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12 Mar 19. USAF begins air-to-air combat exercise Red Flag 19-2. The US Air Force (USAF) has commenced high-intensity air-to-air combat exercise Red Flag 19-2 at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, US. Scheduled to be conducted until 22 March, the two-week exercise will be hosted north of Las Vegas within the Nevada Test and Training Range. The multinational exercise will comprise forces and aircraft from several countries, including the US, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
Approximately 80 aircraft are expected to take part in exercise Red Flag 19-2, including the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s (RSAF) F-15SG fighter aircraft, F-16 fighter aircraft from Belgium, the Netherlands, the UAE and the US, the Netherlands’ KDC-10 tanker aircraft, Norway’s F-35 fighter aircraft, Saudi Arabia’s F-15SA fighter aircraft.
Participating assets also include the US’ F-15E and EA-18G fighter aircraft, B-1 bomber, E-3 and E-8 surveillance aircraft, HC-130 airlift aircraft, KC-135 tanker aircraft and MQ-9 unmanned combat aerial vehicles.
In addition to six F-15SGs, the RSAF is sending more than 100 personnel from its Peace Carvin V detachment in Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, to participate in the event.
During the course of the exercise, participating nations will perform a series of realistic and challenging air-to-air and air-to-ground training missions, conducted in day and night environments.
In order to enhance the realism of the scenarios during exercise Red Flag 19-2, the USAF’s F-16s will play the role of an adversarial force.
Established in 1975, Red Flag is designed to create advanced and realistic combat-like situations to increase lethality and operator survivability in actual combat operations. Red Flag 19-1 concluded last month with forces from the US, UK and Australia participating. (Source: airforce-technology.com)
13 Mar 19. Skyborne Technology Acquires Costin Airport- Florida. Skyborne Technology, Inc., a developer, manufacturer and integrator of next generation manned and automated first responder communication, unmanned airship and drone aviation systems has acquired Costin Airport in Gulf County, FL for flight operations, manufacturing and unmanned aircraft systems training.
Unmanned Systems, Inc., a manufacturer of unmanned systems and drones will be moving part of its manufacturing and training to Gulf County, Costin Airport to further enhance the joint effort between Skyborne Technology and Unmanned Systems.
“Skyborne Technology and Unmanned Systems will help build employment in Gulf County, Floridato further develop the educational needs in high tech manned and unmanned systems,” stated Don Bintz, President of Unmanned Systems, Inc.
Jim McKnight, Director of Economic Development for Gulf County, Florida, said, “Skyborne Technology has become the good news people for our county, first they open a plant in the County’s Wewahitchka Industrial Building, then make an offer on the Costin Airport, then hire their first three Gulf County staff and have now closed on the purchase of the Costin Airport, which will be used for assembly training and flight operations. Skyborne Technology staying the course of developing facilities and operations on both ends of the County has been a beacon of hope during our community’s response to and recovery from Hurricane Michael.”
“We are looking forward to the upcoming airship and drone test flights at Costin Airport as this is strategic for our customer base in Central America and the Caribbean as a one stop shop for inspection of the technologies,” stated Dr. Carlos Arzu, President of Skyborne Central America.
“The co-location in our community of these two manufacturing leaders in the unmanned aerial vehicle arena provides an unprecedented opportunity for the citizens of Gulf County! In conjunction with the related training opportunities under development in the local high schools, and underway at Gulf Coast, these companies are poised to fully develop and deploy these transformational technologies, becoming a magnet for high tech opportunity in the region,” said Dr. John Holdnak, President of Gulf Coast State College.
“Skyborne chose Gulf County for both the political support and local assets that will insure Skyborne’s growth and opportunities. We are planning a press conference in the next two weeks to display several of our air assets at the recently acquired Costin airport,” stated Mike Lawson CEO of Skyborne Technology, Inc. (Source: UAS VISION)
13 Mar 19. British Army and Oman participate in joint military exercise. The British Army and the Royal Army of Oman have participated in the joint military exercise, Khanjar Oman 19, at Al Wusta Governorate.
