Lockheed Martin [LMT] said on Sept. 16 that it recently demonstrated the ability to link six F-35 Full Mission Simulators (FMS)–four at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar, Calif., and two at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif.–to ease the training for pilots of the fifth-generation fighter.
“Thanks to the recent installation of Distributed Mission Training (DMT), USMC pilots at MCAS Miramar can connect with U.S. Navy aviators at NAS Lemoore to run joint simulated training exercises in a train as you fight environment,” Lockheed Martin said in a Sept. 16 statement. “This is critical to warfighter readiness as it replicates what the pilots do in live theater.”
Benito Avendano, Lockheed Martin’s training and logistics program manager, said that the MCAS Miramar-NAS Lemoore simulator linkage “marked the first time that an F-35 six-ship training activity was performed, with the two FMS Devices in Lemoore and the four FMS devices in Miramar jointly operating in a training environment on the NCTE network.”
“Additionally, while the six-ship event was required for validation, the current capabilities will actually support up to four devices per site for eight-ship training,” Lockheed Martin said.
In 2018, Lockheed Martin said that it intended to link 12 F-35 simulators together through DMT (Defense Daily, Nov. 2, 2018). In March 2018 Lockheed Martin received the initial $8.5 million DMT contract award for the F-35. Starting in 2019, F-35 pilots training at the U.S. Air Force Weapons School were to be introduced to DMT, prior to Lockheed Martin expanding the integration of the technology into other areas of training.
On Sept. 16, Lockheed Martin said that it has delivered DMT to the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps “across two distinct, separate compliant networks”
The Air Force DMT “operates on the Distributed Mission Operational Network and delivery to USAF at Nellis [AFB, Nev.] in June of 2020 included an integrated solution for operating with both 4th and 5th generation platforms,” while the Navy/Marine Corps DMT “was delivered on Navy Continuous Training Environment (NCTE), a common compliant network with 4th generation integration to follow,” Lockheed Martin said.
“Currently, [Navy and Marine Corps] F-35 assets can operate together on the common network,” the company said. “Current capabilities provide for up to four-ship operations on the network from any site. With delivery of 30P06 software in the very near future, all DMT sites will have capability to link up to 12 devices per site, exponentially increasing training opportunities on DMT networks.”
While the current software allows the linkage of just four FMS per training site, the 30P06 software will mean “limitless” linkages across training sites which have the 12 FMS and are operating either the Air Force’s network or the Navy/Marine Corps’ NCTE, according to Avendano.
Marine Maj. Derek Heinz, training officer and pilot in VMFA-314, said in the Lockheed Martin-issued statement on Sept. 16 that “being able to train with pilots in your squadron and execute tactics as a four ship has a ton of advantages.”
F-35 pilots at MCAS Miramar “can now complete all elements of F-35 pilot training without leaving their site,” per Lockheed Martin, which said it installed the six FMS this year.
“Fifth generation fighter tactics typically employ four or more aircraft working together to complete coordinated missions,” the company said. “The pilots flying the F-35 at Miramar can now practice those tactics onsite using the linked simulators…Before the FMS install, the MCAS Miramar team would need to travel to other sites to execute this training, losing valuable time.”