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Spotlight on S&T - July 2004

Virtually all hooked up! CF-18 pilots can now "fly" with their American counterparts

The Multi-Task Trainer at DRDC is a CF-18 simulator for use in R&D of technologies for force generation and mission rehearsal in coalition operations.

As a result of a unique 10-year Canada-United States relationship, CF-18 pilots can now fly with their American counterparts – virtually that is! As part of the Advanced Distributed Mission Training (ADMT) project, which ended this year, a CF-18 simulator is now "taking off" at Defence R&D Canada – Toronto. The simulator, also know as a Multi-task Trainer (MTT), allows pilots to simulate coalition training and rehearsal while keeping both feet firmly planted on the ground. The MTT is fully interoperable with similar virtual environments used by the United States Air Force as well as other allied nations.

Pilots' view from the CF-18 Multi-Task Trainer (left) developed by DRDC closely resembles that of the actual CF-18 (right).

This is a milestone achievement in flight simulation technologies that will be used for enhanced training and increased interoperability while doing more research and development. The Canadian Air Force will exploit the CF-18 simulator and the related technologies to advance training for coalition operations. The efforts will help support the Canadian Air Forces' modelling and simulation initiatives within the Canadian Department of National Defence, through an ongoing process of technology investigation and risk reduction activities.

DRDC and the Warfighter Training Division (WTD) of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) have worked together on inter-simulator networking issues, visual display fidelity, constructive agents for opposing and friendly forces, as well as researching the desirable mix of simulator and in-flight training. The CF-18 MTT at DRDC Toronto was built by the WTD.

The ADMT, and other Distributed Simulation projects, is solidified by a project arrangement that was signed by Canada and the U.S. in 1999 and remains in force until 2009. The ongoing work will include the advancement of high-resolution visual displays, the simulation of night vision scenes and sensors as well as deployable simulations.