Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2019
LVC-Enabled Range Technology: Supporting Training for Next-Gen Weapon Systems
© 2019 Collins Aerospace, a United Technologies company. All rights reserved.
This document contains no export controlled technical data
LVC-Enabled Range Technology:
Supporting Training for Next-Gen Weapon Systems
Ryan P. Littler, Dr. Angus L. M. Thom McLean, Craig L. Smith
Collins Aerospace
Cedar Rapids, IA
ryan.littler@collins.com, angus.mclean@collins.com, craig.l.smith@collins.com
ABSTRACT
The technology currently available on aviation test and training ranges is insufficient to support current
and future operational needs. The capabilities of modern, 5th Generation weapon systems have
outstripped the existing range capacities. The result is a gap in the range’s ability to support proper
employment, realistic operational testing & training, and ever-increasing operations security (OPSEC)
requirements. To represent the growing scale and complexity of these threats, protect our employment
methods, and adequately train the operational forces, a secure and flexible range construct is needed for
highly capable advanced platforms with rapidly evolving tactics. This paper presents the results of recent
efforts to understand and accommodate new, blended range training infrastructures that are able to
present flexible and consistent Live-Virtual-Constructive (LVC) based environments in a secure fashion.
Results from a recent set of experiments and demonstrations show practical implementations of
networking, security, platform instrumentation, and simulation infrastructures that incorporate concepts
first explored in the Office of Naval Research (ONR) LVC study: Virtual and Constructive Representations
on Live Aircraft Displays (VCR-LAD). The live execution and practical implementations of these concepts
is presented and explored, including virtual range extension, multi-level secure mission flexibility, and
weapons flyout management to maximize the utility of live adversary aircraft. The multilevel security
infrastructure detailed supports pre-mission, mission, and post-mission phases of blended LVC
operations. We conclude with lessons learned and recommendations for interoperability among
advanced range and range-less instances of instrumentation to support both testing and training.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Ryan P. Littler is a Principal Systems Engineer for Collins Aerospace. He is currently Chief Engineer for
Tactical Combat Training System Increment II (TCTSII) the next generation ACMI solution for the USN.
Ryan’s technical background includes partitioned real-time operating systems for safety and security,
development of integrated avionics for rotary wing platforms, high assurance multilevel security products,
and secure test & training instrumentation systems. Ryan has a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Iowa
State University.
Dr. Angus L. M. Thom McLean, III is a Fellow and an LVC Architect for Collins Aerospace. His
technical depth is in the areas of systems engineering, including simulation, aerospace and training
systems. He is currently investigating simulation frameworks that can serve as a basis for the
development of autonomous aircraft. Dr. McLean has a Ph.D. in computer science from the College of
Computing at Georgia Tech. Prior to embarking on his research career; Dr. McLean was a Flight
