A civilian aircraft exploded over the skies of western Virginia, shot down by two F-16 Fighting Falcons flying nearby, while an unmanned aerial vehicle was blasted away as it buzzed up the Potomac River toward the nation’s capitol April 19.

But no one was ever in any danger. That’s because the aircraft and the action weren’t real. They were all simulated on computers and played out on three massive flat-screen TVs as part of a homeland defense exercise at the Air Force’s Pentagon Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Visualization Center April 19 here, with participants spanning the nation and government organizations.

“We would never be able to do this type of training in the real world,” said Lt. Gen. Michael W. Peterson, chief of warfighting integration and information. “Taking real-time aircraft out of the airspace over the nation’s capitol for an exercise will never happen. So this (center) provides the perfect complement to live flying with an incredible amount of fidelity and realism.”

In one case, a scenario in the exercise involved an aircraft off the West Coast that experienced technical failures and needed military escort back to safety. It ended up having to ditch into the ocean, where the Coast Guard was ready for rescue.

The second scenario involved terrorists hijacking a civilian aircraft and changing its course toward the capitol region while the third scenario had unknown individuals launching a UAV up the Potomac. Each scenario called for cooperation from the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard and other federal agencies.

The challenge for the exercise participants -- who were located in places like Iowa, Alabama, Florida and Washington -- was to determine the right course of action by communicating with each other and following established protocols.

The need for such cooperation between organizations dealing with national airspace became painfully obvious after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Since that time, both military and civilian government agencies have worked together to prepare for such situations, and it is through simulated exercises via the CVC that they are able to train for them.

“The goal is to build a stable network that provides a realistic warfighting training environment,” said Steven Boe, 1st Air Force Distributed Mission Operations program manager at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. His team won the Air Force’s 2005 Modeling and Simulation Award and was responsible for organizing the exercise.

“By using live and simulation capabilities and a level of realism, we can provide … a joint national capability,” Mr. Boe said.

Using realistic digital imagery similar to most modern-day video games as well as telecommunication technology such as the Internet and teleconferencing capabilities, the center is able to provide information around the world in a matter of seconds. This means an Airman at the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado can view the same detailed radar track of a virtual wayward aircraft as a Soldier in an attack simulation hub in Alabama, and respond accordingly.

The center can also tap into the airwaves used by air traffic controllers and pilots, and communicate and listen to each other through the connections.

“(The center) serves as a “decision theater” in the Pentagon,” said Norman Murray, director of the center. “Air Force and Department of Defense leaders come to watch, participate in and interact with distant locations to make decisions and recommendations while providing direct feedback to the assembled audiences.”

As the only center of its kind in the Pentagon and National Capital Region, it is managed entirely by the Air Force, although its use is for anyone within DOD who needs it. With its secure facility and graphic displays, it can support any joint-training event, experiment and real-world event.

Mr. Boe said the feedback he gets from the exercises -- especially from first-timers -- almost always falls into the realm of awe and disbelief.

“People often focus on the virtual part of it, the eye-candy,” he said, “but a lot of times, I hear how they never knew about all the organizations involved (in homeland defense.) They had no idea of what the 'other people' were doing. So, this really does help us be a better team.”