Operational Alignment in Predator Training Research

摘要

The sixteen year old USAF RPA program recently surpassed 2 million hours of flight time the second million was achieved in a mere two and a half years between 2011 and 2013. Though aircrews are flying more hours, their exposure to mission critical events like weapons employment or emergency procedures may be limited due to the relative infrequency of such events. A consequence of the higher ops tempo is fewer hours to train, so warfighters demand efficient and effective training. The Integrated Combat Operations Training-Research Testbed (ICOTT) at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in Dayton Ohio has an ongoing effort by a team of researchers, engineers, subject matter experts, and warfighters to cultivate an operationally relevant training research environment. To provide targeted RPA training research solutions, the team has developed the Predator Research Integrated Networked Combat Environment (PRINCE), a high-fidelity, non-proprietary, open architecture, networkable MQ-1 Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) simulator. The program is relatively young, only getting to the evaluation phase this year, but the buy-in from the warfighter is already significant. The Ohio Air National Guard s 178th Reconnaissance Group provided four SMEs to work with researchers and engineers to develop relevant training scenarios for RPA crews. Since May 2013, 21 aircrews have conducted 126 hours of competency based training, providing expert feedback and evaluation of PRINCE. A capabilities survey found that, even at this early stage in development, PRINCE provides an environment in which 53% of MQ-1 aircrew tasks can be trained to fully or with some limitations. This paper addresses the warfighter-centric methods used to identify training gaps, develop the PRINCE simulator, construct scenarios, and assess capabilities.