Fleet Synthetic Training Maximizes At-Sea Training Time
Fleet Synthetic Training Has Come of Age.
It Has Been Fully Integrated Into the Fleet Training
Continuum (FTC) as a Key Component in Training
Deploying Expeditionary and Career Strike Groups.
by Erin Flynn Jay,
MT2 Correspondent
The U.S. Navy’s vision for Fleet Synthetic Training (FST) is to optimize the mix of live and synthetic training so it can leverage the benefits of synthetic training to the maximum extent possible. Live training will not go away. In almost all of the Navy’s largescale FST training events, their joint and coalition partners play a major role.
“FST helps the Navy provide flexible, distributed training on demand to our operating forces. Exploiting the ability to connect widely geographically dispersed units through the Navy’s Continuous Training Environment [NCTE], FST creates a virtual synthetic training environment that can support testing of our critical warfare skills and provide certification of our warfighting competencies, all without having to operate at sea,” said Eric Seeland, U.S. Fleet Forces command program manager for training technology and joint training.
“Thus, we save fuel and minimize the impact our training has on the live environment. For our ships, FST means pierside training that challenges commanders and tests a ship’s ability to execute realistic missions and solve tactical problems in real time, all without having to leave the pier,” Seeland said. “While not intending to replace live training at-sea, FST allows our units to practice their critical skills ashore and then validate them at sea. This maximizes critical at sea training time.”
FST is the Navy’s synthetic training program and infrastructure that provides unit through strike force level training, doctrine development, refinement of tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP), and testing and experimentation. “FST originated as a method of augmenting our at-sea training program by providing opportunities to practice critical skill sets in port so when ships are at sea they are able to maximize their training time under way,” Seeland told MT2. “Instead of spending the first day at sea doing basic skills training, our crews can train at a much higher level of proficiency from day one. With OPNAV mandated cuts in steaming days and flight hours, it was critical to be able to get the maximum training benefit when expending limited at-sea training resources.”
ON-DEMAND TRAINING
FST is the Navy’s primary means to ensure integration of geographically dispersed Navy, joint and coalition forces. FST provides unit through strike force level warfare proficiency training, interoperability training, operational training, mission rehearsal training and joint interoperability training, through a series of evaluated training events. It is on-demand training, which saves time, manpower and money associated with establishing new infrastructure for each event. In the past, Navy training used dissimilar networks, connectivity and modeling, and simulation systems for each event. This required extensive resources to set up, execute and breakdown.
FST utilizes interoperable shorebased and ship-embedded simulation and stimulation systems linked by distributed global networks. This permanent architecture means the Navy will be able to train any size force from home base, aboard ship, or forward deployed locations by integrating live, virtual and constructive (LVC) forces.
“At Fleet Forces, our motto is ‘Ready Fleet ... Global Reach.’ Fleet Synthetic Training fully supports that mission,” Seeland said. “We’re continuing to expand our global capability. We currently have more than 40 NCTE connections, spanning all fleet concentration areas in the United States and also abroad in places like England, Australia, Canada and Germany. Central nodes within these areas facilitate scenario distribution and control the direction and flow of the event and, if necessary, opposing forces and other agencies.”
During joint and coalition training events, personnel from other services are linked from their platforms or warfare schools to provide training among participants that readies them for forwarddeployed operations. Nearly all warfare areas required of Navy, joint and coalition participants can be trained via FST to, at the very least, portions of their mission sets. “That’s a powerful statement of where FST is today. That capability is growing rapidly,” Seeland said.
The vision the Navy has for FST is to optimize the mix of live and synthetic training so that it can leverage the benefits of synthetic training to the maximum extent possible. Through FST, the Navy can increase the quality of training, expand connectivity and improve the efficiency of their training opportunities. Due to cost, environmental and political concerns, live range availability is more limited. FST can minimize the effect of range encroachment and environmental impact by substituting, where appropriate, synthetic training for live training in certain tasks or objectives.
“Let me be very clear about what we’re not doing: We are not replacing live training. This is very important. Live training simply will not go away,” Seeland said. “We need to train live, in real environments, using real weapons systems. Our goal is to train synthetically as much as possible and validate that training at sea. With a robust FST capability, we make the most of live opportunities.”
FST is a proven tool. “It’s come of age. It has been fully integrated into the Fleet Training Continuum [FTC] as a key component in training deploying expeditionary and carrier strike groups [ESG/CSGs],” Seeland continued. “As new simulators, stimulators and virtual training systems enter the fleet, they are designed to be interoperable with and integrated into these training events. They’re built for FST.”
The Navy is going to see greater application of synthetic training at the operational level, too, as well as the training they are currently doing at the tactical level with their ESG/CSGs. In addition to expanding its training program at the tactical level—a horizontal expansion—it is expanding its program vertically, meaning they are developing distributed events designed to provide training of designated staffs to perform as a joint and Navy force commander.
FST CHALLENGES
There aren’t really any (technology) shortfalls or gaps, but there are challenges that must be overcome to realize the full potential of synthetic training. “By design, we have expanded synthetic training to encompass a wide array of partner nations, so secure data and voice communications are a must,” Seeland said. “We need to continue to develop robust network security that will allow us to operate and share information with these partners. This will necessitate operating at multiple levels of security with our partners in this training environment.”
