Live, Virtual, and Constructive Training: Transforming Combat Aviation for the Fifth-Generation Era
The landscape of military aviation training is undergoing a fundamental transformation as air forces worldwide grapple with the complexities of fifth-generation aircraft, increasingly sophisticated threats, and the imperative to develop integrated “kill web” capabilities.
At the forefront of this evolution is Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) training which is a revolutionary approach that combines real aircraft and pilots (Live), simulator-based training (Virtual), and computer-generated forces (Constructive) into seamless training environments that offer unprecedented realism, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness.
This transformation addresses a critical challenge articulated by Air Marshal (Retired) Geoff Brown in 2019: “The requirement is that warfighters need to be able to fight as an integrated whole in and through an increasingly contested and complex battlespace saturated by adversary cyber and information operations. But how to do this so that we are shaping our concepts of operations but not sharing them with an adversary in advance of operations?”
The Revolutionary Impact of LVC Training
LVC training has fundamentally altered the landscape of military aviation preparation. As one industry analysis notes, “LVC has revolutionized the way air forces train. It has alleviated the challenges resulting from reduced training asset availability, provided a plethora of adversary assets to train against and enabled fourth and fifth-generation aircraft training scenarios that are simply not possible without the introduction of simulation that LVC brings to air combat training.”
The benefits extend far beyond mere cost savings, though the economic advantages are substantial. Traditional live-flying exercises, while essential, are constrained by cost, safety considerations, and the availability of training assets. Daily operational and maintenance costs required to support in-flight combat training are significantly reduced through LVC integration. Less maintenance cost comes along with the benefit of less wear and tear on equipment, with the net effect being that fewer jets are required to fly sorties for the same or higher level of training effectiveness.
More importantly, LVC training enables pilots to experience the full spectrum of combat scenarios in a controlled environment where mistakes become learning opportunities rather than potential casualties. Because training assets are simulated, LVC air combat training develops a pilot’s knowledge and skills with an extensive syllabus containing a wide range of training scenarios. Pilots appreciate LVC because it enables them to make diverse, first-time mistakes during a benign training mission rather than being tested for the first time in combat.
Fifth-Generation Aircraft: A Training Imperative
The emergence of fifth-generation aircraft like the F-35 Lightning II has created unique training challenges that make LVC capabilities not just beneficial but essential. The F-35 is the world’s most capable and most complex fifth-generation fighter aircraft. The three variant F-35 family of aircraft are all single seater aircraft without a back seat for trainees to learn the complex fifth-generation air combat tactics.
Air Marshal (Retired) Brown explained this reality succinctly: “Even if you don’t take cyber into account, and look at an aircraft like an F-35 with an AESA radar and fusion capabilities, the reality of how we will fight has changed dramatically. In the world of mechanically scanned array radars, a 2v4 was a challenging exercise—now as we have moved more towards AESAs where it is not track while you scan, but its search while track, it’s very hard to challenge these aircraft in the live environment.”
This technological advancement creates a fundamental challenge: the capabilities of individual platforms have advanced to the point where traditional training methods cannot adequately prepare pilots for their full operational potential. As Brown noted, “To be blunt about it, the F-35 and, certainly the F-35 as an integrated force, will only be fully unleashed within classified simulations. This means that we will achieve the best training outcomes for aircraft like the F-35 only if we have a more comprehensive virtual environment.”
The Challenge of Distributed Integration
Modern military operations increasingly require distributed but integrable forces. The U.S. military is shaping a distributed force that takes resources, disperses them, and operates with a mix-and-match modular task force capability. Learning to fight with a distributed force is part of the new training challenge, as is being able to cross-link platforms within evolving task force packages.
Lieutenant Jonathan Gosselin, a P-8 Weapons and Tactics Instructor, highlighted this challenge during a 2020 interview with me: “We’re talking about taking targeting data from one domain and quickly shifting to another, just like that. I have killed a target under sea. I am now going to go ahead and work the surface target and being able to understand the weapon-sensor pairing network and being able to call in fires from different entities using commander’s intent to engage the target.”
This represents a fundamental cultural shift from traditional stove-piped operations. As Gosselin emphasized: “It’s important to talk not about how can I defeat this target, but really it should be, how can we defeat this target? Let’s break ourselves out of this stovepipe and understand that I may not always be the best shooter. I may be the best sensor, but I’m not be the best shooter.”
The strategic thrust of integrating modern systems is to create a grid that can operate in an area as a seamless whole, able to strike or defend simultaneously. This is enabled by the evolution of command and control (C2) and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems. By shaping evolving ISR-enabled C2 systems inextricably intertwined with platforms and assets, kill web integrable forces can operate as an attack and defense enterprise to deter aggressors and adversaries or to conduct successful military operations.
