Air force to expand simulator network.

The U.S. Air Force will continue to upgrade and expand its network of combat simulators, despite widespread talk about training budget cutbacks and technical difficulties in networking disparate simulators from multiple contractors.

Officials told National Defense that the service remains committed to its Distributed Mission Training program.

DMT was designed to link the simulators from all Air Force fighters and support aircraft, so aviators can train collectively, in a synthetic, but realistic environment.

While the Air Force is expected to spend about $500 million on DMT through 2009, the funding levels could change, however, depending on whether the United States escalates military operations in Iraq, said industry officials. They noted that training accounts usually suffer when operations are under way.

So far, the Air Force successfully integrated four F-15 simulators at Langley Air Force Base, Va., with four other F-15 trainers at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. In recent months, one F-16 simulator was added to the DMT mix, at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., and one at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, according to David Schairbaum, the Air Force DMT program manager. The trainers are linked to the AWACS simulator at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.

The program got under way about five years ago. It was the brainchild of Air Force Gen. Richard Hawley, the former head of the Air Combat Command.

Lt. Col. Ronald Joseph, the chief of the Revolutionizing Training Division, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, said he is optimistic about the future of the program, despite some technical hurdles. "We have some technological challenges with moving a lot of data from a wide array of sources, which are geographically separated," he said. "You have all those lines and congestion, and we need to have a good simulation."

Given the high-level fidelity that the Air Force demands for its trainers, the technology must work without "hang-ups," he said.

As the service looks to grow the network of DMT simulators, he explained, much of the focus will placed on upgrading existing trainers, to make them DMT compatible. "Our system right now is nowhere near full capacity, but as we grow, the technological problems will be a challenge," he added.

The Air Force, meanwhile, is also considering deploying DMT trainers to forward bases in Europe and the Middle East, sources said.

Lockheed Martin is preparing to deliver, by 2004, a four-ship F-16 mission training center to units at Spangdahlem Air Force Base, in Germany.

"You will see a lot more distributed training where the users are," said Nick Ali, Lockheed Martin's vice president for training and simulation solutions. The company is the prime contractor for the F-16 trainer.

Current DMT facilities are in large buildings that cannot be transported. But the latest versions of the simulators are easier to reconfigure and make them deployable, Ali said.

"The design of the new DMT is such that they can be taken apart and put together easily, because it is a modular design," said Steve Detro, senior manager of Air Force programs at SGI Federal, one of the subcontractors on the DMT program. "The way the cockpits and displays are designed, they can be transported and put together," he said.

Schairbaum reported that new DMT hardware is on its way. Three more F-16 simulators and other equipment will be delivered to Shaw, in December, to complete a four-ship mission training center. In March 2003, a second AWACS training center will be up and running at Tinker. In July 2003, a four-ship F-15 DMT will arrive at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

Lockheed will complete a two-ship trainer at Mountain Home, by 2004, said Richard Roop, the company's simulation and training director.

The initial goal for the DMT program was to build 63 simulators, Detro said. Several platforms that were supposed to be upgraded for the DMT still await funding, he said. Among those are the E-8 Joint Stars, the B-2 and B-1 bombers, and the RC-135 Rivet Joint signals-intelligence aircraft.

Boeing has added networking capabilities for DMT-type simulations on existing training devices for the C-17 and C-5 heavy-lift cargo airplanes, and the KC-10 tanker. Nearly two years ago, the company demonstrated the ability to link its Joint Strike Fighter full-mission simulator to the F-15 DMT at Eglin. Boeing subsequently lost the JSF competition to archrival Lockheed Martin.

Visual Databases

The DMT technology could help the Air Force address emerging training requirements, such as night operations, experts said.

Detro noted that new simulators will be required to accommodate night-vision devices. "We are operating our single-seat fighters with night-vision goggles, which is a pretty dangerous thing to do." He stressed that DMT would be the ideal way to train pilots how to use their night-vision goggles.

In the DMT program overall, he said, the Air Force must address a more serious concern, which is software incompatibility, particularly in high-fidelity imagery. That can create problems when trying to network different simulators.

"Unfortunately, each system is procured from different system integrators," he said. "Because the Air Force buys the systems by the hour, they have less control over the components of the simulator, but they want the same high-fidelity database across all flight simulators.

The DMT program has received high-level support within the Air Force. Among its advocates is the chief of staff, Gen. John Jumper, alongside Gen. Hal Hornburg, current head of the Air Combat Command. They both have said that their goal is to have an integrated suite of DMT trainers for fighters, command-and-control aircraft and bombers.

Industry experts cautioned, however, that any extended conflict in Iraq or elsewhere will drain funds from training program accounts, including the DMT. Unlike previous simulator projects, the DMT facilities are operated entirely by contractors. The Air Force pays hourly rates for the training services.

Jerry Weltsch, a defense industry analyst with Frost & Sullivan, said that the pay-by-the-hour arrangement in the DMT program means that contractors are likely to lose money if more crews are deployed and less hours are spent on the trainers.

"If, for Iraq, the Air Force is flying out of Bahrain, for example, there could be a lot of activity for F-16s, and pilots may not be available for training," he said.

Further, the huge costs associated with an air war in Iraq would stress the Defense Department's training budgets in general, said Weltsch.

Joseph said that the service is not about to withdraw financial support for the program. "We have national priorities that will take precedence, but the chief of staff has been committed to DMT," he said.

But he admitted that the AWACS facility at Tinker has been underused, as more pilots have been deployed overseas and have not been available to train. "That is something we are going to accept, because those guys are always deployed during war," he said.

Right now, the F-15 and F-16 trainers "are being utilized as much as possible," Joseph said.

He predicted that the contractors will not lose money, even if pilots do not train as often in the simulators. "We buy a service based on a certain period of time and hours a day," Joseph explained. "There will be a time when we may not be able to fill those, but that will be very rare."

Weltsch's outlook is less optimistic. "It was a big risk on the part of the companies to take on these contracts and lose money," he said. "It has great potential but [from the inception] it was a logistical nightmare and that is why the contractors had to take it on themselves to integrate the systems."

The DMT program has shown that it is possible to integrate disparate simulators, but it's debatable whether the technology is "cost effective," said Weltsch.

Seeking to beef up their DMT revenue stream outside the United States, Lockheed Martin and Boeing are promoting the technology in countries that fly the F-15 and F-16.

"Many air forces realize the potential DMT offers to improve training, while reducing flight operational cost and limiting the impact flight operations have on the environment," said Roop. "Because of its modular equipment design and open architecture, air forces may upgrade the base system."

Roop said that Lockheed is partnering with several air forces to determine the necessary level of training and the most urgent requirements.

Boeing is already working under a contract with the Royal Saudi Air Force for the F-15C DMT. The Saudis are acquiring squadron-level training at three separate bases, according to the company. The value of the contract is approximately $50 million, plus options. Delivery is scheduled for the second quarter of 2003.

Joseph noted that the current DMT prime contractors (Boeing for the F-15, Lockheed for the F-16 and Plexsys for the AWACS) have done well so far.

All three firms initially received five-year contracts. After the delivery of the first systems, the performance of each company "is evaluated on a yearly basis and the contractor is awarded points," Joseph explained. "If he earns 100 points during the evaluation, then he can be awarded another year of contract."

Based on this scoring system, Boeing has earned another two years of contract, said Joseph. Lockheed's evaluation has just started, with the first delivery of the F-16 trainers this year, he said.

The contractors potentially could extend their agreements for up to 15 years, based on their performance.