Master Plan for Training

THE U.S. NAVY PLANS TO STANDARDIZE ITS FLEET OF HELICOPTERS ON THE MH-60R/S MODELS BY 2015. THIS MEANS A STANDARDIZATION OF TRAINING SYSTEMS, TOO.

Looking toward the future, the Navy is well on its way to making good on its promise to reduce the costs of logistic support and total ownership of its helicopter fleet by providing a multi-mission airframe to replace its aging fleet.

The Chief of Naval Operations in 2002 approved a new Helicopter Concept of Operations transition plan and with it paved the way for the MH-60R and MH- 60S, which are set to replace the Navy’s six other helicopter platforms by 2015. The MH-60S helicopter will replace the Navy’s H-46, H-3 and HH-1N platforms. In addition to providing the Navy’s combat logistics force with a vertical replenishment (VERTREP) at-sea capability, the aircraft will also perform vertical onboard delivery, amphibious search and rescue, combat search and rescue, anti-surface warfare and organic airborne mine countermeasures (OAMCM) missions.

The MH-60R will replace the current SH-60B/F versions and will perform the Sea Shield missions of anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, area surveillance and combat identification and Naval surface fire support.

The MH-60S passed Operational Testing and then reached initial operational capability (IOC) for combat logistics support in August 2002.

The U.S. Navy’s HC-3, HC-5, HC-6, HC- 8 and HC-11 are the first fleet squadrons currently operating the MH-60S. The Navy retired the H-46 from the fleet in 2004. As of December 2003, there were 60 MH-60Ss delivered. Production for all 237 MH-60Ss aircraft are expected to be completed by 2011.

The MH-60S is broken into two major block upgrades from the current Block 1 Combat Support (HC) role, which stretches from fiscal 2002 to fiscal 2007. They include modifications to conduct OAMCM in Block 2A/2B and Armed Helo in Block 3A/3B.

The MH-60R, which will achieve initial operating capability in fiscal 2006, brings a “tremendous warfighting capability to the fleet,” according to a Navy statement. Multi-mode radar, target designate, ISAR and periscope-detection modes, sonobuoys, advanced acoustics processing, forward-looking infrared radar capability and integrated self defense are a few of the many capabilities the MH-60R will deliver. Total production quantities are expected to be near 250.

Despite the multiple missions to which the various Sierra and Romeo platforms will be tasked, both are being outfitted with a standardized glass cockpit at Lockheed Martin’s systems integration facility in Owego, N.Y. The cockpit incorporates the largest integrated displays in service in the U.S. military, integrating four 8- by-10-inch night-vision-device compatible, color active matrix, liquid crystal displays; provides the operator with dual integrated programmable keysets for data entry and mission management; dual prime/backup flight-management computers allowing redundancy for all flight-critical operations; an audio management computer providing digital audio for flight communications and sensors; and a dual embedded global positioning inertial navigation system which provides state-of-the-art precision position reporting and all weather coupled hover operations.

This common cockpit is integral to reducing logistic support and total ownership costs while enabling the Romeo and Sierra crews to effectively monitor and employ the multitude of new systems and capabilities being integrated.

With all these changes and new capabilities rolled into a single platform, Navy pilots and crews will also require a transformation in their training. Fully aware of this fact, NAVAIR Orlando in June 2004 awarded an initial $38 million contract to CAE USA for two different types of MH-60S flight simulators. The contract fits the Naval Aviation Simulator Master Plan and the requirements of the ultimate customer, Patuxent River’s PMA-205, to meet the future needs of the MH-60S Knighthawk community.

The U.S. Navy has developed a prototype MH-60R Tactical Operational Flight Trainer (TOFT) as a model for future trainers to be procured under an acquisition in 2006. This prototype development serves multiple purposes. It provides training concurrency with recent aircraft enhancements, serves as risk mitigation for new devices, and promotes standardization for the TOFT fleet through software reuse.

A key component of the TOFT is the Multi-mode Radar Simulation System (MMRSS) provided by Blue Ridge Simulation, Inc (BRS). The MMRSS realistically simulates the radar performance of the MH-60R, including ISAR target imaging, high-RPM scan modes, high-capacity target tracking, and simulated phosphor decay, all running on a conventional COTS PC. Visual/sensor correlation is maximized by using common Navy Portable Source initiative (NPSI) data for both IG and radar databases.

