Various Department of Defense (DoD) organizations have recognized shortfalls in training opportunities and assets to meet operational demand. The complexity of current and future weapons systems demand concurrency training in an environment representative of realistic battlefield conditions, yet the DoD can ill afford to provide this level of training at the desired frequency. Aviation fuel price escalation and range space limitations are exacerbating the training dilemma. Traditional training applications include the following discrete categories: Live, training on actual platform hardware; Virtual, training on manned simulations; and Constructive, training with computer generated simulations of battlefield conditions.

With the advent of interoperable training capability, such as the Air Force's Distributed Mission Operations (DMO), the ability exists to link local or remote training systems over a local or wide area network for the purpose of training in a team environment. The DMO network has the capability to greatly enhance the live training domain by supplying a vast operational environment composed of virtual and constructive red/blue forces. The integration of live platforms onto the DMO network, however, has unforeseen training challenges that need to be addressed.

This paper discusses the research performed and the challenges encountered when an integrated LVC experiment was performed with a tactical aviation platform. In 2007, an airborne F-15E aircraft was integrated with a ground-based manned F-15E training system acting as a wingman and a constructive environment generating hostile aircraft. We also discuss the safety of flight considerations, the transfer of training issues encountered and the solutions chosen during the development of this effort. This paper addresses training capability and capacity increases that can be gained while reducing life cycle costs of on-platform training and lastly, areas requiring further research. As research is ongoing, additional results from this year's effort may be available for presentation.