The Unit Level Tactical Trainer (ULTT) was designed for the Royal Army School of Aviation in the United Kingdom. The ULTT instructs pilots in the individual tactics and squadron-level coordination skills required for maximum mission effectiveness for a variety of rotary-wing aircraft. The training environment consists of student pilots, role playing instructors and computer-generated friendly and enemy forces. All of the network voice traffic and individual student audio, complete with Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) tones, are sent to a data logger and used for After Action Review (AAR). The system is currently DIS compliant and could be easily upgraded to become HLA compliant.

This program is a leading-edge example of pragmatic, cost-effective combat mission training. The ULTT is generating a great deal of attention from military decision makers worldwide, and hosted visits from over two hundred interested military groups in the year 2000 alone.

This picture shows a student station complete with a 3-D view of the battlefield, reconfigurable instruments and simplified flight controls. The student is shown using his crew helmet which connects directly to ASTi's Remote Interface Unit (RIU) without the need for additional signal conditioning equipment. RWR tones, generated by a separate PC, are sent to the RIU and fed directly into the operator's headset. The student uses ASTi's Hand Held Terminal (not shown) for communications environment control.

The instructors have a "god's eye" view of the battlefield and may simply monitor the exercise or participate as role-playing entities. Students are trained and drilled at the appropriate troop, platoon or command levels by the instructors. Planned upgrades of the instructor stations will permit them to jam communications or cause failures of the individual student radios.

Completing the training scenario is an After-Action Review (AAR) capability. Students can be debriefed at their individual training stations. During the course of the exercise, two types of data are recorded:

• The first type consists of all of the individual student's audio; what they said, what they heard, and the RWR tones that were injected into their headsets. The recorded information is played back to the student and observer headsets.
• The second type of recorded audio is the net traffic associated with the mission. Each of the nets used for the exercise is recorded, and contains the student and instructor/role-player audio. The positions of the student aircraft and the movements of the computer-generated forces are shown on a large screen, while playback of the mission audio is heard on speakers in the brief/debrief room.

By the end of November, 2001, the first upgrade for this program should be complete. The upgrade converts the system from its current networked-intercom architecture to a complete radio simulation environment. Each student station will be equipped with three independent, fully-modeled radio transceivers for communications. A separate server will enhance the fidelity of the existing radio communications environment by including effects such as weather, buildings, and terrain features.

Plans are also underway to integrate the ULTT suite with the Boeing-built WAH-64 trainer also located at the facility. This integration process will be straightforward, since Boeing also uses ASTi equipment for simulated communications and environmental audio.