There are a few 'F-35 Simulators' with the FMS being the main VeryLargeOneInAbuilding. Perhaps 'JSFfan' was thinking about the last 'training aid' (for F-16s then F-35s likely) as seen below in the LastTextPost?
I was surprised by the negative comments about sim training for F-35 pilots from those pilots/instructors who have likely not flown any of the F-35 sims quoted in the 'kbrockman' article quotes earlier, however the good Tomassetti put me right.
Having 'hit the back end o'the boat' at night as some USNers like to put it - I would suggest that my many nights of FCLP (MADDLS) on RW 26 at NAS Nowra (which had a healthy downdraught in a deep gully off the threshold in the usually strong westerly winds at that time of the year) I had mucho respecto for said 'spud locker' at both locations. Nothing simulates the inkyblackmirrorbrightnohorizon first look off a CCA at 'the horror'. There was no simulator for any A4G work in the early 1970s.
Many years later in the early days of Windows 3.1 it was very 'enlightening' to bring my old flying days back using the woeful, inaccurate early MS Flight Simulator. Then Chris Mills via an Australian Personal Computer Magazine article introduced me to a wireframe DOS flight sim that wonderfully simulated ACM against an opponent. This simple sim had me experiencing all the fun and games of 'wot I brought to it' - even bobbing my head 'pulling simulated G'. I think any NavAv pilot will bring their experiences to any NavAv 'boat' simulator. T-45C pilots have their sim and initial CarQual then they may go to the S/Hornet sims and CarQuals, all the while adding their real experiences to their simulators. I still have a healthy respect for any non safe flight in any computer sim.
By all F-35 test pilot accounts the F-35 simulators (perhaps they may need to specify which ones) are very realistic - especially for the non VL people learning how to do same in the F-35B enabled sim, then in real life. Here come the quotes....
F-35 Embedded Training
http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public//PubFullText/RTO/MP%5CRTO-MP-HFM-169///MP-HFM-169-02.doc
"ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of Embedded Training (ET) in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). This paper will cover early ET concept development, the implementation of ET in JSF, now F-35 Lightning II, the pilot perspective of the ET training syllabus, and future development of F-35 ET. In the JSF concept development phase the training system solution included the deployable training device and added ET training capability built into the aircraft. ET was brought to the forefront with fighter pilots’ heavy involvement in extended periods of aircraft deployment to international theaters of war. During these periods fighter pilots were away from continuation training opportunities. In response, the JSF training system concept integrated the ET Virtual Training Model (VTM) in the synthetic training environments to support "anywhere/anytime" interactive combat training while in-flight.
The objective of F-35 ET is to enhance and maintain fighter pilot proficiency. ET is implemented by functionally partitioning the aircraft integrated core processor (ICP). ET consists of the VTM hosted in the ICP and the P5 Combat Training System (CTS) contained in P5 Internal Subsystem (IS). Both VT and P5 CTS provide brief and debrief capabilities.
From the pilot perspective, VT is an overlay of constructive simulation on the real world to provide an enhanced training environment to the pilot. VT mission planning data is inserted in the aircraft via the preloaded portable memory device (PMD). A coordinated data link distribution of VT provides synchronization between a four-ship flight of F-35 aircraft. Pilots may train to a coordinated attack against virtual targets with appropriate threat reactions and kill responses that are shared across participants. All participating aircraft follow the same realistic, virtual pre-planned training scenario. Following the event, the pilot takes the PMD back to off-board mission support for debriefing. The result is combat team training in live flight supplemented and enhanced by a virtual combat environment.....
...ET is becoming a key component of the total training system for the next generation of tactical aircraft. Over the expected life cycle of calendar years 2013 through 2057, the program savings could reach $2,976M...."
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Dutch Space & NLR deliver F-35 Embedded Training System to LM 12 July 2012
http://www.asdnews.com/news-43894/Dutch_Space_and_NLR_deliver_F-35_Embedded_Training_System_to_LM.htm
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F-35 FMS Full Mission Simulator:
http://www.gizmag.com/f-35-full-mission-simulator/18442/
&
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/seoul-to-rely-on-simulators-to-evaluate-f-35-for-f-x-iii-contest-373006/
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U.S. Government Refuses South Korean Flight Testing on F-35. F-15SE and Eurofighter Will Be Flight Tested For Competition While F-35 Tests Will Be Done On A Simulator June 7, 2012
http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2012/06/07/lockheed-martin-refuses-south-korean-flight-testing-on-f-35-f-15se-and-eurofighter-will-be-flight-tested-for-competition-while-f-35-tests-will-be-done-on-a-simulator/
"...Q: How can potential customers like Korea evaluate the F-35 capabilities? Answer: The F-35 has a classified, high-fidelity Manned Tactical Simulator that is used by the three U.S. services, eight partner nations and other potential operators to evaluate the F-35 and develop 5th Generation tactics. The simulator allows four F-35 aircraft to fly and operate together as they fight against complex airborne and ground-based threat systems. Air combat is evolving to depend more on stealth, sensors, sensor fusion and interoperable networks. So it is essential to evaluate advanced fighters using simulator systems that enable pilots to fly and fight together to defeat sophisticated threat systems. Pilots from the USAF, the USN, the USMC, and many international nations have extensively flown the high-fidelity simulator and verified it is the best tool to evaluate F-35 capabilities. All of the international nations who have selected and ordered the F-35 have evaluated its capabilities using the Manned Tactical Simulator.
