Tony Hall: BAE Puts F-35, Typhoon Aircraft Through 4th Simulated Scenario

BAE Systems has kicked off a series of simulation-based tests on F-35 and Typhoon aircraft that the U.K.’s military will start to operate in 2018.

An E3D Sentry crew worked to send datalink-transmitted tasks for the F-35 aircraft to engage ground targets and for the Typhoons to destroy air threats as part of the exercise, said Monday.

Tony Hall, BAE’s program manager for the F-35 interoperability trials, said the company sought help the U.K. military understand how to integrate F-35 into its operations and to update the aircraft.

“This is the fourth trial we have held to date, putting F-35 into a variety of increasingly complex mission scenarios,” added Hall.

British navy and air force pilots used Lockheed Martin-built desktop simulators at BAE’s Samlesbury, Lancashire-based facility to fly the four F-35 aircraft.

An instructor pilot, one of BAE’s test pilots and two E3D Sentry crew carried out the Typhoon-simulated test.

BAE is scheduled to perform a second series of trials in late 2014 involving land assets, operators and air-to-ground datalinks.