F-16 Pilots Join in Laser Games
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M., Oct. 28 --
F-16 pilots participating in a computerized war-game exercise this
week will be armed with a simulated laser cannon developed by the
Air Force Research Laboratory.
During the exercise, called Advanced Concepts Event (ACE), pilots
will use the newly developed laser-armed F-16 simulator to better
prepare for aerial combat once laser weapons become available. The
simulator also allows Air Combat Command to develop tactics,
techniques and procedures that will be needed in laser
battles.
Being held at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, ACE
incorporates simulators from throughout the country, networked to
Kirtland. Officials said the event offers the intensity of real
exercises, providing participants the opportunity to test future
weapon systems in a war-games format. ACE is available to all the
military services.
The F-16 laser simulator -- known as the high-energy laser (HEL)
fighter -- was developed with assistance from F-16 pilots assigned
to the New Mexico Air National Guard, another Kirtland-based
unit.
"We started this effort nearly four years ago," said Rudy Martinez,
the HEL Fighter project officer at the Directed Energy Directorate.
"We wanted to merge an F-16 simulator with a laser weapon system so
that a pilot could blend flying experience with the skills needed
to operate a revolutionary speed-of-light weapon."
According to Martinez, "A pilot would fly his F-16 differently in a
laser battle compared to a more traditional fight using guns or
missiles. With guns and missiles, a pilot has to maneuver to
approach a target from behind or from the side. But with a laser
weapon that pilot can have more latitude. That's because the laser
is mounted on a turret underneath the plane. The turret can fire
the laser 35 degrees to either side of straight ahead so the pilot
doesn't have to do as much maneuvering.
"Working as a team, we put together a pretty good simulator," said
Martinez. "But we still needed to get it into the hands of Air
Combat Command operators to get feedback on how well it works,
whether it was realistic enough or not. So we transitioned it to a
facility in Mesa, Ariz., called the Warfighter Training Research
Division of the Human Effectiveness Directorate, which as four F-16
simulators. By loading all four simulators with our model, we were
able to fly multiple, simulated, laser-armed aircraft in a single
battle."
The simulators at Mesa are also more sophisticated than the ones at
Kirtland; they can incorporate a 360-degree "out of the cockpit"
view in their simulations.
Improvements to HEL Fighter are in the works, including more
precise targeting mechanisms. A laser-armed fighter aircraft is
still a few years away. Also under development are solid-state
lasers in the 100,000-watt range and compact electrical sources
that can power high-energy laser weapons. Until then, Martinez
said, that experience will only be available through simulators
like the HEL Fighter and exercises such as ACE.