Almost real: digital designs and virtual tests continue to be subject of debate.

• Author: Wagner, Breanne
• Position: TRAINING AND SIMULATION

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To speed up deliveries and cut costs, the U.S. military's newest jet fighter will undergo much of its testing in digital simulations.

The Defense Department for years has relied on "virtual prototypes" to test advanced weapons systems. Boeing pioneered the technology in the late 1980s with the paperless design of its 777 jetliner.

Simulation and modeling technology is now so much more sophisticated that, in theory, it could save the Defense Department billions of dollars in testing and training costs, say industry officials.

The technology is "orders of magnitude better than it was five years ago ... I don't see it as risky," says John Lenyo, president of CAE USA, a supplier of military simulators.

One of the most complex military vehicles ever built, the Space Shuttle, was designed and tested in simulators, Lenyo says in an interview. "They didn't do too many 'tests' before they launched the real thing for the first time," Lenyo adds. "The industry knows how to do this stuff in simulations pretty well. Everything that's procured these days is done that way ... The Defense Department requires that."

Even so, he says, "You'll never completely eliminate live testing."

Among the military programs that are significantly stepping up the use of digital models for testing and training is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which will continue to undergo tests in simulations even after it begins low-rate production in 2010. This attempt to test and build simultaneously could pose risks, some experts contend, given the complexity and cost of the JSF program.

Engineers are using powerful simulators to virtually fly the new jet while it's still under development. Advanced computing power and complex 3-D imaging are making simulated flights in fighter aircraft more realistic than ever.

The JSF has been fully designed on computers, using no paper, says Ralph Heath, vice president of Lockheed Martin Corp. "The digital thread works," Heath tells an industry conference. This approach to aircraft development has become the standard for military programs, Heath says. "Things will never be the same again."

But the notion that engineers should rely on simulators for testing while the JSF is concurrently being designed and constructed remains controversial, even though the technology is widely used in the aerospace industry.

"The issue is that the simulators don't realistically capture everything that goes in a real aircraft," says Philip...