The MH-60S competition in spring 2004 was for four operational flight trainers (OFTs) and four weapons tactical trainers (WTTs)—referred to as the front ends and back ends, respectively. In most cases, when delivered, the two trainers will be paired to provide comprehensive TOFTs.

 “The MH-60S training devices fall nicely in line with many of our other ongoing military contracts,” said Bart Scherschel, program manager at CAE in Tampa, Fla. “Our experience with traditional rotary-wing flight simulators as well as back-end weapons tactics trainers helped reduce many of the risks this program had. From basic flight characteristics for fixedbase rotor wing trainers to the new sensor operator station, these are devices similar to what we have delivered to previous customers. So, from a standpoint of new technology, CAE will be applying and expanding this experience and working with the Navy to ensure the trainers will meet the expanding roles of the MH-60S.”

The idea of “expanding roles,” however, doesn’t fully explain the capabilities going into the contract and importance of these trainers. The MH-60S Fleet Replacement Squadrons will use these trainers for initial pilot and aircrew training while operational MH-60S squadrons will use the trainers for advanced training. According to the Navy, these high-fidelity trainers will give the fleet the ability to connect to other platforms via the Naval Aviation Simulation Master Plan server and the Navy’s Surface Forces Battle Fleet Tactical Trainer to support Carrier Support Group and Expeditionary Support Group training exercises.

CAE has completed hardware-software integration on its first production operational flight trainer, called OFT 3, and it will be shipped in early spring (the Navy contracted the development of the original two prototype MH-60S OFTs—called OFT1 and OFT2—to Lockheed Martin). According to the Navy, when the contract was awarded to CAE, the delivery of OFT3 was targeted for March 2006 to meet the stand-up of HSC-2 as the MH-60S East Coast Fleet Replacement Squadron at Naval Station Norfolk. In order to mitigate this risk, PMA-205 facilitated a contract between Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division and J.F. Taylor to begin building the first cockpit prior to contract award. CAE, after contract award, also contracted the remaining cockpit builds to J.F. Taylor. Integration and preliminary government inspections are being done at CAE’s facility in Tampa.

CAE’s second operational flight trainer, OFT 4, has been assembled in Tampa and is currently in hardware-software integration. OFT 4, which is the first Block 2A/3A device, will be paired with WTT 1, and those will be packed and shipped together this fall.

The pairing of the front and back ends is somewhat confusing, Scherschel said. “When we deliver, we’ll usually deliver in matched sets. But it’s not exactly that way for this initial contract. OFT 3 is a Block 1 device, which will not have a back end initially. This Block 1 device will be sent to Norfolk [Va.] as the first MH-60S trainer for the East Coast. The next devices, which are OFT 4 and WTT 1, will also be delivered to Norfolk to form the first TOFT. WTT 2, the fourth of the training devices that will be delivered in 2006, will go to North Island as a standalone back-end training device.”

Although it may be slightly more difficult for the contractors, fielding the MH- 60S in portions with various Block 1, 2 or 3 capabilities is the most beneficial for the Navy. The MH-60S contract requires that all of the trainers be reconfigurable from the Block 1 variant to the Block 3B variant within two hours. PMA-205 has put together a plan that allows the fleet to get its trainers in conjunction with block IOCs and an upgrade program once development is complete, bringing all of the trainers into configuration with the highest block configuration of the aircraft.

“The intent of the Navy right now is to narrow down to a basic cockpit configuration [so] that a crew member then is able to move from one aircraft to another,” Scherschel said. “The plan is to consolidate the avionics to a single configuration which will support multiple Blocks. The OFT then will be able to reconfigure, as the avionics will, to provide crewmember training in any of these Block configurations.”

The primary missions of the Block 1 aircraft include VERTREP, CSAR and SAR.

Block 2 platforms provide the organic airborne mine countermeasures (OAMCM) missions. This block upgrade includes a tow device for mine detection and clearing and a sensor operator station. These capabilities, brand new to the MH-60, are what generated the requirement for the WTT. The WTT includes a sensor operator station, observer station, common console and simulation of the carriage, stream, tow and recovery system (CSTRS) and tow devices themselves.