Stationed at Ras Madrakah training area, units from The Royal Tank Regiment, part of 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade, and other members such as 659 Squadron 1 Regiment Army Air Corps along with its Wildcat helicopters, took part in the exercise. Exercise Khanjar Oman is part of the British Army’s Collective Training Transformation Programme, which is a methodology of transitioning to the Future Collective Training System.
The programme aims to provide challenging environments to conduct tests and experiments.
The armoured battlegroup joint military exercise aimed to showcase the combat readiness, adaptability and capability of the troops to respond to crisis across the globe.
Participating armed forces will get an opportunity to operate and evaluate the capacity of their equipment in diverse climatic conditions. Recently, Wildcat helicopters were deployed to the Arctic Circle.
British Royal Armored Corps lieutenant commander colonel Howard was quoted by Times of Oman as saying: “The exercise was very useful to our participating forces as military operation is very convenient and we have been able to carry out a variety of successful training in the exercise scenario.”
Oman and the UK have a long-standing defence relationship. The armies conducted combined military training exercise Saif Sareea 3 last year.
It was the largest joint exercise to be conducted in 15 years. Thousands of troops from all three military branches and different nations participated in the exercise. (Source: army-technology.com)
13 Mar 19. Australia begins third Indo-Pacific Endeavour. The Royal Australian Navy has started the annual Indo-Pacific Endeavour 19 (IPE 19) in Western Australia (WA) to contribute enhanced regional security and stability. The South Asian region will be the focus of IPE 19, which is the third Indo-Pacific Endeavour event aimed at improving Australia’s engagement and partnerships with regional security forces. In the launch, HMA Ships Canberra, Success, Newcastle, and Parramatta left Fremantle in WA.
Australia Defence Minister Christopher Pyne stated that the ministry attaches significance to building interoperability with key partners and improving coordination of humanitarian and security responses.
Pyne said: “IPE 19 is a major regional engagement activity for the ADF, which delivers on the promise of the 2016 Defence White Paper to strengthen Australia’s engagement and partnerships with regional security forces. Our strong and enduring relationships with regional militaries, governments and local communities are critical to this.”
Over the next three months, 1,000 embarked Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel will participate in a series of engagement activities and military training exercises during port visits in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.
During IPE19, the Joint Task Force will have the opportunity to demonstrate some of the capabilities to host nations, including the helicopter landing dock ship HMAS Canberra.
According to the media release, Colombo, Sri Lanka is the first scheduled port call for HMAS Canberra. In December, Pyne stated that engagement with India will form the core of IPE 19. The annual event will also see personnel from Australia and India taking part in the biennial bilateral naval exercise AUSINDEX. (Source: naval-technology.com)
12 Mar 19. Rheinmetall to supply the Swiss Army’s new command simulator. Following a comprehensive evaluation by armasuisse, one of Switzerland’s four federal-level procurement agencies, Rheinmetall has won an order to supply a new command simulator for training the nation’s military leaders. The contract has been signed in February 2019.
The new command simulator will be located at the Swiss General Staff School (Gst S) in Kriens in Canton Lucerne. For years, this training centre has been successfully using simulator-based technology to school Swiss Army officers in every aspect of military leadership. Military commanders and staff officers at operational and tactical level can sharpen their leadership and situation management skills, including in cooperation with federal, cantonal and local-level civilian officials.
During the course of an intensive evaluation process, Rheinmetall’s forward-looking concept for the new command simulator eventually won the day, thanks in large measure to the company’s long track record as a system supplier and system integrator. The centrepiece of the solution is the integration and coupling of the C2I and peripheral systems with the newly structured Osiris simulation system.
Among other things, the Swiss procurement authorities wanted to see a significant reduction in the number of operating personnel required to run the system. This proved possible thanks to the Osiris software, which is designed to enable maximum automatization. Rounding out the planned scope of delivery and performance, Rheinmetall will operate and maintain the system throughout its service life, establishing a “material excellence centre” in order to facilitate this.
