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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 2527.PDF
Cover story Distributed simulation is gaining momentum in the USA because of increas ing constraints on live training, including aircraft fuel and maintenance costs, aircrew and airspace availability, classified aircraft and weapon capabilities, and the complex rules of engagement required for joint oper ations. Advances in simulation, meanwhile, are enabling more realistic exercises to be run virtually than can safely be staged live. Training centres Under a commercial training simulation services contract, Boeing has so far delivered three mission training centres for the air- superiority F-15C, each equipped with four full mission trainers (FMT) linked locally and long haul over the DMO network. Further Boeing-owned and -operated F-15C MTCs are planned, including the first out side the USA - at Kadena AB in Japan and RAF Lakenheath in the UK. Boeing is also under contract to set up MTCs for the F-15E strike aircraft at four USAF bases, including Lakenheath, beginning in 2006, each with two or four networked FMTs. Under a similar fee-for-service contract, Lockheed Martin is building mission train ing centres for the F-16C Block 40/50. Two are already in place in the USA and 18 of the one-, two- or four-ship MTCs are planned by the end of the decade, as far flung as Japan, South Korea, Germany and Italy. The E-3 MTCs, comprising multiple operator workstations, are provided by Plexsys. Two are operational, with four more planned. In addition to these commercially pro vided centres, the USAF plans to expand the DMO network by linking in existing simulators for other combat aircraft types, ranging from FMTs already being fielded for Fairchild A-10 attack and forward air- control aircraft, training devices for the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F/A-22 stealth fighter, and simulators for the Boeing B-52, Rockwell B-l and Northrop Grumman B-2 bombers. Eventually transports, tankers and other assets will be added to the net. Meanwhile, the US Navy has begun procurement of a distributed mission train ing capability for its principal combat air craft, the F/A-18 Hornet. The first four-ship set of networked training devices built by L-3 Link Training & Simulation is in acceptance testing at NAS Oceana, Virginia and a second suite is on order for NAS Leemore, California. Not surprisingly, the trend towards net worked simulation is catching on interna tionally. Boeing has installed two-ship F-15C mission training systems, based on its USAF MTCs, at three Royal Saudi Air Force bases. Canada's CF-18 advanced distributed combat training system (ADCTS), provided by Bombardier, will include six Link-built simulators at two mission training centres, plus 10 part-task trainers that can also be networked. Australia's Hornet aircrew train ing system, to be supplied by Raytheon, will comprise three networked AF-18 simulators at two locations, also built by Link and also based on the company's distributed mission trainers for the US Navy. In France, Sogitec and Thales Training & Simulation (TTS) are building simulation centres for the F2-standard Dassault Rafale, one for the air force and one for the navy. Each centre has four networked pilot sta tions, reconfigurable between air force and navy versions and, by virtual coupling of cockpits, between single-seat and two-seat variants. Plans call for the Rafale simula tors to be linked with similar centres for the Mirage 2000D and 2000-5. As a first step, TTS networked two simulators for the Mirage 2000C at Orange and one for the E-3 AWACS at Avord for First WAVE. Planning for First WAVE began in September 2000, seven NATO members signing up to participate: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA. The four-day series of exercises Rapidly compiled, high-fidelity visual databases are key to mission rehearsal conducted last month involved four Canadian Forces CF-18 simulators, the two French air force Mirages, Eurofighter simula tors at Alenia in Turin and EADS in Munich, three Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16s and Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s at RAF Lossiemouth. They faced four MiG-29s sim ulated by CAE, one of several manufacturers involved in the exercise. Support forces Supporting these combat-aircraft simula tors, RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland pro vided the blue-force (friendly) AWACS and computer-generated forces, as well as white-force (neutral) referees and role play ers, while over at CFB Cold Lake in Alberta the Canadian Forces commanded the red- force (enemy) MiG-29s being simulated by CAE at its Montreal, Quebec plant. As if the geographic dispersion was not enough of a challenge, the exercise used two different distributed-simulation proto cols to network together devices of differ ing fidelity levels and technology genera tions. The seven sites in Canada were linked using the latest HLA networking standard, as were the Eurofighters and Mirages, while the rest of the participants used the earlier DIS protocol. The real-time data interchange was accomplished using 36 30 NOVEMBER - 6 DECEMBER 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.fliqhtinternational.com
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