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Pod testing set to improve Coalition and joint training

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Ryan Hansen
  • Air Armament Center Public Affairs
After a lot of hard work and dedication, the P5 Combat Training System began flight testing last month.

The P5 CTS is the next generation of air combat training systems and provides a revolutionary capability of rangeless operation and real-time monitoring. The program includes a number of planned upgrades to add no-drop weapon scoring, a secure data link, additional air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons simulations, embedded and up-linked threats and Link-16 interaction. It is a cooperative program between the Range Instrumentation System Squadron and the Navy to develop and procure the next generation training system to facilitate joint and coalition training.

“The P5 Combat Training System is a training pod that is mounted onto a jet that allows for real-time tracking during a training event,” said Maj. Scott Foreman, P5 CTS project manager. “During air combat maneuvering instrumented training, the pod records and can relay time, space and position information about the training aircraft, as well as run simulated weapon fly outs and provide a real-time kill notification to the participants.”

The P5 CTS also has the capability to relay the Time Space Position Information data in real-time down to a transportable ground subsystem.

“A range training officer on the ground sitting in front of a live monitor station can monitor what is going on between aircraft and in real-time be able to determine if a particular engagement was successful,” he said. “From there the (range training officer) could provide real-time feedback to the pilots on how to improve a particular engagement and have them repeat it if necessary.”

The pod can also provide aircrew with a variety of training scenarios.

“We’re also adding the ability to run weapons simulation fly outs,” Major Foreman said. “There are weapons simulations that we run inside the pod to try and simulate a weapons event to provide real-time feedback on whether or not there was a kill or a miss to the different participants.”

Seven flight tests are scheduled to take place and should be completed by the end of this month. Through these flight tests the team will be able to see if the training system is ready to be fielded.

“We’re trying to prove out the system through combined (developmental test/operational test) type testing,” Major Foreman said. “The majority of what we’re trying to accomplish with the testing is prove out the data link capability because that is one area that’s different than the P4.”

If everything goes as planned the P5 CTS will be fielded right here at Eglin.

“The first site we’ll deploy to is the 33rd Fighter Wing,” the major said. “We’ll go through a short site acceptance process where we deliver the hardware, install it and check it out and then turn it over to them. We have also contracted to provide an on-site technical support person for a year that will be there to answer any questions the unit may have and take care of the logistics support.

“This has been a long time coming for a lot of people,” said Major Foreman. “But through it all we’ve had a great working relationship with everyone involved and we’re very excited to get to this step.”