The UK Ministry of Defence has praised the output of an ongoing concept demonstration of low-cost networked simulator-based training being conducted by the Royal Air Force and an industry team led by Qinetiq and Boeing, and also involving participation by the US Air Force Research Laboratory.
Now more than halfway through a 30-month programme which will conclude in March 2008, the up to £8.9 million ($17.8 million) Mission Training through Distributed Simulation project is being led by Team Active and the Air Battlespace Training Centre at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire. A hangar at the site has been equipped with eight simulators of varying fidelity, with these intended to support an assessment of the operational utility of networking affordable trainers for manned fighter aircraft.
Four representative cockpits each for the Eurofighter Typhoon and Panavia Tornado GR4 have been supplied by Rockwell Collins and visual systems - ranging from two domed simulators using 13 projectors each to four flat-screen single-channel devices - provided by CueSim. A rear crew trainer for the Boeing E-3D Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft is also used, along with desktop control stations for forward air controllers and unmanned air vehicles, plus computer-generated forces.
Combat-ready pilots from several RAF squadrons have participated in the programme, while around half of the exercises conducted to date have also involved real-time involvement by Fairchild A-10 and Lockheed Martin F-16 pilots at the AFRL's Mesa site in Arizona via a secure communications link. British Army Westland/Boeing Apache AH1 attack helicopter pilots at three sites have also participated via an interface with the Aviation Training International site at Dishforth, Yorkshire. Future events could also be networked via the US Distributed Mission Operations network, says Qinetiq.
The use of gaming technology has enabled the MTDS programme to deliver realistic, immersive training devices at around one-tenth the cost of a traditional full-mission simulator, says Jon Saltmarsh, Qinetiq's business development manager - air.
Heralding the project's success, Royal Navy Capt Iain Richmond, the MoD's director equipment capability, theatre airspace, notes: "The training benefit is a bonus at this stage of the programme."
Source: Flight International
