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Even as the future of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is debated at the highest levels in the Pentagon, there is no halt in work to get the training system ready before the aircraft enters service. The first Lockheed Martin F-35 is not scheduled to fly until August next year, but preparation of the test force is getting under way and will help shape the planned multi-variant, multi-national training programme.
Like the aircraft itself, the JSF training system is planned as the most integrated and international of its kind ever undertaken, both in design and in service. Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training & Support, as prime contractor, has assembled a database of some 400 suppliers worldwide with which it plans to work in developing, building and operating the JSF pilot and maintenance training systems.
For the first time in a fighter programme, a single training programme with a common set of courseware and devices is being designed for all customers, regardless of service or nationality. Design of the training systems is an integral part of the $25.7 billion system development and demonstration (SDD) programme that currently involves three F-35 variants, three US services and nine countries.
Unique challenges
Affordability is a key driver in design of the training system, and the combination of multi-role, multi-variant, multi-service and multi-national requirements places unique challenges on its development. Lockheed, working under a 10-year, $750 million training system prime contract, has elected not to outsource the responsibility, but to award myriad contracts for the elements of the courseware and devices. That way it hopes to tap into the best technology available, while helping meet international partners’ expectations for industrial return on their investment.
With the first F-35 now assembled and in ground test at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas plant, work on the training system is accelerating. The preliminary design review (PDR) for the pilot training system was conducted in mid-November, with the maintenance training system PDR planned for March next year.
“Our milestones are offset by one from those of the air vehicle,” says JoAnne Puglisi, JSF training systems integrated product team (IPT) lead. This is a lesson learned on the Lockheed/Boeing F/A-22 programme, where the aircraft and training systems have been developed concurrently and “when the aircraft changes, we have to play catch-up”, she says. Plans call for the JSF training systems to “catch up” with the air vehicle by the end of 2006, so they are ready for training in October 2009.
Within the SDD organisation, the training systems are a “Tier 3” activity – Tier 1 being the aircraft itself. Under the recently replanned programme, initial operational capability (IOC) is 2012 for the US Marine Corps short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B; 2013 for the US Air Force conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) F-35A and US Navy F-35C carrier version; and 2014 for the UK, the first international customer.
This could all change as a result of the Quadrenniel Defence Review now drawing to a close at the US Department of Defense, with one cost-saving scenario speculated being cancellation of the F-35A variant. For now, the future is unclear, and the contractor team continues to work to the rebaselined schedule. “We are still on track to be ready for training by delivery of the first low-rate initial production aircraft in October 2009,” says Puglisi.
“We will stand up a total turnkey system with the first aircraft,” she says. This includes instructor-led electronic classrooms, computer-based training, synthetic training devices, training management system and all the courseware, and takes the form of a contractor-run integrated training centre (ITC) responsible for delivering mission-qualified pilots and maintainers to the services.
International customers
The ITC is planned for Eglin AFB in Florida, with two more expected to open in 2014 and 2019, respectively. The plan is for the ITC to provide training for all three US services plus international customers beginning with the UK, but JSF programme executive Adm Steve Enewold acknowledged earlier this year that there was pressure from the US services for each to have their own training centre.
“A single ITC gets us to the 2012-13 timeframe,” he said. “There is dissention in the fold on whether the second and third centres in the USA will be joint, as was the plan.” There is also talk of setting up a European pilot training centre, but this will depend on the outcome of government-to-government negotiations now under way on signing an international memorandum of understanding for the JSF production, sustainment and follow-on development phase.
As prime contractor, Lockheed’s responsibility will extend beyond producing mission-qualified JSF pilots and maintainers at the ITC. “We are not just doing the schoolhouse, but providing training at operational squadrons,” says Puglisi. The system is also required to provide services ranging from annual continuation training to on-demand deployed training.
The goal of the programme is to develop a common suite of courseware and hardware to be used for JSF training whether it is at the US ITCs, a UK centre operated under a private finance initiative, or European or other foreign locations. Lockheed and its team members have been working on courseware development, while integrated instructional system design is under way and the procurement of elements of the training system is beginning.
As much of the syllabus as possible will be common across variants and customers. About 65% will comprise entry-level training to bring every student up to the same level followed by core tasks that use common nomenclature across all operators. The remaining 35% will be made up of common tasks that have unique service nomenclature, and training that is unique to each of the three variants.
A draft pilot training syllabus for the CTOL and STOVL variants was presented for review by customer services earlier this year. Designed to replace several different types of combat aircraft operated in a variety of roles by a wide range of customers, the JSF is a more capable platform that will require additional training. At the same time, the syllabus will be required to provide pilots with a higher level of combat readiness without increasing training span or reducing throughput. To achieve this, the Lockheed-led team plans to make use of web-based, distributed and embedded training in addition to synthetic devices.
The design process involves determining which training task will be performed on which medium, developing requirements for the courseware or device, then going to industry with a competitive procurement. “We brief industry every six months,” says Puglisi. “We are moving as late as possible on procurement as the technology is evolving and the aircraft is maturing.”
To solicit bids from the widest supplier field possible, Lockheed is making use of its JSF training systems website. Notification of the intent to issue a request for information (RFI) is posted on the public site 30 days before the request is distributed to companies in the online supplier database. From the RFIs submitted, a smaller number of companies is selected to receive the final request for proposals (RFP).
Quick turnaround
The web-enabled process is a response to criticism of air-vehicle supplier selection, with many potential offshore bidders complaining they were unable to respond within the quick turnaround times required by Lockheed and its team. Using the supplier database, Puglisi says, a courseware RFI was sent to 154 companies and drew 45 responses. The RFP was sent to a smaller group of companies and resulted in award of six contracts – four to international companies.
Stakes are getting higher as Lockheed begins key procurements for the JSF training devices. The designs are still evolving, but the plan calls for two baseline pilot training devices – a full mission simulator and a deployable mission rehearsal trainer – from which others will be derived as required. There will be extensive reuse of aircraft software in the pilot-training devices and a range of maintenance simulators including avionics, ejection system and weapons loading trainers.
An early focus of pilot training device development has been the need for high-fidelity visual systems. Initial technology-assessment awards were made to Barco and SEOS to study compact visual displays for the containerised deployable trainer, and to study helmet-mounted display system optics. The primary flight display on the JSF is helmet-mounted, posing a training challenge as the flight helmet is costly.
A competition to supply the common image generator was launched in October, with the winner to be announced soon. Bidders are expected to include CAE, Evans & Sutherland, FlightSafety International and Quantum3D. CAE has offered its new Medallion 6400 image generator, which uses powerful commercial graphics chips to generate 8 million pixels per channel, providing the capability to drive the latest high-resolution laser and LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) displays.
Other procurements coming up include those for the visual displays and tactical environment, while a lengthening list of RFIs and RFPs includes the cockpit controls, panels and displays, host computers and equipment for networking the simulators. This underlines Lockheed’s approach to buying in as much of the JSF training devices, from as wide a field of suppliers, as possible. While the pilot training devices will be integrated at Lockheed’s Akron, Ohio simulator plant, the maintenance training devices will be outsourced, with procurement planned for 2006-7.
GRAHAM WARWICK/WASHINGTON DC
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Source: Flight International
