Potential contenders for the UK’s Air Support to Defence Operational Training (ASDOT) requirement used the big Defence Services & Equipment International (DSEI) show in London this week to announce new teaming agreements and promote their qualifications.

ASDOT will combine target facilities, threat simulation and forward air controller (FAC) training into a single contractor-provided program, to start in January 2020. The Ministry of Defence is expected to issue a document later this month that will more fully define the requirement, such as the number of hours to be provided annually for the different missions, and the characteristics of the aircraft that should fly them.

Leonardo joined the previously announced partnership between Discovery Air, a Canadian provider of contracted air services, and Inzpire, a British ground training services provider. The three companies said they “will combine their capabilities, expertise and experience in live air aggressor training, air warfare training, electronic warfare and airborne systems integration to deliver a highly capable and scalable solution to support ASDOT’s live-fly tactical training needs through the mid-2030s.” They noted that because of its substantial existing British defense business in radar and electronics, Leonardo “is well placed to offer the best mix of simulation, networked and integrated training capabilities to train British combat jet pilots in the most effective and efficient way possible.”

Leonardo has been promoting the merits of its M346 advanced jet trainer as an "aggressor aircraft." But Discovery Air has majored in flying refurbished jets such as the A-4 Skyhawk and the Alpha Jet. A spokesman for Discovery Air told AIN, “We’ll fly whatever aircraft the customer wants us to fly.”

Perhaps that aircraft will be the Saab Gripen. At DSEI, the Swedish company revealed a new version of the Gripen C that it named Gripen Aggressor. This would be a new-build aircraft without weapons capability but with an upgraded PS-04 Mk 4 radar. Saab claimed that it would be a cost-effective solution that is truly a dissimilar air combat training (DACT) aircraft, since it is not in service with the UK Royal Air Force or the U.S. Air Force. (The USAF has a much larger, upcoming requirement.)

The other contenders for ASDOT are Textron, which has pushing the Scorpion jet and the T-6 Texan with UK partners QinetiQ and Thales; and Draken International, which first announced that it would bid for ASDOT with CAE and UK partner Babcock. More recently, Draken and Cobham announced a partnership for ASDOT. Cobham already provides a smaller amount of threat replication flying for the UK MoD in a contract that will be part-replaced by ASDOT. Draken has just bought 20 Mirage F1 fighters from the Spanish air force, although that may driven more by the USAF requirement for contracted aggressor training services. 

Meanwhile, the UK subsidiaries of Elbit Systems and CAE announced at DSEI that they had signed an agreement to pursue other training opportunities with the UK MoD. Specifically they are eyeing the Typhoon Future Synthetic Training (TFST) project. Elbit has developed fast jet mission training centers for other air forces. “Defense forces are looking to increasingly leverage synthetic environments,” said a CAE UK official.

But at a conference preceeding DSEI, the commander of the UK Royal Air Force future F-35B Lightning force expressed some skepticism about synthetic training. “I am not convinced that we should go beyond the 50-50 mix between live and virtual training that we currently envisage,” said Air Cdre. David Bradshaw. “More investment is needed in virtual training capabilities, and the simulators should be concurrent with the aircraft. They often are not,” he added.