Osiris makes inter-disciplinary models possible that enable the depiction of training for all three branches of the military at tactical and operational levels, whether on land, at sea and in the air, including related capabilities.
The system can generate highly realistic leadership scenarios ranging from disaster relief to national defence and peacekeeping missions, specifically tailored to real-world Swiss requirements and current operational planning. Civilian officials at federal, cantonal and local level can also be brought into these scenarios. This enhances even further the value of simulator-supported staff exercises.
The command simulator can be operated at various echelons of Switzerland’s military hierarchy, with highly automated control possible at levels ranging from individual entities all the way up to brigade level. Here, Osiris supports the simultaneous entry of aggregate orders at multiple levels. This assures maximum freedom when controlling the simulated entities while simultaneously enabling a broad range of training levels.
Rheinmetall’s pioneering solution for the new command simulator in Kriens meets the Swiss government’s full range of specifications. A company with longstanding experience in the field of simulation and training, Rheinmetall – acting in its capacity as supplier and system integrator – now assumes responsibility for the successful implementation of all requirements and complete integration of the system.
For over forty years, Rheinmetall has numbered among the world’s foremost developers and producers of high-performance simulation technology. The spectrum ranges from computer-supported learning to air, sea and land vehicle simulators for crew training operations, right through to major training facilities where entire formations can hold full-scale tactical exercises with their original equipment.
14 Mar 19. Australian industry partners secure additional US Army simulation contract. Perth-based Calytrix Technologies in collaboration with Newcastle-based TitanIM have secured additional funding to develop a solution for the US Army’s Synthetic Training Environment (STE) program. Calytrix has been engaged with the US Army on STE for the past two years and has based its proposals and development around Titan Common Synthetic Environment, a new and highly innovative 3D global simulation framework.
As detailed by the US Army: “The STE is an ambitious program enabling tough, iterative, dynamic and realistic multi-echelon/combined arms manoeuvre, mission rehearsal, and mission command collective training in support of multi-domain operations. The STE provides complex operational environment representations anytime and anywhere in the world. The STE will deliver collective training, accessible at the point of need in the operational, self-development and institutional training domains.
“The Common Synthetic Environment (CSE) will deliver this comprehensive, collective training and mission rehearsal capability and is comprised of three foundational capabilities: One World Terrain, Training Management Tool, and Training Simulation Software. The CSE enables the convergence of the live, virtual, constructive and gaming environments into the Synthetic Training Environment.”
The Titan software amalgamated with an in-house developed Exercise Orchestration Network (EON) provides the three foundational capabilities of the US Army’s requirements. Recent additional funding by the US Army is accelerating Titan development and many new, and previously thought impossible, simulation capabilities are now being delivered.
Steve Salmon, business lead for Calytrix, said, “Over 30 companies, many of whom were large US defence primes, expressed an interest in the CSE component of STE. It is testament to the capabilities and potential of Titan that Calytrix is one of only two companies left competing for the provision of the One World Terrain, Training Simulation Software, Training Management Tools components.”
These comments were reinforced by Calytrix CEO Shaw Parr: “It is exciting to be engaging with programs like STE as an Australian SME. Despite significant interest in the STE program across the board, Calytrix and TitanIM have demonstrated the capacity and innovation required to successfully compete on a world stage from our Australian base.”
Calytrix will demonstrate its solution across a number of US Army bases in April prior to a detailed user assessment in May 2019.
Calytrix Technologies is a training and simulation company specialising in developing and delivering integrated live, virtual and constructive training solutions. Uniquely combining simulation product development with training subject matter experts, Calytrix enhances operational readiness and training outcomes in both the defence and civilian domains.