Block 3 production, which is progressing in parallel with Block 2, will configure the MH-60S as an armed helo. Thus equipped, the aircraft is targeted to pick up capabilities such as crew-served guns, integrated self defense, precisionguided munitions, APR-39 Digital Threat Warning System and FLIR.

Scherschel said everyone on the MH- 60S training IPT is carefully monitoring the aircraft’s changing configuration. “We plan on working with the Navy over the next year to hammer out exactly what best fits their training needs for the future devices,” he said.

In the meantime, CAE has teamed with numerous subcontractors and partners to provide the best possible equipment for the Navy’s next-generation helicopter trainer.

“We’ve taken the role as training systems integrator, leveraging the best of industry, blending it with CAE’s tried and tested rotary-wing-simulation capabilities and adding new functionality as needed,” Scherschel said.

The MH-60S OFT is built around the J.F. Taylor cockpit. In front of the cockpit is SEOS’ 200-degree-by-60-degree, 11-foot PANORAMA display. The display system uses five split-head 9-inch CRT projectors fitted with SEOS’ DigiBlend technology to provide a seamless integration of the visuals. PANORAMA is considered to be one of the world’s leading cross-cockpit display solutions, providing images at optical infinity. Richard Layfield, SEOS vice president of U.S. sales, commented “SEOS and CAE have a solid working relationship reinforced by the purchase of several display systems for the MH-60S program. PANORAMA is ideally suited to this application.”

The visuals displayed on this system are published through image generators supplied by Aechelon Technology Inc. SYMVIONICS Inc. was awarded the MH- 60 TOFT image-generator contract under NAVAIR’s Training System Contract II. SYMVIONICS selected Aechelon to provide its pC- NOVA version 2.0 image generators and a database-generation system to publish the U.S.-government-developed Portable Source Initiative (PSI) databases. The Navy Portable Source Initiative, or NPSI, is now a requirement for the Navy in any simulation using a database.

Scherschel pointed out that rather than develop yet another database for the Navy, this contract would be the first to be provided the West Coast and East Coast source data as GFE in NPSI format. During the publishing process, Aechelon and CAE are working with the Navy to resolve, improve and refine the NPSI source during publishing, returning the refined source to the Navy for use on other programs.

“That is the way the Navy is looking to go in the future,” Scherschel said. “NPSI will be the source format in the future, and we believe if you want to do business with the Navy you’ll have to be able to stand up and say you can produce and publish NPSI data.”

Aechelon’s ability to meet this requirement was one of the big factors in the company’s selection. Joe Barnicki, SYMVIONICS Inc.’s MH-60 TOFT IG program manager, stated, “During the selection process, Aechelon Technology demonstrated the most features and effects required for this program on a purely commodity platform, thus minimizing risk and building confidence to meet a very tight 120-day delivery schedule,”

The TOFT image generator develops five channels of out-the-window visual or night-vision stimulating images. These image generators have no custom components and feature Aechelon Technology’s pC-NOVA software-based runtime engine for flight training applications and CRADIANT plug-in module for geo-specific, multi-sensor image-generation support. “We are fortunate to be able to ride the wave of development in the commodity PC market,” Aechelon CEO John Quinn said, “Each turn of the technology crank adds performance/features with no R&D expense to the program. We are also learning as we go from the excellent input from the government SMEs and fleet pilots—all of which goes to perfecting the training experience.”

Inside the cockpit, pilots will sit in G-seats produced by Cranfield Aerospace Ltd which are the same seats used in the MH-60 helicopters—and stare at the same cockpit instrumentation as the actual aircraft. ASTi has delivered its Telestra/ MBV audio and communication systems to simulate all aircraft communications in the MH-60S OFTs.

Behind the cockpit is a typical onboard instructor operating station.

The features of the back end trainer, or WTT, are more revolutionary. The WTTs are designed to train crewmen exclusively in OAMCM, and the trainer can be linked with a TOFT to practice crew resource management. Both of these systems use cuttingedge simulation technology to maintain currency while saving flight-hour dollars and reducing fatigue.

The WTT is designed to the exact specifications of the aircraft, right down to the amount of headroom (53.5 inches). Yet, with the OFT, there is an onboard area behind the crew for an instructor to observe and control the simulation through a tablet PC networked with the off-board instructor operating station.

