With initial operational capability (IOC) for the Pentagon’s newest fighter expected next summer for the U.S. Marine Corps, and the following year for the Air Force, pilot training is a major focus moving forward.


In lieu of mounting the F-35 simulator on a movable platform, designers say the 360-deg. dome display provides sufficient realism for students. Credit: Lockheed Martin

















But the design of the single-seat, stealthy fighter does not allow for buddy rides. When a student pilot steps into the cockpit of theF-35 for his first check-out flight, he is flying SOLO.
With a price exceeding $100 million and cost per flying hour for the A-model at roughly $24,000, each mission has to count. But Lockheed Martin says pilots are getting the education they need, thanks to improved simulation technology incorporated into the program’s full-mission simulators (FMS).
The simulators employ the actual F-35 software used by flying aircraft, while many training simulators for legacy aircraft rely more on emulation than simulation, says Mike Luntz, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 training system director. “We fly the same software, just like the jet does,” he says. 
Already, five FMS are INSTALLED at Eglin AFB, Florida, the initial training base for F-35 pilots and maintainers. Another two are at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS), in Yuma, Arizona—where the first squadron of Marine F-35Bs will be based—and two more at MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina, which will be the service’s main training base.
“They are the same software SETUP. They are the same hardware setup. They are very high-fidelity simulators,” Luntz says. “There are differences in the side panels between the actual CV, CTOL and Stovl. And because of the high fidelity of the simulators we have panels that we place in there that are actually removable . . . and we swap those side panels out,” to accommodate the unique controls for the F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing (Stovl) version for the Marines, U.K., and Italy, and F-35C carrier variant for the Navy. The A-model, optimized for conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL), will constitute the bulk of the fleet.
While about 40% of an F-16 pilot’s training is done in the simulator, the F-35 pilot’s education is at least 60% simulator based. This is possible because of the fidelity of the simulator technology, Luntz says. Older simulators are motion-based, or mounted on a platform that moves with the pilot to add physicality to the maneuvers as he inputs commands. The F-35 FMS, however, is fixed. But the training is not lacking, Luntz asserts. 
An F-35 simulator puts the pilot inside a 360-deg. dome, like a “Christmas globe that you shake up,” Luntz says. Twenty projectors inside the dome present a sight picture to the pilot that is seamless; older systems often showed seams in the screens projected for a student, detracting from the realism of the exercises.
The utility of the 360-deg. trainer has underpinned the first at-sea operations for the Marine Corps and Navy. The U.S. Marine Corps conducted its first ship-based developmental tests on the USS Wasp in 2011, and the Navy’s first at-sea trials took place on the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier in November. Both were deemed successful by the services.
“With the [distributed aperture system (DAS)] and the 360-deg. dome, the ability to simulate those shipboard landings is much greater than legacy simulators,” Luntz says. The DAS is unique to the F-35; using cameras mounted outside the aircraft, its avionics can project a 360‑deg. field of view outside the jet to the pilot, giving him unprecedented situational awareness. Data are projected inside the pilot’s helmet-mounted display.
Currently, the FMS relies on a training helmet, not the actual Generation-3 helmet pilots will use in F-35 operations, which was developed to correct deficiencies found earlier in flight testing. Luntz says the Pentagon is conducting a cost-benefit study to decide which helmet will ultimately be used for pilot training. Training on the helmet will be key, as F-35 pilots will be subjected to an unprecedented amount of cockpit data derived from its DAS, electro-optical targeting system and threat-warning indicators. While pilots in legacy fighters had to train for heavy manual workloads, data in the F-35 are fused for the pilot. But he must acclimate to the amount of information being presented to avoid oversaturation.
The simulators now mostly use the fighter’s basic 2A software. The Marines plan to declare IOC as early as July, but no later than December 2015, with a 2B-software package that will incorporate the AIM-120C7 air-to-air missile, Joint Direct Attack Munition and GBU-12 laser-guided bomb.
The planned 2B, 3i and 3F software packages will be dropped into the simulators as needed by the services and customers.
Lockheed Martin is under contract for 51 FMS, including deliveries to Israel, Japan, and Norway. Nine have been delivered to the Pentagon. Luntz says he expects to eventually field 230 at sites around the world for users.
Lockheed Martin delivered the first deployable mission-rehearsal trainer in October to the U.K. for use on its new Queen Elizabeth II aircraft carrier. The system at Eglin is an abbreviated version of the FMS that is based inside conex boxes. Although it employs the full software load of the FMS, it has a reduced footprint for shipboard applications. Pilots will use this system to rehearse specific missions