Originally Posted by
Doors Off
Yep, sitting at a computer terminal, at 1 G, with no mil spec inputs/threats - it’s real! The Bean counters and buffoon commanders are fooled by flashy graphics.
You and Beagle are coming at this from the wrong direction, The Jaguar TIALD trainer the RAF used was based on gaming software developed by a company called DID, this allowed the user to learn the capabilities and how to operate such functions without the need to do it in an aircraft. It was nothing but a teaching aid.
This is similar, forget the graphics, the operation is built around the A-10 and its systems, it also uses metal replica A-10 Hotas controllers allowing students to practice various items that they may not be able to get time in the main sims to do or on the aircraft.. It is an accurately based system of what the A-10 does, in fact there was recently a case of some F16 manuals being obtained of Ebay to improve the accuracy of the F16, see the link below.
It's a heck of a better way to teach a student with the aid of an instructor who can use the controllers and see it 3D in VR than to use 2d images on a screen and say press this and it does this etc.. No sims will never replace real flight and G, but it will enhance the teaching and learning environment and to simply dismiss it as a fancy graphic game is doing it a diservice, its probably surpassed the military technology available 10 years ago.,
If it wasn't of a benefit to the student the USAF would never have invested in it..Period!
There are also other benefits, I remember ACMI in the 80's and the screens used for that, now fast forward to today and a quote from the article.
"VR has proven to be a tremendous tool for showing specific sight pictures that would otherwise be impossible to show via 2D pictures and traditional academic material," a spokesperson for the 355th Wing told The War Zone, who also confirmed that technology was being used in conjunction with the DCS gaming software. "We are also using VR headsets for students to view 360-degree training footage, and communities all across the Air Force are starting to adopt similar platforms for multiple different career fields."
"We are using virtual reality simulation to provide an immersive trainer for students," Air Force Major Drew Glowa, a 355th Training Squadron instructor pilot, had also
said an interview for an official Air Force news item last year. "Training includes all aspects of operating the A-10 to include, but not limited to: ground operations, start-taxi-take offs, landings, formation flying, weapons employment, threat reactions, air-to-air refueling and other critical capabilities."
“There are two distinct lines of effort in our VR program," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Tim Manning, the commanding officer of the 355th Training Squadron, added
in a separate interview at that time. "First is the lab where students can fly the A-10 and practice tasks and the second, is having actual flights filmed in 360-degree video, viewed on VR headsets."
Using DCS, "we can now demonstrate exactly what it looks like flying on the wing of a tanker and subsequently flying to the correct position behind it to refuel," the 355th spokesperson told us an example of the training that is now available through the A-10 simulator lab. "Leveraging DCS’s impressive visuals in VR, we are able to have students fly and practice the correct positions themselves, which is very valuable training for a single-seat aircraft. No 2D screen can show the same level of depth perception required to accurately fly these types of close formations."
"This prepares them for flying events better than any other training tool we have at a higher availability," Major Glowa, the A-10 instructor pilot, said last year. "Now we can review specific tasks in a real-world environment by supplementing our four traditional simulator bays and giving students 22 more cockpits to practice on their own or with an instructor. We can expedite ground training to prepare students for flights at a pace we have never seen. We are transforming the way we train pilots and will be able to actually increase quality faster and add remedial training at almost any time. This will expedite the time it takes to get students ready for their flights."
I actually posted the wrong link earlier, this is the USAF using the "Gaming " sim
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...to-train-in-vr
https://www.insider.com/the-us-says-...-russia-2019-5