For the Block 2 and later Block 3 aircraft, this area will be essential to learning all the OAMCM missions. This will include the AQS-20A, which is being integrated into the Sierra now, as well as later capabilities such as the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS), the Rapid Airborne Mine Clearance System (RAMICS), the Airborne Mine Neutralization System (AMNS) and the Organic Airborne and Surface Influence Sweep (OASIS) minesweeping tow device.

Each one of these sensor devices will be simulated, providing accurate hydrodynamics for movement and sensor return data for display on the common control system or common console. “Our SONAR simulations will basically ride on top of the hydrodynamics of the simulated towed device being developed by Raytheon. The SONAR model is based upon work recently completed on the U.K Royal Navy’s Merlin program and CAE’s STRIVE framework,” Scherschel said.

In terms of the underwater environment, CAE is treating the content as if it were an out-the-window visual system. “We are actually mapping the East Coast and West Coast underwater terrain down to the type of mud for the WTT. And it won’t be just mud down there,” Scherschel noted. “We’ll have trash cans, tires and concrete blocks. We are modeling whales, sharks, schools of fish, schools of shrimp and crabs. The intent is to put the student in as realistic [an] environment as possible. When you have a mine in the water, it doesn’t just stick out. It’s got fish swimming around it and other debris and obstructions in front of it. It might even have moss on it. If we provide an ultrarealistic environment, that’s when training is really effective.” As with the above-water database, the underwater database will be in NPSI format.

Because of the Block 2’s mine countermeasure mission, CAE has spent a lot of time developing the proper interactions with the underwater environment and the mines themselves in the sonar realm. But in the future, the Navy will have the capability of having a camera on the tow device. CAE is therefore modeling the 3- D synthetic underwater world complete with re-created ocean floor topographical features, such as wrecks, cables and buoys; various sea life; and, of course, tethered, floating and sea-floor mines. The moving models are modeled and controlled using the Joint Semi-Automated Forces (JSAF) software. JSAF will treat those mines as any other entity and provide the proper characteristics inherent to the threat for a level of realism sufficient for training in this combat environment. CAE will be enhancing the JSAF to control the additional sea life, such as whales and schools of fish.

In the WTT, the simulated sensors will generate data that will be stored in the same format as the aircraft during a real mission. By matching the content and fidelity, this collected data can be plugged back into the actual MH-60S postmission analysis (PMA) tools to provide full mission-cycle training.

“It’s something that the Navy will need in order to close the loop on a full WTT training session,” Scherschel said.

A typical training session would start with the development of a mission using the aircrafts mission-planning system (MPS). The pilots and crew would then take the mission to the trainer (WTT, OFT or TOFT) and fly the mission, collecting sensor and debrief data. After the flight, part of the collected data would be loaded into the post-mission analysis tools for review by the crew. The other part would be loaded into the debrief station for review with the instructor. Debrief is done using SimAuthor’s FlightViz/FlightAnalyst-Based suit of tools.

“The MH-60S training system is not just a flight trainer,” Scherschel explained, “It does everything associated with the mission. From building and running the mission, then doing post-mission analysis and then back to mission planning to continue the exercise. The training devices will support the full circle of training and mission preparation.

The MH-60S trainers will also have the ability to join joint training environments using NASMP [Navy Aviation Master Plan]. NASMP will enable interoperability between NASMP compliant federates, such as other OFTs, WTTs or TOFTs for starters.”

This adherence to the NASMP allows the trainers to be standalone, networked together or networked with other Navy assets, such as the F/A-18 trainers, which are already NASMP compliant, or the P3 simulator, which will be NASMP compliant.

Helping CAE with the NASMP portion of the contract is Virtual Technology Corp. VTC has played a key and driving role in the design and development of the NASMP since the program’s inception under various contracting arrangements. Upon program initiation (FY02), VTC competed for and won a subcontract for the NASMP Distributed Training Tools Analysis contract. In fiscal 2005, VTC won a competition for the NASMP engineering-support contract to continue these efforts and currently provides a whole range of architecture, design, infrastructure, networking, performance measurement and management support to the NASMP program. ♦

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