The Role of Simulation in Support of F-35B/QEC Aircraft-Ship Integration

摘要

A decade ago the author presented a paper at theInternational Powered Lift Conference, held in Londonat the headquarters of the Royal Aeronautical Society,entitled “Operating JSF from CVF: The Reality ofSimulation”. That paper outlined the potential ofmodelling and simulation to support the aircraft-shipintegration process and to augment at-sea testing. In theintervening decade much has changed and technologyhas rapidly advanced to the point at which much of thispromise has now come to fruition. This paper updatesthe previous report by giving an insight into how stateof-the-art modelling and simulation technology is beingexploited on the UK programme to integrate the F-35Lightning II and Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) aircraftcarriers. This paper will review how the simulationfacilities and modelling techniques employed on theprogramme have evolved and will describe how thesesimulations are being used to support development ofthe aircraft-ship interface and prepare test pilots, flighttest engineers and the ship’s crew for First-of-ClassFlight Trials. Finally, the paper will close by discussingsome of the successes achieved by the programme sofar, and highlight some of the challenges in store for thefuture.