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Video by Timothy Boulay, Brittany Dickerson, Corinne Milligan, NAWCAD Visual Information

Joint Simulation Environment - One Night

Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division

Sept. 28, 2023 | 4:47

The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD)'s Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) is a facility redefining the landscape of simulated training and testing for Fifth Generation and beyond aircraft, their subsystems and other warfighting technology.

Built entirely by NAWCAD for use across the Department of Defense, the JSE is a hyper realistic simulation environment made up of both hardware including cockpits, domed simulators with 4K projectors, and software together forming a high-fidelity digital range used to train tactical pilots, and test new defense technology in near-exact virtual battlespaces. This virtual test and training capability is easily scalable to other services, sites, and technologies significantly advancing the DOD’s ability to train more safely and effectively, and test faster and more cost-efficiently.

This digital range, underpinned by a robust physics-based computer environment, can simulate endless battlespace variables and simultaneous interactions from manned or virtual friendly or foe forces, their warfighting assets including missiles, as well as weather, location, terrain, and more. Flying in the JSE is almost indistinguishable from an aircraft, and the density and realism of training experienced at the JSE enables warfighters to learn and improve at a pace unachievable anywhere else. The facility collects all data from every sortie flown in the JSE so warfighters can understand exactly where and why their employed tactics were successful.

Beyond its secure confines, the JSE extends its capabilities to the broader DOD community to facilitate large-force test and training activities redefining how the military prepares for the challenges of tomorrow.