Training Aviation Forces Before They Deploy: Advancements in Live, Virtual and Constructive Training By BG E.J. Sinclair

     Technological advancements in the combination of live, virtual and constructive (LVC) training continue to greatly enhance the capabilities of our aviation warfighters. 

Several key contributors to aviation LVC training are the recently established Directorate of Simulation at the U.S. Army Aviation Center (USAAVNC) at Fort Rucker, Ala.; LVC training exercises conducted through battle simulation centers throughout the country; and the national training centers such as the Joint Air-Ground Center of Excellence (JAGCE) in Arizona.

Capturing and implementing changes to tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP) from lessons learned during LVC exercises has proven to be essential to enhancing the training and warfighting capabilities of units preparing to deploy to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). 

Simulations:

Fighting the Enemy Before Engaging the Starter

You are the flight lead of a pair of AH-64D Longbow helicopters supporting the air assault of an infantry company conducting a cordon and search of the Iraqi town of Al-Ubaydi. You cross check your navigation system with Falcon View data and make a visual confirmation of the briefed landmarks, and report “set” to the air mission commander (AMC). After checking your kneeboard data and the air tasking order, you make contact with the F-16s flying a high combat air patrol.

After the troops land, you monitor the company commander’s reports from the ground. As you overwatch the ground force engaging a strongpoint, your wingman conducts close-combat attacks with rockets and 30mm fire on another threat. Then the AMC clears a UH-60 into the landing zone for the evacuation of enemy prisoners of war.  As soon as the air assault task force commander from his Army airborne command and control system aircraft determines all tasks are completed, he orders a return to base. 

The execution of a mission similar to the one described above actually occurred before one aviation unit’s deployment to Iraq.  Company C, 1st Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment, conducted such a mission during an aviation training exercise (ATX) at Fort Rucker, through the use of simulations and in a synthetic training environment, while their Task Force (TF) headquarters participated from Fort Lewis, Wash.

To date, 15 ATXs have been conducted at Fort Rucker for units deploying to Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. 

The 25th Avn. Brigade TF, deployed to Afghanistan, conducted its ATX at Fort Rucker’s Seneff Aviation Warfighting Simulation Center in February 2004.  Other units that have recently participated in ATXs include TF Phoenix (1st Bn., 137th Avn. Regt., from the Ohio Army National Guard) in June for its deployment to Kosovo; and the 42nd Avn. Bde. of the New York Army Guard (with the 1st Bn., 151st Avn. Regt., and 8th Bn., 229th Avn. Regt.) in July before deployment to Iraq. 

These units maximized their preparation time and readiness by using a world-class virtual collective simulation environment.  The ability to conduct operations using virtual helicopters, on geo-specific terrain databases with realistic and robust joint and combined arms forces, has proven to be invaluable to deploying units.

New Organization to Meet Simulation Challenges

To enhance the aviation warfighting focus and address the quickly expanding scope of aviation simulation training, the USAAVNC established the Directorate of Simulations (DOS) in January 2004.  The DOS mission includes the management of the $1.4 billion Flight School XXI simulation-services contract, the development and support of training aids and devices, and providing simulation expertise to the branch leadership.  More importantly, the DOS provides aviation and ground units with simulation expertise and experiences in preparation for deployment to combat theaters. 

In concert with the 3rd Inf. Div., DOS is currently coordinating the development of virtual exercises specifically designed to support the division’s training requirement for upcoming OIF deployments.  Based upon 3rd Inf. Div.’s compressed training timelines, Fort Rucker will export the virtual training environment to Fort Stewart, Ga., maximizing available training time and resources.

A tailored and challenging training-support plan is being developed by subject-matter experts who have recently returned from the Iraq theater.  The plan links the Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (AVCATT) to Fort Stewart’s Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT), and enables Soldiers and leaders to train air-ground integration tasks using a common terrain database in real time.

