CAE Supports Canadian, Australian Air Force Participation In Virtual Combat Exercise

CAE has supported the participation of Canadian as well as Australian Air Force in Coalition Virtual Flag 16 (CVF16) virtual air combat exercises.

Hosted by the US Air Force, CVF16 took place in mid-August so that simulated aircraft could participate in the joint, multi-national air combat training exercise. Aircrews from the US, UK, Australia, and Canada participated, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

"These kinds of distributed mission training exercises, often involving both live and virtual assets, are becoming more critical as militaries and coalition partners look to cost-effectively prepare for operations and maintain readiness," said Gene Colabatistto, CAE's Group President, Defence & Security.

CAE assisted the The Canadian Air Force (RCAF)'s 426 Squadron at 8 Wing Trenton and the Canadian Forces Air Warfare Centre (CFAWC) in the preparation, planning and execution of the RCAF's participation in CVF16. RCAF's 426 Squadron flew a CAE-built CC-130J full-mission simulator as part of the exercise where the RCAF had responsibility for performing a range of airland and airdrop missions, including the insertion of Special Operations Forces (SOF) assets.

CAE's computer-generated forces software provided added realism by generating numerous enemy virtual threats, such as SU-27 fighters and ground-based surface-to-air missiles, as well as a range of friendly forces. In total, CAE's simulation software provided more than 2,000 computer-generated constructive and virtual entities in the synthetic environment.

The RAAF's CAE-built C-130J full-flight mission simulator (FFMS) along with a C-130J tactical airlift crew trainer (TACT), both located at RAAF Base Richmond in New South Wales, took part in CVF16.  CAE supported the integration, networking and testing of the FFMS and TACT into the Coalition Virtual Flag exercise.

"A big step forward this year was linking the C-130J tactical airlift crew trainer with the C-130J full-mission simulator so that the entire C-130J crew could be immersed in the same training environment." said Wing Commander Jason Baldock, 285 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force.