The engineers of the Turkish company “HAVELSAN” for defence systems and information technology have developed a simulator for training to discover malfunctions of the “F-16” combat aircraft and contribute to their repair.
Uyar said that the F-16s are the most important strike force in the Turkish Air Force. He pointed out that the simulator that was developed provides high readiness and raises the level of training of personnel for maintenance of “F-16 fighters” to the highest levels, which provides important support to the Air Force. Uyar said that in the first phase of the project, Havilsan provided multitasking operational simulators and technical weapons trainers, to prepare pilots for combat training tasks.
Uyar mentioned that Hualasan provided, in this context, 6 simulation devices for training and 20 technical trainers, and enabled the Air Force to possess an important infrastructure worldwide in the field of simulation devices, for the benefit of 6 fighter jet bases in Turkey.
Uyar explained that Hualsan has established an infrastructure to carry out large and comprehensive military exercises and manoeuvres in a simulated environment, by linking simulators deployed in jet aircraft bases with each other.
Uyar reminded that Hulsan, in the second phase of the project, developed training solutions for aircraft maintenance technicians, and said: The F-16 fighters are one of the most important striking military forces in the Turkish Air Force, therefore, pilots must always be trained and ready, and aircraft Always ready to perform its combat missions effectively.
He continued: In the second phase of the project, we developed the necessary training infrastructure to discover faults in the F-16 aircraft, in order to repair them as soon as possible. When pilots encounter a malfunction during their flight, they deliver the fighter to aircraft maintenance technicians with initial information about the malfunction as aircraft maintenance technicians identify and fix faults as quickly as possible. A troubleshooting training simulator has been developed for this. We developed this device based on the experiences of our engineers and aircraft maintenance technicians of the Turkish Air Force Command, who have the most important information about the most prominent malfunctions.
Uyar pointed out that the “F-16” fighter is a very complex fighter and has a large number of defects, and said: When a malfunction is reported, it may take a very long time for aircraft maintenance technicians to determine the location of this malfunction.
He continued: We developed the simulator to detect the most common malfunctions of the fighter. Nearly a thousand malfunctions are simulated to train technicians to troubleshoot problems. The aforementioned simulator provided an important opportunity for the Air Force Command to train aircraft maintenance technicians and raise their level of readiness.
On the way the simulator works, Uyar said: The aircraft maintenance technician sits in the cockpit of the simulator, as is the case in the real environment of the aircraft, conducts some tests in the cockpit, and makes some expectations about what the faults will be, according to the results provided by the simulator. Often times, a technician takes additional measurements on the real plane and has to unscrew some parts and devices in the plane for the purpose of repair tests. The device helps aircraft maintenance technicians to dismantle and install the required hardware and take the necessary measurements in a virtual environment.
Quray Uyar stated that the development of the simulator is in its final stage and that they are planning to deliver the final versions of the device to the Turkish Air Force Command by the end of this year.
Uyar emphasized that the development of the simulator was carried out entirely using local resources and that Hualsan is also working at this stage to market the device to F-16 fighter users around the world.
Uyar indicated that Hualsan is working to increase its share in the provision of war training devices in the global market, and is currently in contact with the manufacturer of the aircraft “F-16” as well as with a number of users of this fighter in various countries of the world.
