Inside the Navy’s undergraduate jet training system: Weapon of the Week

[Ryan Robertson]

ALL RIGHT, FOLKS, FOR OUR WEAPON OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK, WE HAVE SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR YOU JOINING ME NOW TO TALK ABOUT IT IS STEVE HELMER WITH TEXTRON. STEVE, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US. THANKS FOR HAVING ME SO CALL SIGN JOE. JOE. THAT MEANS YOU’RE A PILOT, NAVAL AVIATOR. WE’RE TALKING ABOUT A NEW POTENTIAL NAVAL TRAINER WALK ME THROUGH THE STEPS.

[Steve Helmer, Flight Test & Demonstration Pilot at Textron Aviation Defense}

“So what we have here is the M-346-N which is the most visible part of a training system that we’re offering the Navy as a potential T 45 replacement.”

[Ryan Robertson]

AND WHEN YOU SAY IT’S THE MOST VISUAL PART, IT’S A SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS, RIGHT? I MEAN, WE HAVE THE SIMULATOR BEHIND YOU, BUT THAT TIES INTO THE ENTIRE TRAINING SYSTEM AS A WHOLE.

[Steve Helmer, Flight Test & Demonstration Pilot at Textron Aviation Defense]

“That’s exactly right. So everything from the smart chair you see behind me to the operational flight trainers to the aircraft can all be networked together. And then we can utilize Live, Virtual, Constructive environments to simulate Air to Air, air to ground, any training environment, really, and work all the way from beginning stages of familiarization all the way up to large force exercise training.”

[Ryan Robertson]

SO HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT THAN WHAT HAPPENS TODAY?

[Steve Helmer, Flight Test & Demonstration Pilot at Textron Aviation Defense]

“Well, that allows us to bring a lot of advanced training concepts such as radar intercepts in the air to air environment, and precision guided munitions in the air to ground environment into the training command. So things that currently students aren’t doing in the T 40, I’m sorry, in the in the F 35 or the F 18, they’re now going to be able to do in the Training Command they’re going to show up to their fleet jet with a lot more advanced knowledge. “

[Ryan Robertson]

AND WHAT DOES THAT BRING TO THE SERVICE WHEN YOU’RE ABLE TO TRAIN THE AVIATOR WITH MUCH MORE, YOU KNOW, EXQUISITE SYSTEMS, MORE COMPLEX SYSTEMS, EARLIER ON IN THEIR CAREER, WHEN THEY’RE READY TO GO, WHAT DOES THAT BRING TO THE SERVICE AS A WHOLE, QUALITY OF TRAINING? AND WHAT DOES THAT LIKE? WHAT DOES THAT TRANSLATE INTO.

[Steve Helmer, Flight Test & Demonstration Pilot at Textron Aviation Defense]

“What that really translates into is more war fighter readiness at a lower cost.”

[Ryan Robertson]

ALL RIGHT, SO WALK ME THROUGH THE PACES ON WHAT’S BEHIND YOU RIGHT HERE THAT IT’S THE CHAIR, IT’S A SIMULATOR. WHAT ALL CAN A PILOT WHO’S WHO’S USING IT, WHO’S TRAINING TO BECOME A NAVAL AVIATOR? WHAT CAN THEY DO WITH THIS SYSTEM?

[Steve Helmer, Flight Test & Demonstration Pilot at Textron Aviation Defense]

“Well, what we can do here is we can simulate field landings, aircraft carrier landings, Air to Air and air to ground mission sets. And we can bring in virtual wingmen when we’re networked together, we can actually have the simulator and the aircraft networked such that I’m in the aircraft and you’re in the simulator, and we can actually fly with each other or against each other. So there’s a whole range of mission sets that we can simulate with the system.”

[Ryan Robertson]

WHEN YOU WERE COMING UP YOUR TOP GUN GRAD, RIGHT WHEN YOU WERE COMING UP THROUGH THE SYSTEM. HOW MUCH WOULD IT HAVE BEEN HAVE HELPED YOU IF YOU HAD A SYSTEM LIKE THIS?

[Steve Helmer, Flight Test & Demonstration Pilot at Textron Aviation Defense]

“Well, I’m not a Top Gun grad, I’m actually a Navy Test Pilot School graduate, but this system would have helped tremendously, particularly in the in the environment of learning radar intercepts, a lot of those basics just simply how to read a radar scope, where to put the bogey on your scope to get in a certain position relative to that bogey is a skill that I had to learn in the fleet replacement squadron. I in the F 18. So I was doing that at that, you know, 20 to $30,000 per flight hour in that airplane, and needing to do a lot of study offline. And that took several months of my training. So if you can bring all that training into the training command now, a student shows up to that airplane at that 20 to $30,000 per flight hour, with the basic skill sets already laid down, they’re going to be able to pick up a lot more, a lot quicker, and be able to get out to the fleet as a higher quality aviator.”

[Ryan Robertson]

ALL RIGHT, JOJO, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US TODAY. ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?

[Steve Helmer, Flight Test & Demonstration Pilot at Textron Aviation Defense]

“No thank you very much for your time.”