SimTecT 2007: New simulators for training F/A-18 pilots

1 May 2007

By Tom Muir

The process of acquiring and introducing a new family of flight simulators for a platform such as the F/A-18 Hornet is complex: this is about more than just buying equipment, the process must address human and training issues also.

The RAAF has taken delivery of three new F/A-18 tactical training simulators which can be expected to be fully utilised, so long as they satisfy the current and future training requirements of RAAF pilots. This has not always been the case with acquisitions of this sort.

In just six months, from mid-2006 to the end of the year, all three of the RAAF's new F/A-18 Hornet flight training simulators had been delivered, all ahead of schedule. The first simulator and associated items were accepted into service at RAAF Base Williamtown in June.

The second unit was then installed and tested at RAAF Base Tindal, with training commencing almost immediately. The third unit has been installed alongside the first at Williamtown and is also operational. The new simulator package of three full flight simulators and associated equipment and through life support is expected to cost some $93 million.

Raytheon Australia was contracted in May 2004 to provide three replacement F/A-18 Hornet flight simulators under the Hornet Aircrew Training System (HACTS), a subset of the Hornet Upgrade (HUG) project.

The simulators, which were developed and produced by L-3 Link Simulation & Training under contract to Raytheon, are based on the latest production Hornet simulators for the United States Navy and Canadian forces.

According to developer L-3 Link S&T, their Tactical and Operational Flight Trainer (TOFT), built and delivered for both the F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet aircraft, has been designed to support the full strike/fighter training continuum providing single-ship individual, multi-ship team and combat mission rehearsal training. The TOFT is the first F/A-18 US DoD HLA-certified training device.

Initially it leveraged the Link F/A-18 Weapons Tactical Trainer high-fidelity software to provide extensive procedural and weapons system training capabilities.

Now the TOFT has evolved to a PC-based architecture, maximizing COTS and reuse. The PC-based TOFT, along with its modular software architecture, facilitates technology insertion and simulator/aircraft concurrency.

The TOFT's visual display system, SimuSphere(tm), provides a high-resolution, scalable field-of-view capability. With this display the TOFT footprint has been minimised, greatly reducing both facility size and power requirements.

The modular TOFT can be adapted as a deployable system for use in the field, on the road or aboard an aircraft carrier, the last an aspect of little interest to the RAAF.

Since the TOFT was designed with scalability in mind, components can be tailored to meet defined training and system requirements.

These include unique avionics models, instructor and role player stations of varying fidelity and a brief/debrief system that allows students and instructors to fully reconstruct and manipulate an entire training event to maximize the effectiveness of the learning experience.

As a result, L-3 Link says the F/A-18 TOFT presents the Hornet and Super Hornet strike/fighter with a training environment, shaped to their requirements and based on tactical relevance.

From the get go, it is clear that the TOFT-based HACTS will deliver significant advantages over the previous Hornet simulator systems. Most noticeable will be the 300-degree visual system in a dome configuration.

This will enable aircrew to engage in far more accurate air-to-air and air-to-ground combat manoeuvres than possible with the previous simulator visual system. Night vision goggle and joint helmet mounted cueing capabilities will be simulated, allowing Hornet aircrew to practice hazardous operations in a safe environment.

The new simulators are configured to reflect the current Hornet Upgrade Phase 2.2 baseline and all three simulators can be linked to provide multi-pilot training in a simulated tactical environment. By operating collaboratively, pilots in each simulator can fly either allied missions or against each other, increasing the breadth of training exercises possible.

F/A-18 pilot training will be enabled through high fidelity, immersive visual displays combined with detailed simulations of new tactical systems included on recently upgraded F/A-18 aircraft.

A number of Australian airfields and target ranges have been modelled, allowing pilots to train over a variety of Australian simulated terrain. Raytheon Australia will provide through-life support for the new simulators until the withdrawal of the F/A-18 Hornet aircraft from service with the RAAF.

Due to their standardised High Level Architecture (HLA) capability, the HACTS trainers will be integrated as a virtual simulation force in Exercise Talisman Sabre 2007, through HLA linkage to the Joint Combined Training Centre (JCTC) at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area.

Raytheon Australia was engaged to facilitate the integration of HACTS to the JCTC Synthetic Environment as an initial step towards joint training, to be ready for use in Talisman Sabre 2007. This integration has included the development of a gateway to facilitate the interoperability of JCTC and HACTS systems, enabling operations such as ground attack training scenarios.

This required the integration of the respective training systems to enable common entity interaction and communications between ground personnel and pilots. To meet this JCTC requirement, the company has been developing and integrating a HACTS emulator, HACTS-JCTC Gateway and audio system.

When fully operational The JCTC training network will link training management systems, training areas, simulators, headquarters and units.

