Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are an increasingly important resource in the conduct of modern warfare. Systems such as the Air Force's MQ-1 Predator have proven their effectiveness numerous times in recent combat operations. These systems were rapidly developed and fielded, sometimes transitioning from concept demonstration to operational use without the intermediate steps normally accomplished under the traditional system acquisition process. In addition, UAV programs have proven to be very useful testbeds for new and innovative ideas, taking a "what-if" exercise and making it an operational capability almost overnight. This approach stands in stark contrast to manned aircraft upgrade programs, which require a much more time-consuming and exhaustive testing and certification process.

One result of this rapid laboratory-to-field implementation approach has been the lack of robust, fully capable training systems being made available to the warfighters at the time the system is operationally deployed. Training has largely been conducted on an ad-hoc basis using suboptimal resources, resulting in training deficiencies which ultimately may have contributed to mishaps and loss of aircraft. The accelerated process has simply not provided sufficient time or resources to accommodate a traditional training system development. A longer term, but equally significant, problem resulting from this approach has been trainer concurrency management. Keeping up with aircraft changes in such a fast-paced environment poses a significant challenge, even when sufficient planning has been accomplished. However, the abbreviated testing process has shortened the timeframe available to simulator developers to develop concurrency modifications for the trainers. This problem is further compounded by the lack of robustness in the rapidly-fielded initial training systems.

This paper will discuss the unique training system issues resulting from the rapid fielding of such systems, and provide recommendations for implementing timely and effective training systems in this challenging environment.