TitanIM is a simulation software platform offering a new capability. Within minutes of picking up TitanIM for the first time, a user can leverage a whole world representation of Earth and create a new scenario, modify the environment, or participate as a virtual entity – at any point around the world. (Source: Defence Connect)
12 Mar 19. Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE: NOC) Distributed Training Center (DTC) recently hosted simulated training for the U.S. Marine Corps at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Virginia. During two training events, eight F-15E aircrew based at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho trained with four Marines from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state via the DTC. The Marines, trained as Joint Tactical Air Controller/Joint Forward Observers (JTAC/JFO), are part of the 6th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) tasked with calling-in air strikes and artillery fire in support of their attached formation. ANGLICO JTACs support Special Operations Forces and typically deploy to the battlefield in small teams.
Each mission scenario was designed, created and supported by Northrop Grumman DTC engineers based on mission demands. The multi-service close air support (CAS) training closely replicated scenarios in current battle zones where warfighters are deployed, while at the same time providing virtual and constructive training at a fraction of the cost of live training.
“The Marines were impressed with the high fidelity training and said the customized scenarios felt like real life,” said Martin Amen, director, secure network operations, Northrop Grumman.
The simulation training event met the following desired learning objectives provided by the participants:
- (JTAC) Joint CAS environment – more than one service involved
- (JTAC) Integrated air and surface fires
- (JTAC) Deconflict multiple air assets – training included four virtual F-15Es and one constructive MQ-9 Reaper
- (F-15E) 25 mph+ moving target – fighter tracks and engages a target going more than 25 mph
- (F-15E) Hot gun to target artillery deconfliction – ensuring aircraft flight paths are not in conflict with the flight path of artillery rounds being fired at targets in the same vicinity
- (F15E) Squirters from a strike – track and target enemy fighters who survive the initial strike
- (F-15E) Bomb-on-coordinate targets utilizing different weapons – using varying classes of GPS-aided bombs to hit the right targets
- (F15E) CAS stack deconfliction – airspace management with the added value of matching aircraft to targets
The DTC has provided live, virtual and constructive training for the U.S. Air Force for nine years, but this was the first time Marines used the DTC to train for their missions. Last year, the Army Rangers utilized the DTC for the first time to train for deployment.
Developed for Air Force simulation training in 1999, Northrop Grumman’s Distributed Mission Operations Network (DMON) provides the connectivity and network interoperability for the DTC, which became operational in 2010 to meet the need for real-world scenario development and advanced warfighter readiness training. Northrop Grumman wants to expand the use of the DMON and DTC beyond the Air Force to additional services such as the Marine Corps, the U.S. Army and international forces.
08 Mar 19. RAAF’s PC-9A trainers to be phased out by the end of 2019. The Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF’s) fleet of PC-9A turboprop training aircraft is being wound down prior to its replacement by the Pilatus PC-21, with full retirement expected to take place by the end of 2019, the Department of Defence (DoD) in Canberra has confirmed.
The RAAF’s acrobatic team, The Roulettes, undertook its final display in the PC-9A at the Avalon Airshow 2019 exhibition, which took place near Melbourne between 25 February and 3 March, and aircrew training courses are transitioning to the PC-21. The first of 62 PC-9As was introduced into the RAAF in 1987, with pilot training for army, navy, and air force aircrew beginning in 1989. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
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Meggitt Training Systems, makers of FATS® and Caswell technologies, a division of Meggitt PLC, is the leading supplier of integrated live-fire and virtual weapons training systems. Following the acquisition of FATS® virtual training systems and Caswell International’s live-fire ranges and services, Meggitt Training Systems continues to grow its capabilities based on the legacy of these two industry leaders. Over 13,600 Meggitt live-fire ranges and 5,100 virtual systems are fielded internationally, providing judgmental, situational awareness and marksmanship training to the armed forces, law enforcement and security organizations. Meggitt Training Systems employs more than 400 people at its headquarters in Atlanta and at facilities in Orlando, Canada, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, UAE, Australia and Singapore. It can deploy service personnel anywhere in the world for instructor training, system installation and maintenance. Learn more at https://meggitttrainingsystems.com/
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