Collaborative exercises staged by forces' Joint Helicopter Command link variety of simulated aircraft types
The UK's Joint Helicopter Command (JHC) is strengthening its tactical training activities by staging so-called "Thursday Wars" at the Royal Air Force's Medium Support Helicopter Aircrew Training Facility (MSHATF), providing collaborative exercises between its aircraft types.
Conducted at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire, the Thursday War scenario links four or five of the school's six full-mission simulators together via a local area network for a combined tactical exercise lasting around 4h. MSHATF is equipped with three simulators for the RAF's Boeing CH-47 Chinook HC2, including one that can be reconfigured to operate in the Chinook HC3 configuration; two for the AgustaWestland EH101 Merlin HC3; and one for the Westland/Aerospatiale SA330 Puma HC1.
Last month, the facility hosted its first two in a series of the co-operative exercises, which are expected to continue every two or three weeks until the end of this year. One of the participating squadrons is designated lead for each exercise, which currently involve more than 100 synthetic "players", including Boeing E-3D Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, fast jets, forward air controllers and underslung loads managed from the school's tactical control centre (TCC). The RAF's Merlin HC3-equipped 28 Sqn led the most recent event late last month.
Future expansion of the Thursday War exercises could lead to the use of all six simulators and a doubling of the current mission endurance by adding simulated refuelling and a crew change. While the first few exercises will run fixed scenarios to prove the system, future events will offer an increased ability to change missions using MSHATF's seven visual databases. Additional growth could also include MSHATF being linked with a wide-area network established for the British Army's Boeing/Westland Apache AH1 attack helicopter simulators, plus the introduction of other elements from within the JHC and the UK's 16 Air Assault Brigade.
The Royal Netherlands Air Force is understood to have shown some interest in participating in future Thursday Wars, with the service already receiving Chinook training services at the school under a 15-year agreement. Additional users of the facility include Canada and Singapore, with Denmark and Portugal tipped to conduct some training on the EH101 at the site.
Run by CAE Aircrew Training Services under a private finance initiative deal, the MSHATF school is also close to meeting a contractual requirement for the TCC to manage 500 players; sufficient to run two major exercises simultaneously. "We are now in the final phase and developing the training to meet where the RAF wants to go," says MSHATF marketing director Paul Abraham.
CRAIG HOYLE / RAF BENSON
Source: Flight International
