Defense
joined 56 Squadron and we see it as an emerging area in
the test world. We previously adopted and adapted
capabilities from the US, but we’re about to bring
Protector into service. It represents a new Royal Air Force
capability and I have a Protector team out in the US,
embedded with industry. The AWC is also engaged in
RPAS technology development,” says Davies
In terms of crewing, RPAS are clearly distinct to
conventional fixed- or rotary-wing platforms, yet the
effect they deliver is often comparable – a target imaged
or destroyed, or video collected. Should RPAS be regarded
under a separate category of trials, simply because the
crew doesn’t travel with the aircraft? Davies believes they
should: “For us it’s their persistency, the ability to have an
air vehicle operating in the traditional ISTAR and kinetic
roles, delivering capabilities similar to those of our ISTAR
or fast jet platforms, but in a much more enduring
manner. So, they fall within a unique new area of
capability requirement for UK Defense and our coalition
partners. We also support the Land Warfare Centre and
British Army with respect to many of its RPAS.”
Meanwhile, military training is using more
synthetics – simulation, virtual reality and other
computer-based techniques. Training is moving out of
expensive flying platforms – future RAF Lightning and
Typhoon pilots will complete more than half of their
frontline training in the simulator – to immersive
synthetic devices that also enable advanced tactics
development and operations that might otherwise
involve unacceptable peacetime risk, either in terms of
32 JUNE \\ AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM
aircraft safety or security. Trials can be performed in the
simulator before committing to live flying, enabling
engineers to predict results and minimize risk on the
ground before validation in the air.
“We have people focused on the synthetic world and
support many of the capability developments. Much of
the training we’ll want to do will be done in the
synthetic environment for security reasons. Much of the
test and evaluation we’ll do will be in the synthetic
environment too.
“It’s important that we develop and operate
simulators that are fully representative of the
capabilities offered by the actual aircraft and the real
operating environment. The challenge is to achieve
accuracy in a training aid so its as good or better than
the live training we do now. We’re looking at new
techniques for assessing systems and we see simulators
among those systems. The syllabus at the Empire Test
Pilots’ School, a joint AWC/QinetiQ enterprise, is
adapting to produce graduates capable of carrying out
these assessments.”
“This is my fourth AWC tour,” Davies says. “My first
began in 2003 and there are still people around who were
here then. They’re predominantly scientific personnel,
operational analysts and subject experts, while those
posted on tours are typically highly skilled qualified
weapons instructors, bringing direct experience from the
front line. They’ll usually move through the system and
return on subsequent tours, adding to the AWC’s
capability and informing our future programs.” \\
“It’s important to develop simulators that are
fully representative of the actual aircraft and
the real operating environment”
16
personnel form the joint
Rotary Wing Test &
Evaluation Squadron
27
aircraft platforms under
Air Warfare Centre
test and evaluation
responsibility
6
6 // An A400M Atlas natural
surface operations trial
being conducted by 206
Squadron at Pembrey
Beach, Wales in December
2018 (Photo: Crown
Copyright)
/AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM