UK Eurofighter Typhoon pilots can begin using a new networked simulator system at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire from next August, as part of the first stage in a transformation of the Royal Air Force's (RAF's) approach to simulation and training.
The first of 10 new Typhoon simulators are slated to be up and running as part of a GBP220 million Typhoon Future Synthetic Training (TFST) programme being led by BAE Systems Air Sector.
Jez Milne, the company's head of Operational Training Delivery, told Janes in October that the new simulators would be an important part of the RAF's drive to migrate to an 80% synthetic, 20% live training mix.
The RAF's ambition is for the TFST sites at RAF Coningsby and RAF Lossiemouth to feed into the service's Gladiator simulation network to enable personnel operating simulators representing different aircraft types, at different locations, to carry out joint training over secure communications links. TFST will be the first component to link into the Gladiator network, which is also known as the Defence Operational Training Capability (Air) (DOTC(A)).
Milne said full operating capability (FOC) will be six Typhoon simulators – comprising a static cockpit and supporting instructor stations – at RAF Coningsby and four at RAF Lossiemouth. BAE Systems is providing the hardware and will then be contracted to operate the simulators for the RAF.
Eight of the new TFST simulators are being housed in new facilities at both air bases, which are to be completed by 2023, but the first two simulators are being installed inside an existing building at RAF Coningsby. Milne said FOC would be declared in 2025.
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