Boeing is expanding a mobile, trailer-mounted F/A-18E/F simulator into a demonstrator and engineering development tool for network-centric warfare supporting the US Army's Future Combat System (FCS) and other company work on the integrated battlespace.
Planned modifications include new flat-panel displays to simulate various manned and unmanned aircraft types, and installation of a roof-mounted wideband phased-array antenna to link the demonstrator to the Boeing system.
"Next year we plan to integrate other systems into the trailer, and to tie it into the Boeing Integration Center [BIC] as well as other similar centres around the country," says Boeing F/A-18E/F/G business development manager Bob Farmer.
The unit houses an F/A-18E/F fixed-base simulator. The unit, previously used as a mobile development and demonstration tool, will be adapted "to prove a lot of the things we're trying to do with network-centric operations", says Farmer. Objectives include interaction with unmanned combat air vehicles, multi-mission maritime aircraft, the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F/A-22A and development programmes such as the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS).
The work coincides with preparations for flight demonstrations in November of network-centric warfare communications between the modified F/A-18F prototype, the California-based BIC and Boeing's St Louis and Seattle facilities. The test programme, which builds on recent F/A-18F Link 16 demonstration flights, is expected to be followed early in the first quarter of next year by first test flights of the JTRS in the F/A-18F.
Source: Flight International
