Ramping Up the Ukrainian Air Force’s F-16 Training Capacity

There is a surge of support from nations allied to Ukraine to increase the training capacity of the beleaguered nation’s new F-16 fleet.

While Ukraine’s F-16 force is not ready to engage Russia’s adversary forces across all conventional mission sets, the pace of mission readiness for the new fleet of fourth-generation aircraft is incrementally increasing.

MS&T recently reported progress to obtain follow-on tranches of Ukraine F-16 pilots. At the same time US President Joe Biden directed the Pentagon to increase its support for the Ukraine F-16 program.

F-16 Simulator Donation

Not to be missed in this flurry of activity are concurrent contributions below the government level to the Ukraine air force – in this case, by the S&T industry.

DogFight Boss, one sector company, has delivered 10 F-16 simulators, along with various modules, to the F-16C training sector. Each simulator produced was constantly being improved via hardware and software upgrades to meet the customer demands. The company parlayed its competencies in international F-16 training by the donation of one F-16C Viper simulator, which utilizes a Varjo mixed reality (MR) headset, to the Ukrainian service.

DogFight Boss uses extended reality (XR) in the donated training device, as the technology significantly enhances the immersion of simulations without the need for curved screens or large domes around the cockpit. “This is crucial for field or mobile operations as it saves space, reduces setup time for projections, and provides a more lightweight and immersive visualization compared to other methods,” Timo Toikkanen, CEO of Varjo said and continued, “While Varjo’s mixed reality headset includes advanced eye-tracking algorithms utilizing computer vision, there are currently no AI elements integrated into the training simulator.”

The F-16 community will realize a number of ROIs from their use of XR in this and other fleet simulators.

Up front, the use of XR solutions in fighter jet training, such as for the F-16, can reduce the time needed for training pilots from years to months. Toikkanen further explained the portability of XR simulators offers a substantial advantage over traditional simulator rooms, allowing for a more flexible and accessible training environment. “By replicating the entire cockpit and its functionalities, pilots can effectively learn and practice complex missions and group flights, which saves valuable time and resources compared to training on an actual jet.”

Currently, the cockpit is being customized to meet the specific needs of Ukrainian pilots, with potential additions like canopy and specific details requested. DogFight Boss is reported to be actively seeking funding to support the development of the next set of F-16 simulators.