Live, virtual, constructive training poised for growth.

• Author: Harper, Jon
• Position: Interview

Advances in simulation technologies and data links will revolutionize the way U.S. fighter pilots train, according to Defense Department officials and members of industry.

A blend of techniques known as live, virtual, constructive (D7C) is viewed by many experts as the wave of the future for aviation training. The concept entails linking live aircraft with manned simulators in the "virtual" world and computergenerated "constructive" forces.

The "live, virtual, constructive integrated concept... is one of my top priorities," Rear Adm. Michael Manazir, director of air warfare in the office of the chief of naval operations, said in an interview with National Defense.

"Imagine that you are flying in an F-35 live on a range in [Naval Air Station] Fallon and your wing man is a guy in a simulator sitting in Fallon on the ground," he said while describing a potential DVC training scenario. "Yet in the airplane when you look through your visor into the airspace... you see your wingman in the visor [even though] he's not really there, and in the simulator bubble... he sees you flying and everything that you do. And then both of you are presented with the same constructive scenario."

Several trends are driving the military's pursuit of DVC, which offers advantages over legacy training mediods, experts said. One is the increasing difficulty of replicating high-end enemy capabilities --such as advanced fighters and surfaceto-air missiles--with live "red" teams.

"We may not have that aircraft or ground threat system [in real form] but in the virtual or constructive world we can create it via modeling and simulation," said John "Fozzy" Green, training systems lead on the Naval Air Systems Command integrated warfare capabilities team.

"We can't get there truly without DVC because of the complexity of some of these scenarios and the fact that we just don't have the adversary systems to really stress out our aircrew and our systems properly," he added.

The problem is of particular concern as the Defense Department is preparing to fight in anti-access/area denial environments.

The Chinese "have created some pretty impressive airplanes and surface-to-air missiles," said Air Force Col. Nathan Hill, director of the training division within the air and space operations directorate at Air Combat Command. "We really have to go to the virtual or the DVC environment to train against it."

"I think 10 years from now we'll be much better equipped to go fight these [high-end] wars" because of DVC training, he...