The network will also allow the interaction of live instrumented forces with virtual and constructive simulations (LVC) with constructive simulation able to be played through the simulation backbone from the ADF Warfare Centre, or as far a field as the US Joint Warfighting Centre in Virginia, USA. Cubic Defense Applications has been playing a key role in the development of the JCTC.

The company was contracted by the ADF to integrate Australia's laser-based instrumented training system for infantry and armour forces with other simulations systems, including the Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation (ACMI) system, which will also be employed during Talisman Sabre 2007.

It would appear that the RAAF will be served well by these new F/A-18 simulators. Not only will they readily emulate the capabilities of our post HUG F/A-18s but it would seem their software can be readily re-configured to support the different tactical training requirements for the F/A-18F Super Hornet, to be acquired as an interim strike/fighter capability prior to the introduction of the Joint Strike Fighter.

Was this an issue in the selection of the Super Hornet, that the HACTS could be modified to suit the new aircraft at relatively low cost?

On another issue, the HACTS simulators are configured to reflect the current Hornet Upgrade Phase 2.2 baseline. Phase 2.2 of Air 5376 incorporates Link 16, a full colour display upgrade, a digital moving map system, the helmet mounted cueing system and an upgrade to the countermeasures dispensing system (CMDS).

The next phase, 2.3 is for the acquisition and installation of the Raytheon ALR-67(V)3 radar warning receiver. This phase has not only been approved but Raytheon recently received a $US6.3 million antenna contract from the USN in support of the RAAF program which eventually will see 66 RWR systems acquired and installed in the RAAF F/A-18 fleet.

Although the HACTS devices are configured to Phase 2.2 could it be that they have an RWR capability that in basic form emulates the Raytheon ALR-67(V)3 now standardised on USN Super Hornets? While one would expect the threat libraries of the USN and RAAF RWRs to differ, a common RWR in the RAAF simulators would presumably enhance role play against USN F/A-18s in a simulated environment.

Finally, another issue for consideration: both Link S&T, the developer and producer of the HACTS simulator devices, and Raytheon Australia, the prime contractor, make the point in statements on this acquisition that the simulators are based on the latest production Hornet simulators for the United States Navy and Canadian forces.

Just 10 years ago, one of the papers presented at the SimTect97 conference had considerable impact on how the RAAF specified its requirements for flight simulators.

Its author was WGCDR Geoff Northam, now a senior executive with CSA Australia, who had been project manager for the F-111C simulator installed the previous year and was then managing the procurement of the AP-3C Advanced Flight Simulator.

Northam made the point that the numerous simulators, procured over the previous 30 years for pilot and flight engineer conversion training, had failed to meet user expectations in their intended role and had been relegated to procedural and part task training roles.

He said this was largely due to the failure of the RAAF to adequately define and express the training capability it required from flight simulators.

Harking back to the procurement of the F/A-18 OFTs, now being replaced under HACTS, he said the RAAF found itself torn between two USN F/A-18 training devices-the OFT which did not include enough tactical weapon simulation capabilities for the RAAF and the WST which was too expensive.

This led to the acquisition of a hybrid design (scaled-down WST or enhanced OFT) with the inclusion of a debriefing facility.

But as with other purchases he said the RAAF did not appear to have seriously examined its training requirements, which was reflected in the outcome of the F/A-18 OFT procurement:

* the two OFTs included many training features which were neither required nor used by the operational and training squadrons

* the air-to-ground radar, EW and FUR simulations were too simplistic to be of any significant training benefit

* although very capable instructional tools, the debriefing and performance monitoring capabilities were never used.

He said that while user expectations had been met in the flight performance of the F/A-18 OFT, there was a gap in its tactical training capabilities and instructional features that had been implemented but not used.

The OFT located at RAAF Williamtown was heavily utilised during pilot conversion training for most of the year, but that the other device, located at RAAF Tindal, had little utilisation, primarily because it provided training capabilities that were not in demand for the one squadron of operational F/A-18 pilots.

Northam said the requirement definition for the replacement F-111C simulator at Amberley followed previous practice and was not based on any training requirement analysis despite the RAAF's 15-year experience with F- 111C training operations.

The capability proposal simply provided an extremely brief description of the major subsystems without any explanation of the training tasks and activities required of the simulator.

Following intervention by the project office the capability proposal was amended to include a detailed list of all training tasks required to be undertaken in the new simulator.

Specific functional and performance requirements were then derived from these tasks, providing in turn the characteristics for each sub-system. Northam said this was the first RAAF simulator procurement proposal presented for Defence Committee consideration on the basis of its intended uses rather than its anticipated form.

While Northem's comments were made a decade ago, having noted references by L-3 Link and Raytheon Australia that the trainer developed for the Australian HACTS requirement is based on the latest trainers for the US Navy and the Canadian Forces, we also hope that the developer was required to incorporate those parameters for performance and function that accurately reflect the current and future training requirements of the RAAF rather then those of the US Navy or Canadian Air Force.