Navy Reorganizing to Accelerate Sailor Training.

• Author: Mayfield, Mandy
• Position: TRAINING & SIMULATION

ORLANDO, Fla.--The Navy is looking to industry as it reorganizes its training offices and invests in upgraded technologies to prepare sailors for future battles.

The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division recently realigned itself, moving to a structure where individual offices have more autonomy, enabling the streamlining of new training capabilities, said Capt. Timothy Hill, commanding officer of the organization.

"[We are] changing our processes to differentiate our work so that we can move faster," Hill said in June during the National Training and Simulation Association's annual Training and Simulation Industry Symposium in Orlando. NTSA is an affiliate of the National Defense Industrial Association.

"We continue to find things internally that we can do better ... and I would ask--and I've asked this in other forums before--if you see a place where we're doing something that doesn't make sense, please tell us, we would like to know so we can improve on those things," Hill told members of industry.

In an effort to bolster the modernization of its training initiatives and technology, the center has created a number of new job positions. For example, it recently stood up what it calls the "Ready Relevant Learning Training Systems" program manager position, Hill said.

The office will focus on improving individual sailor performance and enhancing fleet readiness, according to the Navy.

The division has also established a principal deputy program manager position for the F-35 Training Systems Program Management Office.

This was "an important part of solidifying our work and our participation in the F-35 program, which is certainly the future of naval aviation and a lot of other aviation efforts out there in general," Hill said.

The Navy is purchasing the C variant of the joint strike fighter, which can take off and land on aircraft carriers.

Meanwhile, as the landscape of warfare continues to shift, the training offices are utilizing live, virtual and constructive training capabilities to teach naval aviators new skills. LVC training leverages virtual reality and other computer-generated entities to supplement live training.

"Simulators are being used like crazy by the [tactical] air fleet right now, and it's because they're bringing value," Hill noted.

As an example, Hill explained that Carrier Air Wing Seven--an aircraft carrier air wing based at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia--typically consists of a more distributed...