Official looks to define best balance of live flight, simulation

  • Published
  • By Noel Getlin
  • Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation
ORLANDO, Fla. (AFNS) --  Headquarters Air Force Director of Operations personnel plan to work closely with those in the Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation and the MAJCOMs to define the right balance of live flight hours and Distributed Mission Operations-Live, Virtual and Constructive, or DMO-LVC, to train warfighters.

DMO is the term for linking personnel at different locations in simulated operations. The elements of LVC are real people training on their operational equipment (live), real people training using simulators (virtual), and models and simulations of people and equipment (constructive).

During his first visit to AFAMS Feb. 25, Maj. Gen. Brett T. Williams, director of operations in the office of the deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements at Headquarters Air Force, said he is focused on getting the best use of the limited resources to attain the highest possible level of readiness across the spectrum of Air Force operations.

"Looking across the spectrum of combat air forces, mobility air forces, space and cyber, what is the optimum mix of live activity and DMO-LVC if you have no funding or technical constraints?" General Williams asked.

According to the general, the answer to that question lies in balancing effective training and cost efficiency.

Modeling and Simulation, or M&S, isn't a wise return on investment if the simulations do not accurately reflect real world capabilities to the extent that it's just like operating the actual combat system, he said. Live operations are not always an option, and some capabilities only can be performed safely in simulation. Security and latency are also issues that must be satisfied.

"The secret sauce is in the connectivity and networking required for DMO-LVC," General Williams said.  "The technical challenges are significant, but there are policy and governance aspects, especially involving multiple classification levels, that are just as formidable."

Officials at AFAMS, an Air Force field operating agency, have been working with MAJCOMs and sister services on an initiative for an Enterprise Architecture-Live Virtual and Constructive Environment, or EA LVCE, to maximize LVC assets by focusing on M&S that integrates with Air Force, joint and coalition systems in exercises. This would allow LVC elements to be integrated for exercises and training.

"AFAMS is the Air Force integrator of M&S policy, capabilities and resources," said Col. Marcus A. Boyd, AFAMS commander. "It is the execution arm of Air Force M&S. We have much of the collective expertise and contacts throughout the joint LVC communities."

The intent of EA-LVCE is not to take M&S programs from commands or sister services, Colonel Boyd said.

"We just want to leverage the programs," he said. "Build whatever you want, but when it plugs in, we want to define the interface so it can plug into joint LVC environments."

General Williams also pointed out that part of the equation is an appreciation for risk and readiness.

"Today we cannot satisfy all of our live training requirements, nor can we deliver all of our DMO-LVC needs," he said. "Some of the shortfalls require technical advances and some will be addressed through more efficient use of our resources. AFAMS has a key role in both of these areas.

"We must bring all the pieces together first," he continued. "We need an integrated process. It's about mission risk in the end. If we're going to increasingly rely on M&S ... then AFAMS needs to be called in early in the process to gather and assess requirements, offer solutions and serve as the integration engine between the technical community and the operators."

As the Headquarters Air Force A3O, General Williams is responsible for policy and oversight of Air Force operations. The secretary of the Air Force and the chief of staff of the Air Force directed the transfer of AFAMS from the Secretary of the Air Force A6 to Headquarters Air Force A3/5.