        The AVCATT is a mobile collective aviation trainer consisting of two trailers that contain six reconfigurable cockpits linked together in the virtual world.  The AVCATT currently supports the UH-60, CH-47, AH-64A and OH-58D, and will soon support the AH-64D.  The AVCATT facilitates the collective training of aircrews and company and battalion commanders in a variety of senerios. Four AVCATT systems are already in the field, training units with another nineteen approved for acquisition.

Joint Training Proof of Principle

In June 2003 III Corps completed a Deep Attack Center of Excellence (DACE) bridging event to test LVC systems in support of Army aviation’s mission profiles. 

The concept of the DACE, later renamed the Joint Air-Ground Center of Excellence, or JAGCE, is to provide aviation brigades and attack-helicopter battalions a combat training center type of experience similar to that in which ground units participate at the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, Calif., and the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Fort Polk, La.  Following the successful conclusion of the test, a larger scale joint proof of principle (POP) was initiated to further evaluate the concept of the JAGCE.

U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) and XVIII Airborne Corps (ABC) assigned the task of conducting this crucial POP to a combat-tested organization, the 1st Bn., 229th Avn. Regt., which recently returned from OEF III and completed the Longbow aircraft conversion.

The 1-229th Avn., assisted by XVIII ABC and FORSCOM, began planning its JAGCE mission in October 2003 and this spring deployed more than 1,500 soldiers to the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range Complex located between the Yuma Proving Grounds and the Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Airfield in Arizona, and to the Fort Bliss, Texas, training area in preparation for combat operations in the notional war-torn nation of Madera. 

Aircraft were instrumented with the Tactical Engagement Simulation System [produced by Inter-Coastal Electronics (ICE)] for tracking and after-action review (AAR) feedback. The ICE instrumentation was integrated providing real-time telemetry from the Goldwater range complex and Fort Bliss back to Fort Bragg, N.C., for inclusion into the simulation portion of the exercise. 

During company- and battalion-level situational training exercises, the 1-229th refined its desert TTPs for diving and running fire; personnel recovery; forward area rearm/refuel point operations; and integration of the battle operating systems into its planning and execution sequences.  The 1-229th conducted LVC operations with field artillery, air-defense artillery, Marine Corps fixed-wing aircraft, special-operations forces and combat service support (CSS) against a live and virtual opposing force (OPFOR).  Each scenario incorporated realistic distances, harsh desert environment and the challenges of joint operations in an immature theater.

The training conducted during the JAGCE POP significantly added to the combat readiness of the 1-229th Avn. Regt. while laying the foundation for the development of future live, virtual and constructive aviation training opportunities. JAGCE is not meant as a replacement for the Combat Maneuver Training Center, NTC or the JRTC, but is a capability that can be used in home-station training to improve unit combat effectiveness.

Conclusion

The rapidly changing and complex environments of current combat operations require new and responsive solutions for training that replicates real operations while reducing risk and extensive overhead requirements. By leveraging simulations, robust and challenging operational environments are created for joint and combined-arms training, which accurately duplicate terrain, enemy situations and other specific threats in an affordable and effective manner. 

Simulation ATXs provide realistic training to our soldiers, replicating the stresses and requirements of live training and combat.  Our future depends on becoming more joint focused while responding quickly to evolving and emerging threats. 

As we continue to refine Army aviation training and simulations, we will press the envelope of capabilities for individual, crew and collective training. We are committed to addressing the needs for more tough, realistic and demanding training in order to continue refining our tactics and procedures while capitalizing upon lessons learned for future operations.

Simulation will never replace the requirement for live training and can never imitate the friction of the live environment.  The blending of the live, virtual and constructive environments enables us to train soldiers and their organizations in advanced skill sets, while creating more demanding operational and tactical environments than currently available in the traditional home station and combat training center environment. 

ABOVE  THE BEST!!! 

BG E. J. Sinclair is the commander of the U.S. Army Aviation Warfighting Center and chief of the aviation branch.