CV-22 Training Takes Flight
AN ARRAY OF LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES SUPPORT OSPREY CREWS.
One of the DoD’s unheralded training acquisition success stories involves the CV-22 Osprey tilt rotor. AFSOC crews that will conduct clandestine infiltration, exfiltration and other missions with this aircraft over a wide range of environmental conditions, use stateof- the art technologies and innovative strategies to develop their skill sets.
Beyond the high-fidelity simulators and other training devices, the AFSOC students also use courseware which optimizes interoperability, reusability, standards and other attributes of a forward-looking DoD training program.
PROGRAM UPDATE
There are 50 CV-22s in the U.S. Air Force program of record. Thirty-one of these are requested in the future years defense program for fiscal years (FYs) 2008-13. The service envisions buying five additional CV-22s as part of the FY08 supplemental budget. The CV-22’s initial operating capability is slated for FY09.
This variant’s 241-knot cruising speed, 2,100 nautical miles range (with internal auxiliary fuel tanks and no refueling) and other attributes, are a quantum-leap forward for SOF’s aviation community. This new capability was undoubtedly on the mind of Lieutenant General Michael Wooley, AFSOC commander, when he told a January 31, 2007 House Armed Services Committee hearing that his command needs the Osprey sooner than FY09.
The program’s training program is structured to enable CV-22’s aircrews to safely operate this revolutionary aircraft in harm’s way.
DOORS OPEN FOR TRAINING
In February, the CV-22 program said it was “ready for training here at Kirtland” as declared by Lieutenant Colonel Mike Duffy, CV-22 program manager, 58th Training Squadron, Kirtland AFB. This milestone means the squadron has its required aircraft, trained cadre of instructors and maintenance infrastructure to open the schoolhouse and start training crews for delivery to AFSOC’s operational squadrons. “Our first class has arrived and is currently in the academic and simulator phase,” reported Duffy.
The 71st Special Operations Squadron is the CV-22 flight training unit at Kirtland.
Much of the Osprey’s schoolhouse instruction at Kirtland is being provided by state-of-the-art courseware.
SCORM CONFORMANT
The Osprey government-industry team is meeting the goals of the DoD Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative, by providing cost-effective instruction that can be tailored to the individual and is available anytime, anywhere. To achieve this outcome, the courseware is Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM)- conformant, and “was designed to meet requirements for interoperability, accessibility, reusability, durability, maintainability and adaptability,” pointed out Duffy.
One recent program SCORM success involves the development of a course on the aircraft’s icing protection system. The course will use sharable content objects (SCOs)—the ADL name for learning objects, which are building blocks of a topic, a lesson or a course—from an existing program course.
“We found out that we didn’t have a lesson for the topic,” recalled Duffy. Another course “was absolutely perfect. So, with basically zero work, we had what we needed, and were able to legally share that material since the government had already purchased it. This was a great way of bundling courseware,” he added.
The CV-22’s courseware is currently running on a Median Knowledge Solutions- furnished learning management system (LMS) and is fully Web-enabled. A second success story which validates the program’s training plan is the effort to provide tailored instruction to the individual.
The CV-22’s evolving requalification syllabus uses the SCORM sequencing and navigation feature. This capability will permit the training office to evaluate a student’s knowledge level using a pretest, and then provide instruction only in deficient areas.
“This is possible by having SCOs built to address the learning object,” noted Duffy. “The pretest would determine which SCOs are required, and the LMS would sequence the SCOs into a lesson to meet the student’s needs. This concept is expected to substantially reduce the required number of training days for this course—saving money and time—while still producing quality aircrew,” forecasted Duffy.
The CV-22 courseware is provided through a collaborative effort involving the companies LSI and DPA. The courseware helps prepare the crews to train in highfidelity simulators and trainers.
TRAINING DEVICES
The stable of CV-22 training devices at Kirtland includes one full-motion simulator (FMS), one non-motion flight simulators and a cabin part-task trainer (CPTT) for pilot and flight engineer (FE) training.
The non-motion simulator “is almost a partial-motion system. It has a secondary motion system to give vibrations to the pilot,” clarified Duffy. A second nonmotion flight simulator will be delivered during FY10.
A second FMS is scheduled to be operational at Kirtland this summer. This device will have an electric-powered motion base, whereas the initial FMS has a hydraulicdriven motion base. Hydraulic systems in simulators tend to support heavier payloads including the cabin. Electric motion systems have lower acquisition and operating costs, and other advantages.
The simulators “are FAA Level D-like”—as they have yet to be certified to Level D by the administration, remarked Duffy. The level D rating is the highest available, and is one that signifies the simulator experience is comparable to flight in an actual aircraft.
“The simulators also have a high commercial- off-the-shelf content,” Duffy said. Each device also has two debrief stations with advanced record and playback capability,” he added.
The prospective CV-22 aircrew can train as it will operate with these devices— by simulating all facets of training. Some of the missions supported by the trainers include emergency procedures, egress training, cargo loading, hot refueling, instrument flying, night vision goggle operations, brown and dust-out approach and landings, mountainous and low-level flying, terrain following and terrain avoidance radar use, electronic warfare and defense systems employment, air refueling, and formation flying.
