Ascent Completes New AJT Facilities at RAF Valley

Ascent Flight Training, the joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Babcock International, has formally completed the construction of the new Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) buildings to be utilised as part of the UK Military Flying Training System (MFTS) at RAF Valley.

Lady Elizabeth Moran officially opened the facilities and dedicated the combined ground-school and 19(F) Squadron headquarters to the memory of her late husband Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Moran KCB, OBE, MVO, ADC, FRAeS, the Commander in Chief Air Command, who died earlier this year.

The new buildings include a hangar to house the 28 Hawk TMk 2 aircraft that will provide airborne fast jet training as part of MFTS. The school and squadron building will accommodate the classroom and synthetic training facilities related to AJT.

Ascent Flight Training Managing Director Sir Barry Thornton commented: “The facilities have been built to an exceptionally high standard and we have now embarked on installing the new training tools, which will provide a major advance in fast jet training when the first students start Hawk T2 training in just under a year.”

These will include two Flight Mission Simulators (FMS), six Flight Training Devices (FTD) and ten Desk Top Trainers (DTT). Over the next six months, the entire suite of synthetic training devices will be installed and tested at RAF Valley.

The DTT, produced by Lockheed Martin, allows the student pilot to take his Personal Learning Device (PLD) and dock it with a Hands on Throttle and Stick (HOTAS) control from the Hawk aircraft. The student pilot is then able to interact with a computerised aircraft model on his PLD, using the HOTAS controls.

The FTD is a part task trainer, also produced by Lockheed Martin, which houses two re-hosted mission computers from the T2 aircraft.

This system allows the student pilots to practise all of their checks and procedures as well as rehearsing missions in a realistic synthetic environment that covers the majority of UK airspace and airfields.

Canadian training solutions provider CAE is producing the two FMS. These utilise a “dome” visual display with fully immersive projection, together with ‘g’ cueing systems to provide realistic training for each student pilot against a multitude of other synthetically generated aircraft. In future, these FMS will provide the majority of the training in the student operational scenarios, including simulation of synthetic radar, surface to air missile, air to air missile and decoy systems.

All training will be provided by Ascent qualified Instructors (QI) for ground instruction and by RAF Qualified Flying Instructors (QFI) in the air.

Posted on: 03/12/10