Mobile Range Instrumentation System To Be Tested on Carrier.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Date: 01 November 2000
• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Published date: 01 November 2000
• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

A sophisticated air combat maneuvering instrumentation system is expected to arrive on the Navy's USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier next summer, despite recent difficulties in the program, including delays and cost overruns.

The prototype system is part of a Navy-Air Force program called the Joint Tactical Combat Training System (JTCTS). The Navy originally sought this technology for tactical combat training, to replace older Top Guntype ranges. The goal was to develop a range system that could be used at sea, where both the aircraft and the ships would be instrumented. A Navy-only program was cancelled in 1992. In 1995, the Defense Department mandated that the program become a joint effort with the Air Force, which was seeking a similar capability for its combat ranges.

Air combat maneuvering instrumentation consists of sensor-equipped pods, carried under the wings of aircraft used in training. They contain electronics that record and calculate simulated firings of weapons and "kill" messages. The information, which relies on Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) data, is viewed in real time via a computer data link to ground-based monitors.

"The Navy and the Air Force have unique tactical training requirements," said William V. McCanless, program manager for JTCTS at the Naval Air Systems Command. The Navy's existing tactical aircrew combat training system (TACTS) and the Air Force's air combat training systems (ACTS) have been in use for many years. "To take advantage of recent technologies and replace our legacy training systems, a determination was made [by the Pentagon] to create a joint acquisition with the Navy as the lead service," McCanless told National Defense.

A contract for the JTCTS was awarded in 1995, to the Raytheon Company Naval and Maritime Systems, in Portsmouth, R.I. It was a five-year contract with production options, said Joseph Ricci Jr., the company's technical director for training systems.

JTCTS can be described as a range-less instrumented training network of ships and aircraft that rely on GPS satellites and simulation technology to create a "synthetic environment overlaid on real world participants," said Ricci in an interview. Simulated weapon and radar threats also are part ol JTCTS. The air maneuvers can be monitored in teal time on ground- or ship-based stations or can be recorded for future after-action review.

The instrumentation would monitor aircraft position and record combat actions. The instrumentation...