RAF LAKENHEATH — Nothing can take the place of flying, but the new F-15 simulators come closer than ever.
F-15C flight crews now have a more realistic way to train in the venerable fighter jet thanks to the new Boeing mission training center acquired by the base.
The center includes four simulator suites — two for pilots and two for weapons systems officers who link up once inside their respective cockpits. Contained inside black boxes to block out light, the simulators re-create sorties using 360-degree imaging technology.
"It’s a dramatic improvement over what we had," said Col. John Quintas, commander of the 48th Operations Group at Lakenheath. "You can’t replace flying. What we’re doing is optimizing training."
The goal, said Quintas, is to equip the simulators with distributed mission operations capability, or DMO, which allows crews to train with counterparts around the world. Simulators for the Lakenheath’s fleet of F-15E models already have the technology, which the Air Force uses to orchestrate large-scale virtual training missions with units from around the world.
Base officials would not release the cost of the simulator. Boeing officials declined as well, saying the information was "competition sensitive and proprietary."
British Royal Air Force Wing Commander Mike Costello, who heads the Air Battlespace Training Center at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, said the technology would enhance joint training by allowing the British and American crews to work together more often.
U.S. Air Forces in Europe and the Royal Air Force "are working more closely with regard to synthetic training," said Costello, who attended a ribbon-cutting for the new training center earlier this month.
In the meantime, a virtual mission control center allows instructors and commanders to manage the in-flight scenarios, from simple maneuvering drills to complex emergency landings to enemy engagement.
Controllers can tweak the most minute details such as the mentality or temperament of the enemy combatants or the weather and terrain, said Spike Hafermann, who manages the training center for Boeing and oversees nine other civilian instructor pilots at Lakenheath .
They work closely with intelligence and weapons experts to develop the virtual circumstances that the jets could encounter when deployed, he said.
"We try and find out exactly what they’re going to face and what they can expect with the most current information available. We obviously want to make the experience as real as possible," said Hafermann, who like his Boeing colleagues, is a former F-15 pilot.
Flight crews seem sold.
"It’s above and beyond what the old sims could do," said Capt. Rocco Botticelli, a weapons systems officer with the 492nd Fighter Squadron.
