern aircraft technology has come a long way from single-propeller airplanes used during World War I. Rather than cranking the engine by hand, pilots today simply push a button to activate the turbo jet engines. However, 76th Software Maintenance Group gets aircraft off the ground and maintains flight operations with modern technologies. The computer software programming and hardware engineering required to operate and maintain today's Air Force is much more complicated than the simple push of a button, said Dr. Doug Blake, 76th SMXG director. The work of the 76th SMXG not only enables innovative technologies in aviation, but ultimately keeps aircrews safe. "When people hear 'Software Maintenance Group,' they think we work in a cubicle jungle, staring at a computer screen fixing bugs in software," Dr. Blake said. "That is nowhere close to what we do here." Members of 76th SMXG at Tinker are required to perform an extremely diverse set of tasks, Dr. Blake said. The group provides software, hardware and engineering support solutions for a host of Air Force problems and on a variety of Air Force weapon systems. The group also provides software design and maintenance for engines and individual component systems. Roughly 630 civilians comprise the 76th SMXG workforce, with no active duty military in the group. Approximately 80 percent of the group's workforce is electrical engineers. The group began with a handful of employees more than 30 years ago, and is now possibly the largest employer of software engineers in the state. "We are the largest engineering organization on base, and probably in the state of Oklahoma," Tom LaBrie, 76th SMXG TPS technical director, said. "It's not just software developers punching code. There is a hefty amount of electrical engineering knowledge required to understand the circuitry, technology and how the hardware operates before you can even begin to figure out how to troubleshoot or write from the software perspective." Engineers within the group maintain more than 1,000 test program sets, which provide software support for the B-1, B-2, B-52, C-17, C-5 and E-3 aircraft, as well as software maintenance for all cruise missiles. They provide support for every major weapon system managed by the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center and most of the automation software used throughout the depot. The majority of 76th SXMG products support weapon systems and weapon platforms. However, their product and customer base extends to other shops within the wing, providing product support for engine propulsion, remote site support, avionics development and integration and configuration and data management. The group also provides software integration for pilot simulators, on-board electronics simulation and integrated system testing. The majority of all software and hardware products are conceptualized, developed and tested in laboratories located on Tinker. "If we don't do our job, the aircraft do not fly, pure and simple," Dr. Blake said. "We take tremendous pride in making something that we will stand up and put our seal of approval on. If you are flying into downtown bad-guy city and you lose capability of your aircraft, you are susceptible to being killed." The work performed by 76th SMXG can generally be divided into two categories -- Test Program Sets and Operational Flight Programs. Over the next few weeks, the Tinker Take Off will feature these two programs, as well as the products they produce.