Another challenge is making FST something that transcends the traditional shore-based training environment and looks toward future applications, such as delivering rapidly developed, tailored scenarios to strike groups that may be deployed. The Navy’s vision is to provide better shipboard communication capabilities, bandwidth improvements and satellite connectivity that will enable seamless connectivity of at-sea forces to support enroute training and mission rehearsal.
As an enabler of DoD Training Transformation (T2), the Joint National Training Capability (JNTC) improves the ability of U.S. forces to fight effectively as a joint team. JNTC is a networked, worldwide system of service and joint facilities that integrate LVC entities across the training enterprise. FST is a component of the Navy’s Training Transformation effort. In response to JNTC global communications requirement, the Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) has fielded the Joint Training and Experimentation Network (JTEN). The JTEN provides the network transport for joint and coalition forces. NCTE provides the Navy’s portal into the JNTC.
“In almost all of our large-scale FST training events, our joint and coalition partners and allies play a substantial role. We are able to connect to our coalition partners, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Australia,” said Seeland. “Some train from their actual mission systems aboard ships, while others may be on synthetic trainers or in distributed training centers. This is all in synchronization with T2 and the Navy’s recently-published maritime strategy, which promotes an expansion of cooperation with our global coalition partners.
“FST enables our joint partners to train with the Navy. Obviously, this is a big component of T2, but it’s also part of the Navy’s longstanding partnerships with our other services. Our joint partners routinely train in our FST events through either live, virtual or constructive [LVC] participation,” Seeland reported. “The Army participates with Patriot missile batteries, and the Air Force provides high-fidelity aviation simulators. Of course, the Marine Corps and Navy have a long history of training together, and FST is no exception. We often integrate various fire-support units from the Marines during an FST event. Joint Forces Command is key to the coordination of joint participation.”
FUNDING LEVELS STABLE
Currently, FST is a $62 million-ayear program. The Navy anticipates that funding levels will remain stable for the next two years. That number covers its core infrastructure, which is still expanding, and from fiscal year 2011 and beyond, the cost of maintaining the system and investing in integrated logistics support and equipment refresh.
Funding does not include investments in individual synthetic trainers and systems for various warfare platforms. The Navy’s commitment to investment in synthetic training technology is much larger than its overall FST training program. “Although we integrate these systems into FST, our focus has been on establishing infrastructure and support that are the keys to making the FST program virtual training environment a reality,” Seeland said.
The above number does include the people who provide on-site training support— everyone from observers or trainers, exercise planners and controllers, and those who provide technical support and data collection. These people are a globally distributed group of experts. Seeland is constantly amazed by the work they do for the Navy.
FST is not the sort of program that a defense industry leader, such as Boeing or Lockheed Martin, originated and then sold to the Navy. FST is a system of Navy systems. It was developed by the Navy to integrate multiple systems made by many in the defense industry and delivered to the Navy. There is no single, primary industry partner who Seeland could name that plays a major role, compared to others. “FST isn’t like a commercially available, off-the-shelf product that you can just plug and play. It is a family of Navy systems that are integrated together to leverage training benefits,” he concluded.
THALES NAVAL SYNTHETIC TRAINING
Other nations are quickening their use of training technology to enhance fleet training—the U.K. Royal Navy in particular.
Thales, an international electronics and systems group addressing defense,aerospace and security markets worldwide, provided a number of simulators to different navies; these include Type 23 Frigate bridge simulators for the U.K. Royal Navy and Submarine Command Team Trainers for the Royal Norwegian Navy, said Mark Rouson, Communications Director at Thales Group.
The company’s current activity is restricted to updating and upgrading previously supplied submarine training tools. The Thales relationship with the U.K. Royal Navy for the submarine synthetic training equipment upgrades deals with two parts of the MoD: the Submarine Support Integrated Project Team (Sub IPT) and Maritime Training Systems Integrated Project Team (MTS IPT).
Thales also runs a number of synthetic training services for the U.K. Royal Air Force; these also provide aircraft training for the U.K. Royal Navy as third party training.
Recent activity includes a Royal Navy nuclear submarine handling trainer. “The simulators fully replicate the centralized control area [the maneuvering room] from where the nuclear propulsion system is controlled. The system provides continuation training for watch-keepers, in both normal operations and emergency procedures,” Rouson said. “Conditions such as plant failures and faults in the nuclear and auxiliary power systems can be simulated.”
Two systems are in service with the U.K. Royal Navy, with one cabin replicating a Vanguard class submarine and the other a Swiftsure/Trafalgar submarine. Both have recently been updated with Thales RACE host computer, RIO linkage and PC-based Instructor Station.
SUBMARINE CONTROL ROOM SIMULATOR
The Thales Submarine Control Simulator (SCS) incorporates a full-size replica of the forward and port side sections of a control room, which is mounted with the instructor’s facilities and computer on an electrically driven, two-axis (±45 degree pitch and roll) motion platform to give motion feedback to the planesman and ship control officer, and includes an onboard training management system. “The SCS is designed to produce as authentic an environment as possible including sea motion, a simulated intercom system and authentic submarine lighting. A distributed architecture with microprocessors is used in the system,” Rouson said. “They realistically replicate the steering and hydroplane console, the systems console and the valves, manifolds and pump controls of the waterman’s station [if fitted] to provide a realistic training environment for the ship control officer of the watch and ship control team,” Rouson concluded. “Simulation software includes full hydrodynamic and hydrostatic models as well as systems and machinery simulation.” ♦