NADP participants at the Manned Flight Simulator at Naval Air Station Patuxent River (from the left): Nicholas Long; Joshua Butler; Jonathan Rosen; Tiffany Smith; Brittany Spell; Laquisha Thomas; James Holbrook; Jessie Blanton; Steven Dittmer and Stephan Andrade.
Patuxent River, MD — Participants in the Naval Acquisition Development Program (NADP), all of whom support Naval Air System Command’s (NAVAIR) Logistics and Industrial Operations (AIR 6.0), continued their quest to learn about different naval acquisition and NAVAIR program offices and activities to more efficiently support the warfighter.
Their latest tour was at the Manned Flight Simulator (MFS) here on Dec. 17. MFS is a cross-platform facility for the modeling and simulation (M&S) and test and evaluation (T&E) of integrated warfighting capabilities and houses nine high-fidelity simulators, including a six-degree-of-freedom motion base providing acceleration/deceleration cues.
“The tour was an insightful demonstration on current aviation training technology,” said Joshua Butler, computer scientist, Logistics and Maintenance Information Systems and Technical Division (AIR 6.8.4). “Allowing the NADP participants to experience a flight simulator is truly a defining moment for your career. MFS personnel elaborated on the man hours and level of detail required in order to produce this technology. My most enjoyable moment was learning about and viewing the equipment for the new carrier landing system called Magic Carpet.”
Tiffany Smith, a chemical engineer currently on rotation with the Integrated Warfighting Capability (IWC) Enterprise Team, appreciated leaning how the facility fit directly with her work: “The tour of the Manned Flight Simulator was very insightful, especially in regards to learning more about the live virtual constructive realm of simulation and the cost savings to the government as a result of the virtual environment. This ties heavily into logistics, as two of the product support elements — manpower and personnel and training, and training support — were discussed during the tour, allowing for us to tie that back into the work that we do on a daily basis.”
To date, the NADP participants have toured the Pentagon, Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic in Oceana, Virginia, and a variety of project management activities and several laboratories around Patuxent River.