Marine F-35B joint strike fighter pilots can now fly conduct realistic training missions sorties without ever leaving the ground thanks to a recent upgrade to their simulators.
Specifically, pPilots with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121, which is expected to who will likely become the first operational F-35B squadron in late July later this summer, got Block 2B software upgrades giving their four simulators at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, the exact same capabilities as their real fighters.
"The software in the simulator now matches what is on the flightline, which is really what you desire," said Maj. Christopher Trent, VMFA-121's pilot training officer. "You don't wasn't a software variant older than what is on the flightline,"
Pilots had been using simulators with outdated software since the real aircraft are typically updated before training devices, Trent said. Now the software allows them to train as they fly, with expanded data sets and simulated weapons drops, according to Lockheed Martin.
"They give you the ability to replicate whatever threat — aircraft, ground defenses," Trent said, including surface-to-air missile batteries, anti-aircraft artillery, tanks and personnel carriers, and enemy fighters with rocket-propelled grenades.
But above all, they allow pilots to fly over simulations of real-world cities.
"Some threats don’t exist on a training range and you can’t replicate country X very accurately," he said. "Some of the best training you can get in a simulator is when it comes to replicating what aircraft will actually fight against in some areas of the world we might go to." he added.
That means if F-35B pilots are called on to fly fight over a real city in Syria, for example, they already have a feel for buildings, streets and potential targets based on simulated training they completed. may already intimately know each building, street and potential target from simulator-based scenarios. They could even use real-time intelligence to place likely threats.
Those upgrades are imperative since it the simulations are considered the next-best-thing to real-world training missions. however, considering that there are some major advantaged to training in a simulator rather than a live aircraft particularly when preparing for real-world combat. While nothing can replace taking to skies for learning the feel of an aircraft, training missions can be limited by in real aircraft are limited by bomb range space constraints, budgets and logistics. Simulators, on the other hand, allow for more complex and more realistic scenarios.
The new F-35 When compared to simulators of yore, Trent said the F-35s are far more accurate and detailed compared to past versions, Trent said. Graphics and targets are so detailed, they pop as if they are in 3-D.
"Legacy platforms are like Nintendo systems of the day and this upgrade is like the latest and greatest XBox with Halo," he said.
They can also be linked together, allowing four pilots with In fact, VMFA-121 to fly together as they would in combat. can link four of them together which is exactly the standard way to fly into combat, Trent said. Or pilots can go up against each other, allowing them to train for possible dog fights, Trent said.
