Aviators assigned to Carrier Air Wing 9, embarked on USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), can now fly missions, including against enemy aircraft, without having to leave the aircraft carrier. Abraham Lincoln is equipped with Simulators at Sea, a program run through Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) to train aviators while underway. There are simulators for the F-35C Lightning II, F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, EA-18 Growlers and E-2D Hawkeyes aboard the aircraft carrier, according to a NAWCAD release.
“Simulators at Sea brings American aviators a level of readiness our carrier air wing has never experienced while deployed,” NAWCAD Commander Rear Adm. John Dougherty IV said in the release.
That means that the carrier air wing units that fly those aircraft, such as the “Black Aces” of Fighter Attack Squadron (VFA) 41 – F/A-18F or the “Wallbangers” of Airborne Command and Control Squadron (VAW) 117 – E-2D, can continue to train on their platforms even when they are not able to fly missions, Blaine Summers, NAWCAD director for Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) told USNI News.
Summers said that the simulators are linked, allowing the air units to train together.
As the simulators are aboard the ship, the air wing can continue to train while in contested environments, such as the Red Sea and Gulf of Oman where Abe is currently, he said.
“This gives us an opportunity to hone our tactics, to rehearse our missions in a place where adversaries can’t see what we’re up to,” Summers said. “And it also gives our aviators the opportunity to get lots of sets and reps in very rapidly.”
Simulators at Sea began with F-35 simulators owned by JSE. The program started with four of the F-35 simulators at NAWCAD. JSE has expanded to create more simulators, including ones for the Air Force’s F-22 Raptor platform, USNI News previously reported.
Pilots whose air wings are embarked on a carrier also needed the training provided by the simulators housed at NAWCAD, leading JSE to develop four F-35 simulators for USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), Summers said. They were delivered to the aircraft carrier in 2023.
Feedback from the initial four simulators was positive, Summers said.
“The feedback we got was our naval aviators were using those F-35 sims every day,” he said. “They weren’t getting flight time, so a tremendous boon to mission rehearsal while forward deployed.”
JSE then looked to expand the program, leading to Simulators at Sea, which includes multiple, connected platforms. JSE was able to turn around its mission of getting simulators aboar Abe in 10 months, he said.
“We could not be late, because that boat was going to leave with, with or without us, and in fact, our schedule got compressed when things happened with the deployment timing that we didn’t expect,” Summers said.
NAWCAD owns the F-35 simulators and joint program, while it worked with industry partners, including Boeing, to provide the simulators for the other platforms, Summers said.
“Feedback from the Air Wing leadership has been that they are using this daily in an integrated fashion, which is exactly what we like, and they’re starting to provide feedback on things we can improve for the next deployment,” Summer said.
