Insights Into Changing the Live / Synthetic Balance. A Typhoon Case Study

摘要

The 2010 SDSR was completed against a very difficult financial background and stated that "The difficult legacy we have inherited has necessitated tough decisions to get our economy back on track. Our national security depends on our economic security and vice versa. So bringing the defence budget back to balance is a vital part of how we tackle the deficit and protect this country's national security" Combat Air (CA) is a vital but very expensive part of Defence, and one of the SDSR recommendations was to maximize Synthetic Training (ST) to reduce the high operating costs of fast jet aircraft. The Typhoon is now our largest CA cost driver and so reducing Typhoon flying hours offers the greatest saving. However, before agreeing to reduce live flying (Typhoon pilots currently fly around 17.5 hours a month), the Combat Air board wanted to better understand the implications of moving towards a greater amount of synthetic training. They therefore tasked Dstl to conduct a Combat Air Training study to improve the understanding of Typhoon training, and in particular the choices around synthetic Training (ST). This study considered the Live Synthetic blend, with the overall aim of improving the understanding of the training system, and of providing both insight and a decision support methodology on how choices made between live or synthetic training will impact student throughput, cost, training effectiveness, personal management and corresponding risks to operational performance and safety. Its aim is to improve understanding rather than offer solutions; it provides support tools and guides high level (i.e. Combat Air Board) decisions on the LSB. The aim of this paper is to present some key conclusions of this study.