U.S. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Stephen Wilson said at a recent industry conference that linking weapon system simulators “will differentiate us against a peer threat,†Defense News reported Tuesday.
At the Interservice/Industry, Training, Simulation and Education Conference in Orlando, Fl., Wilson spoke about the importance of the ability to connect platforms for the combat simulation purposes.
He also discussed the Air Force’s Simulator Common Architecture Requirements and Standards, or SCARS, program that aims to develop an open architecture for its simulators with improved security and upgrade capabilities.
Wilson also believes that SCARS can have non-combat applications.
“If somebody is off building a system outside of our portfolio, if it’s built to a common standard, I think that would effectively make all the systems, whether they’re in our portfolio or not, more interoperable,†he said.
Last year, the Air Force published a request for proposals for SCARS for a potential 10-year, $900M contract. The service branch is scheduled to award the contract next year.