These simulators “are so good that we conduct 100-percent of our required instrument evaluations and emergency procedure training in the flight simulator,” said Duffy.
The goal is to conduct 80 percent of the CV-22’s training syllabus in the aircrew training devices.
The schoolhouse envisions linking the CPTT and the flight simulator to achieve visual, communication and database interoperability to bolster FE training and provide real-time training as a crew. “This link, combined with a concept called ‘fused reality’ would allow for our crews located separately, to interact in time and space together. This strategy would allow us to shift our FE training composition to 50 percent cockpit duties, and 50 percent cabin and scanner duties, and would greatly improve the transition to the flightline,” forecasted Duffy.
Bell Boeing is the prime contractor for host and audio-video hardware and software requirements. Flight Safety International supplies the actual simulator “box” and the software to operate it.
THE TRAINING AUDIENCE
The CV-22 pilot and FE students presently start training at different times and locations. The two groups join up and complete training together at Kirtland to become a mission-ready air crew.
The initial group of CV-22 pilots is gaining its tilt-rotor expertise using Marine Corps’ MV-22s at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River, N.C.
“MV-22 training takes approximately four-to-five months and teaches pilots the basics of tilt-rotor flying, including instruments and contact maneuvers, as well as some basic Marine tactical flying,” pointed out Duffy. He continued, “Pilots graduate from this ‘100-level’course and are then sent to Kirtland to start the CV-22 mission qualification [MQ] course, which lasts an additional five months. The CV-22 MQ course is designed to take a pilot with basic tilt-rotor skills and train them to a fully mission capable status.”
The FE students start training at Kirtland approximately one month prior to the planned pilot class arrival at Kirtland.
The current cadre of CV-22 prospective pilots has extensive experience and background either in the AFSOC fixed- and rotary aircraft communities.
Future, newly assessed pilots will initially complete primary undergraduate pilot training (using T-6 or other aircraft), advance to helicopter training at Fort Rucker, Ala., (using the UH-1 or UH-2), continue with entry level MV-22 training at MCAS New River, and complete their flight training using CV-22s at Kirtland.
“The new pilots will have some experience in fixed-wing and some in helicopter before they start their tilt-rotor training. We believe this is the right mix—just a little of training on both type platforms is probably the best,” opined Duffy.
The CV-22’s current throughput is two pilots and two FE students per class. Six classes will graduate annually in fiscal years 2007 and 2008. “Throughput almost doubles in FY09,” noted Duffy.
The program also immerses the aspiring CV-22 pilots in virtual warfighting environments.
NETWORKING
Since formation flying is a critical part of CV-22 operations, the current simulators are networked to allow AFSOC Osprey’s to operate together. Mission training scenarios “include formation flying—probably about every other flight,” observed Duffy.
The next step in interoperability— inserting the simulator crew in the more rigorous joint, virtual environment—is on the horizon.
The Air Force’s Distributed Mission Operations Center (DMOC) at Kirtland is chartered to develop and support tactical- level synthetic battlespace events for combat aerospace forces. A typical DMOC event links an array of Air Force and other services’ manned and unmanned aircraft, and simulators around the globe into a virtual, joint training environment.
The CV-22 simulators will initially participate in a DMOC-sponsored event during an FY07 Virtual Flag exercise.
DEPLOYABLE MISSION REHEARSAL CAPABILITY
One goal of the program is to have a deployable, mission training system by IOC. The capability would conceptually be standalone, or better yet, embedded into the VMPS (V-22 Mission Planning System).
“We currently have a deployable laptop based system in which we do the majority of our mission planning,” pointed out Duffy. “We plan our mission and download it onto a data transfer module [DTM], which is transportable to the aircraft. Once inserted in the aircraft, the DTM transfers all of our mission data—the waypoints, the communication plan, planned route of flight and other items,” he added.
A “fly-through” capability on the same laptop the mission was planned is something the CV-22 community still needs. “When you hit the play icon, a mini-CV-22 would be there to fly through the mountains on the mission just planned—at certain altitudes and with certain threats highlighted,” said Duffy. “The fly-through capability would enable the aircrew to determine if the plan is successful or not, before stepping to the flight line. This is critical when we are deployed. Here, at Kirtland, we can use the simulator and fly any mission—we already have a rehearsal capability. When deployed, without a deployable simulator, or a ‘poorman’s sim’—the laptop—our combat mission rehearsal capability is limited,” he concluded.
BETTER THAN THE REAL THING
The scope of state-of-the-art technology in the CV-22 training program gained the attention of one industry analyst.
“The trust in Osprey simulator training validates the technological sophistication of Level D-equivalent simulators,” said Garrick K.C. Ngai, research analyst, Aerospace & Defense, Frost & Sullivan. He continued, “The Osprey full flight simulators combine best-in-class technologies in order to provide pilots sophisticated night vision capabilities, high fidelity graphics, full and responsive motion, and top-notch audio and communication simulation. Given some of the recent problems found on the actual aircraft, flying a CV-22 simulator is perhaps better than flying the real thing.” ♦