Q: Can Korea fly the F-35? Answer: At this time the F-35 fleet is fully occupied with test, train-ing and delivery activities, so Korea will not be able to fly the aircraft. Potential customers like Korea have the opportunity for multiple pilots to fly the high-fidelity Manned Tactical Simulator similar to operations conducted by the U.S. Services and F-35 international partners & customers. In addition, potential customers can also fly the F-35 Handling Qualities Simulator which is a motion-based system that allows an assessment of F-35 handling / flying qualities and is the same simulator used by test pilots for their initial training. Potential customers may also have the opportunity to closely observe F-35 flight operations, discuss F-35 capabilities with USAF and Lockheed Martin test pilots, participate in pre-flight and post-flight pilot activities, and observe or participate in numerous types of maintenance activities."..."
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F-35 INTEGRATED TRAINING CENTER BY SCOTT R. GOURLEY
http://www.nxtbook.com/faircount/F-35LightningII/JSFII/index.php#/136
"...Full Mission Simulators, which features a 360-degree dome. And we also have a Deployable Mission Rehearsal Trainer (DMRT), with two cockpits in a milvan. They are the exact same cockpits, exact same software, and exact same instructor/operators stations, except things have been ‘condensed.’ In other words, instead of having three or four screens at the instructor/ operator station, there is one; and instead of having a large 360-degree dome, it is a smaller dome with smaller field of view," she said.
"The DMRT helps because it can be deployed on a ship — a carrier or an LHD for any of the services or partner countries,"..."
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Live Virtual Constructive technology set to revolutionize air combat training 13 Apr 2012 Dave Majumdar
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/live-virtual-constructive-technology-set-to-revolutionize-air-combat-training-370661/
"The US Air Force and Lockheed Martin are getting ready to demonstrate the first operational use of live virtual constructive (LVC) training technology on 26 April at Luke Air Force Base (AFB), Arizona.
The technology has the potential to revolutionize the way air forces train-particularly for aviators who will fly 5th generation machines like Lockheed's F-22 Raptor and F-35.
While currently USAF, US Navy and US Marine Corps pilots fly their aircraft against other friendly jets replicating enemy "bandits" such as the Russian Sukhoi Su-30 Flanker, often there are not enough adversaries for pilots to train against.
"There are not enough airborne resources that we can go fly and fight against that would give us the maximum training benefit for all the JP-8 [jet fuel] that we're burning," says Robert McCutchen, Lockheed's F-16 training expert at the Luke AFB Networked Training Centre. "To be able to go out and fly a four-ship against two adversaries doesn't really maximize your ability to employ that airplane as a four-ship."
LVC would offer that four-ship of real F-16 fighters the ability to fight against eight to 12 virtual bandits. Those computer-generated adversaries would show up on the F-16's sensors just like real enemy fighters and would have realistic flight characteristics, McCutchen says.
The adversaries would be managed by instructors who would control those virtual enemies and manage their tactics. They would also make sure the virtual adversaries do not get into visual range.
"We'll have individuals on the ground who will be manipulating and managing the scenario and making sure these computer-generated little guys stay outside the visual range of the live fighters," says the retired 5000+ hour F-16 weapons school graduate.
The addition of so many virtual enemy forces in the air and on the ground greatly increases the complexity of training missions.
"We'll be able to robust their scenarios," McCutchen says.
The limitation, of course, is that LVC cannot simulate a visual-range opponent. The targets are virtual, but it should still be a useful training tool.
This is especially true for the F-22, where Raptor units have a difficult time coaxing dissimilar fighter units to fly against them due to the lopsided nature of the training. The F-35, McCutchen says, will face similar problems of not having enough high-performance adversaries to train against.
"The F-35 is going to have the same problem and the LVC is going to be a way that the air force to going to move forward and make the technology mature through the F-16 so that we can help future F-35 pilots," he says...."