The Information Warfare Challenge
One of the most pressing challenges in modern training is preparing forces for operations in a contested information environment. Brown emphasized this reality: “Today’s Western military is an information-dependent force, one that is wholly reliant on information communication technology (ICT) for current and future military operations. The adaptation and integration of ICTs into weapons platforms, military systems, and in concepts of operation has put the battle for information control at the heart of what we do.”
This dependence creates vulnerabilities that adversaries actively exploit. “Competitors and adversaries — most notably Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea — recognize this reality. Each state plans to employ a range of cyber capabilities to undermine the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of Western allied information in competition and combat.”
The training implications are profound. Brown identified three key questions that must be addressed:
- How to train in battlespace saturated by adversary cyber and information attacks?
- How to exploit the advantages of cyber in multi-domain operations?
- Do we have the tools and key infrastructure to train in an appropriate manner?
Innovative Training Solutions: The Italian International Flight Training School Model
The Italian International Flight Training School (IFTS) represents a pioneering approach to addressing these modern training challenges. Created through a collaboration between the Italian Air Force (ITAF) and the private sector, the IFTS demonstrates how public-private partnerships can deliver cutting-edge training capabilities.
Marc-Olivier Sabourin, Division President of Defense & Security, International at CAE, explained the innovative approach: “The Italian Air Force and Leonardo were contemplating building an advanced training center, and CAE became a partner in the effort. They are great partners and very creative in achieving their objectives and consistently thinking outside the box. CAE proposed a private-public partnership (PPP) focusing on the ability of the Italian flight training school to serve third-party demand. This third-party involvement could fund the additional investments needed for the school through the PPP.”
The IFTS model integrates live flying operations, ground-based training systems, and the Live Virtual Constructive environment integral to state-of-the-art training regimes. According to Brigadier General Edi Turco, Chief of Staff of the Air Education Training Command, the school is student-centric, with ground-based simulators available 24/7, particularly beneficial for international students whose families live in different time zones.
More than 13 allied air forces from around the world are already engaged in the IFTS program, demonstrating the global demand for advanced training capabilities. As Sabourin noted: “Every nation’s fighter pilot candidate pays a fee for training at the school. As a key contributor to the IFTS, we leverage CAE’s global expertise to play a pivotal role alongside the ITAF and Leonardo. Together, we deliver state-of-the-art training solutions that empower nations to efficiently train their fighter pilot candidates.”
The Imperative for Virtual Training Environments
The convergence of these challenges, fifth-generation aircraft capabilities, information warfare threats, and the need for distributed operations, makes comprehensive virtual training environments not just beneficial but essential. Brown argued that “We definitely need to train as we fight so we need to develop tactical level cyber and information effects for simulators and to develop adversary cyber and info effects into our evolving concepts of operations.”
The virtual world has become a key area in which forces will shape, work on, and exercise their information force concepts of operations. Brown acknowledged this shift: “One of the foundational assumptions I’ve always had is that high quality live training is an essential to producing high-quality war fighters, but I believe that’s changed.”
This doesn’t diminish the importance of live training, which remains very significant for organizing strike and defense forces and working the physical pieces of task forces or air groups. Rather, it recognizes that the full potential of modern military capabilities can only be realized through comprehensive virtual environments that allow for the integration of cyber effects, information operations, and complex multi-domain scenarios without revealing capabilities to adversaries or creating safety risks.
Looking Forward: Training as a Driver of Combat Development
The evolution of LVC training represents more than just an improvement in pilot preparation. It’s becoming a driver of combat development and platform changes in the context of evolving concepts of operations and tactics. With the new generation of software-upgradeable platforms, training driving combat development is part of rewriting code and determining how platforms can cross-link and operate more effectively as flexible modular task forces.
The challenge ahead is significant but manageable. The training function is facing substantial challenges to be effective, realistic, and to ensure that joint and coalition forces leverage the full capability inherent in the force, rather than prioritizing what platforms do in stovepipes with whatever organic capability is on that particular platform.
Success will require continued innovation in virtual training environments, stronger integration between live and synthetic training elements, and international cooperation through programs like the IFTS. Most critically, it will require a fundamental shift in thinking from platform-centric to network-centric operations, where the goal is not individual platform proficiency but integrated force effectiveness.
The stakes could not be higher. As Brown concluded: “If we do not do this we will fly fifth generation aircraft shackled by legacy air combat approaches; and we will not unleash the kill web in terms of its complexity and lethality unless we shape a training approach which allows the F-35 working with other key force elements to deliver a kill web outcome.”
The future of air combat training lies in the seamless integration of live, virtual, and constructive elements that prepare warriors not just to fly advanced aircraft, but to operate as part of an integrated, distributed, and resilient force capable of prevailing in the contested battlespace of the 21st century.
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