F-22, Joint Strike Fighter Trainers Redefine 'Point-and-Click' Warfare.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Date: 01 November 2000
• Author: Stanton, John
• Published date: 01 November 2000
• Author: Stanton, John

When it comes to tactical flight simulators and trainers, two of the U.S. Defense Department's multibillion-dollar fighter aircraft programs mark a drastic departure from many of the conventional ways of doing business.

The Air Force F-22 Raptor and the multiservice Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) have introduced novel approaches to building training capabilities for current and future pilots, industry experts said. Not only are these new systems more technologically advanced, but they also benefit from management techniques that emphasize, for example, close industry-government cooperation.

The F-22 is built by Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems, in Marietta, Ga. The Boeing Company, in Seattle, is a major subcontractor on the program. Both companies, however, are pitched against each other in a competition for the JSF. The selection of the winner is scheduled for 2001.

The approaches followed by these two programs in developing flight training technology combine high-tech gadgetry with new ways of managing weapon systems, according to officials from the two firms and independent experts interviewed for this story.

"I've never seen a program [F-22] quite like it before," said Dan Farinella, program manager at L3 Communications, Link Simulation and Training, in Arlington, Texas. The company is building the training system for the F-22. "We have an unprecedented relationship with Boeing, Lockheed Martin and the government. They've taken their lessons learned ... to implement rigor into the program."

Dixie Mayes, Boeing JSF training manager, indicated that Boeing has more leeway in developing training devices than under previous tactical fighter programs. "We're more involved. The government said, 'You understand your system better than we do, so go ahead and develop it."'

Lockheed Martin's Mark Hodge, director of Air Force advanced programs in Washington and instructor of the F-22 training device in Arlington, Va., indicated that "the government isn't taking a throw-the-design-over-the-fence approach. [Instead], they're supportive and involved." Hodge, a former Navy F-14 combat pilot, enthusiastically displayed an information-processing unit with roughly 16 separate slots holding removable CD-like devices.

"Back in 1983, the F-14 computer had about 64 megabytes of RAM [memory] and about 100 megahertz of power. Imagine being stuck with that today, and trying to find a manufacturer who would build a replacement processor for that," Hodge said. "In contrast, the F-22's central information processing unit has been designed so that when the newest technology comes out, we can pull out the card with the old processor and upgrade to the new one. While that may seem to be an obvious solution, you cant imagine from an acquisition perspective how many years it took to get here."

Lessons Learned

The F-22 and JSF simulation and training programs also incorporate lessons learned from the entertainment industry--in the areas of image fidelity and distributed simulations. In 1997, a National Academy of Science report, titled "Modeling and Simulation: Linking Entertainment and Defense," encouraged communication between the two seemingly disparate industries. "Modeling and simulation have become increasingly important to both the entertainment industry and the Defense Department. In the entertainment industry, technology lies at the heart of video games, theme park attractions and entertainment centers, and special effects for film production," said the report. "For the Defense Department, modeling and simulation provide a low-cost means of conducting joint training exercises, evaluating new doctrine and tactics, and studying the effectiveness of new weapons systems. Both industries are aggressively pursuing distributed simulation systems. ... These common interests suggest that they may be able to more ef ficiently achieve their individual goals by working together to advance the technology base for modeling and simulation."

Experts said it is important that military planners keep the channel open to the entertainment industry, if for no other reason than they have to consider the demographics of the pilots and aircraft maintainers they will be training during the next 50 years. For example, the pilot of 2010 is the 12 year old of 2000, who is "flying" and playing the F-22 and JSF video games now on a desktop computer. "We've had experienced combat pilots from all over the world fly this F-22 cockpit demonstrator, but the best pilot I've had in here was a 12-year-old girl," said Hodge. It's an issue that needs close attention, he added.

Roger Smith, chief software scientist at BTG Inc., in Orlando, Fla., agreed. "You've got to remember that these training devices and simulators are being designed just as we are beginning to use new methodologies in software such as reusable code and developing the distributed training environment," said Smith. "The...