The Royal Australian Air Force relies mainly on simulators and operational platform training for combat crew readiness. Large-scale, operational exercises provide opportunities to train crews in team and inter-team skills. However, cost, fatigue life concerns, range site capabilities, weather, and frequency of event limitations make this only a partial solution to crew readiness training. With little network capability, a significant gap exists between training obtained using stand-alone simulators and training obtained using live training exercises for combat crews. Alternative training methods, such as USAF DMO Synthetic Range LVC training, need to be considered to prepare and maintain RAAF combat crew readiness for joint and coalition team operations [Blacklock].

The Concept of the Synthetic Range, including the Synthetic Range Interoperability Model, provide a simplified way of understanding how Live, Virtual and Constructive (LVC) systems can interoperate. The long-term objective of this work is that every LVC system that may need to interoperate is acquired with a set of Synthetic Range Interoperability Model capabilities that support the same set of corporate standards to enable a common level of LVC interoperability the at time of system delivery and acceptance by the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

This paper presents an overview of some of the research carried out, and innovations and lessons learned so far, upon which the Concept of the Synthetic Range and the Synthetic Range Interoperability Model are based, including:

The Concept of the Synthetic Range - that describes how ADF LVC operational military platforms and training and experimentation simulation systems should be able to seamlessly interoperate with each other;

The Synthetic Range Interoperability Model - that defines which distributed simulation (eg DIS, HLA or TENA), radio/intercom communications and tactical data link protocols, technologies, gateways and standards need to be adopted in the Synthetic Range architecture and why, in order to achieve interoperability between RAAF, ADF service and coalition LVC systems; and

How the RAAF Air Defence Ground Environment SIMulator (ADGESIM) training simulator (developed by the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO)) has been used as a test bed to implement Synthetic Range Interoperability Model interoperability standards.