Collective simulation essential for pilot leadership training.

• Author: Tiron, Roxana
• Position: Flight Training - Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer-Aviation

Ensconced in dark, quiet trailers, Army pilots armed with virtual reality helmets are in the middle of an air assault mission. The command cell, meanwhile, conies alive with the hectic radio transmissions of an operation gone out of kilter. A Black Hawk explodes in mid-air.

What the pilots don't know is that the helicopter failure was a well-planned exercise by instructors to test their decision-making and communications skills, which are essential for these captains readying for company command positions.

To prepare these young aviators for their leadership roles, the U.S. Army's aviation school, at Fort Rucker, Ala., is using the Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer-Aviation reconfigurable manned simulator at its full capacity. AVCATT-A is produced by Link Simulation & Training.

Until last year, when AVCATT-A was first delivered, the Army had no other collective trainer, according to service officials. Now, the Army is planning to buy 23 more systems and will send them to bases across the country, said Col. Lee LeBlanc, head of the directorate of simulations at Fort Rucker.

With the frantic operational tempo in Afghanistan and Iraq--that potentially could leave no Army pilots without combat experience--simulation is allowing aviators to rehearse missions and adjust to changing tactics, techniques and procedures, said LeBlanc.

About 600 aviators a month train in the AVCATT-A suite at Fort Rucker. This includes everyone from novice warrant officers to colonels, said Link's Jack Pennington, who runs the technical control for the two training suites at Rucker.

The AVCATT-A, which is contained in two transportable trailers, allows up to six crews to train together on a virtual-reality battlefield. The simulator can reconfigure the AH-64A Apache (the AH-64D Longbow module is scheduled to arrive in coming months), OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47D Chinook--basically, the Army's attack, reconnaissance and utility helicopters. Commanders can mix and match rotary wing platforms.

The training suite also has a battle master control room and an after-action review theater. The battle master can see and hear everything taking place on the battlefield by viewing displays that provide either situational awareness, a "God's-eye-view" of the combat area from any perspective or a sensor panel that simulates a helicopter's weapons sight.

Workstations in the battle control room enable other soldiers to serve in ground maneuver, fire...