Leap in Fighter Aircraft Simulation

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Fighter aircraft training will look different soon. Currently, F-35 bases in the US can only link together as many simulators as they have on-site — usually as many as four. A new simulation capability called Distributed Mission Training (DMT) will allow an unlimited number of F-35 simulators to be networked together, enabling high end-training across different bases around the globe.

The Israeli Air Force already operated networked simulators for complex F-16 aircraft training.

Chauncey McIntosh, vice president for F-35 training and logistics at Lockheed Martin said their first customer was at Nellis Air Force Base [in Nevada]. “Essentially we’re waiting just to get the accreditation from the government. We’ll connect that [hardware] and then we’ll start running tests onsite with software. And then we’ll go to our final delivery in spring of 2020,” he told defensenews.com.

The capability that is described as a leap in flight simulator training will allow every U.S. Air Force base to network up to four of its own F-35 simulators with those of every other Air Force base, McIntosh said.

At some point, F-35A simulators may also be able to connect regularly with any other aircraft simulator that can be supported on the same network. McIntosh said in lab they were already able to connect to the F-22, the F-16, and [E-3] AWACS airborne early warning and control aircraft.

Lockheed is under contract to provide DMT to the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, as well as to the United Kingdom. However, because all of those entities run their F-35 simulators aboard different networks, they will not be able to connect with variants from other services, McIntosh said.

John Dixon, F-35 training operations manager at Lockheed Martin told Avionics International: “The simulators we’re using are operational flight program technology, meaning they have the exact same software and code that the aircraft has, there’s no difference. One of the capabilities that we try to ensure the pilots are used to is turning the DAS mode on and looking through the airplane,” said Dixon.

Lockheed Martin first received the $8.5 million contract award calling for the introduction of DMT across the F-35 program in March 2018. The contract sees the introduction of DMT occurring globally through May 2021.