Special Ops Takes Giant Step in Virtual Warfare - Brief Article

Air Force crews in helicopters, fighters and battle management aircraft, and Army special operations aircrews, climbed out of their "aircraft" after the hairy five-hour prisoner of war extraction mission. Covered in sweat, they reflected on how all the planning, coordination and teamwork resulted in a successful rescue.

While this recent adrenaline-pumping mission was realistic, not a single bullet was fired. The aircraft never left the tarmac.

How? Enter the next giant step in virtual warfare -- distributive operations.

This new mission-rehearsal technology, which is being run by the 19th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., allows geographically separated flight simulators all over the United States to interconnect via encrypted phone lines. Crews can see each other fly and communicate while in the same airspace -- without burning a single drop of jet fuel.

At Hurlburt each simulator's data is piped into a "viewing portal," in the mission rehearsal observation center. There, 30 people sit in theater-like seats and watch the battle unfold on eight video cubes and a 100-inch diagonal projection screen. Command and control elements run the war according to an operations plan timeline, and participants at other work stations create enemy threats.

"The distinguishing term to remember is 'synthetic battlespace,'" said Lt. Col. Gary Holland, the squadron commander.

"In synthetic battlespaces, we have the option to use simulated forces, constructive forces and even live forces. This synthetic combination is something that is new and unique to the simulation world.

"The constructive forces are generating enemy threats and ground clutter. People flying simulators are the simulated forces, and live forces are real-world systems, like a Rivet Joint EC-135, sending live imagery from a far-reaching location," the colonel said.

The synthetic environment's advantages over other simulation techniques center on how detailed, realistic and well synchronized a rehearsal is.

"Some units fly missions with basic clouds and sky imagery without ground," he said. "We have high-fidelity graphics, including ground clutter, for our missions that are built from actual satellite imagery and maps. Detailed enemy ground forces and weather conditions can be input as the battle unfolds."

Colonel Holland's unit has a 72-hour requirement to rehearse real-world missions. This quick-load capability, based on satellite imagery instead of older technology, is a giant upgrade. Now it takes hours to do a scenario buildup, instead of weeks and months.

"This is not just fundamental training, this is a high-fidelity rehearsal of what they will actually see around them, in a foreign land, tomorrow afternoon," he said.

During last year's distributive operations event, called "Synthetic Theater of War," Gen. Michael E. Ryan, Air Force chief of staff, said the 19th SOS was "10 years ahead of the rest of the Air Force" in this area of technology.

Up to this point, with events like synthetic theater of war, the capability has been both a mission rehearsal exercise and a technology demonstration.

Another exercise, Kestrel Phoenix, had Air Force and Army people link up in August and perform a rehearsal of the POW rescue. The "Son Tay Raid" type scenario was built around a real world operations plan, and was performed near the anniversary of the Vietnam War event.

"Sims" from all over the nation joined in the rescue. This included several different types of fighter aircraft to several different types of special operations C-130s and helicopters, as well as Army MH-47K and MH-60 simulators at Fort Campbell, Ky. In the end, the POWs were put on a simulated Navy ship.

"We are happy, but not satisfied, because the technology is changing about every nine to 12 months," said Colonel Holland, "and we want to push the envelope of this capability." As a result, his squadron is working with units at places like Fort Benning, Ga., to link with the Army's ranger school, and have recurring practices of calls for fire with AC-130 gun-ships.

With fewer aircraft frames, flying-hour dollars and experienced crew members, distributive operations brings some new benefits to readiness and unit pocketbooks.

"We can grow our flying crews faster and cheaper with this training enhancement," Colonel Holland said. "With Kestrel Phoenix, units at Hurlburt alone probably saved more than $1 million in flight time. The rehearsal buildup cost $140,000. With the infrastructure and database built, we can run it again for a flat annual phone fee.

"We'd like to see this technology plugged more and more into conventional units throughout the Air Force so there is a huge dollar savings force-wide," he said.

COPYRIGHT 2000 U.S. Air Force, Air Force News Agency
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group