The US Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command (AETC) has completed its first flight linking a T-7A Red Hawk training aircraft with the T-7A Ground-Based Training System in a live-virtual-constructive exercise.
The 16 September event connected a T-7A flown by instructors from the 99th Flying Training Squadron with two simulator cockpits operated by civilian instructors from the 12th Training Squadron.
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AETC said the activity established a technical baseline for integrating live aircraft and synthetic training environments.
The 99th Flying Training Squadron commander lieutenant colonel Michael Trott, and the unit’s operations officer, lieutenant colonel Phillip Bourquin, flew aircraft APT-4.
Robb Erickson, a retired Air Force colonel and Ryan Sparkman, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel operated the connected simulator cockpits.
The set-up used tactical data links to provide airborne and ground-based participants with a shared operating picture.
According to AETC, simulator crews could track the live aircraft’s flight parameters, sensor activity and weapons employment, while the airborne crew received simulated scenarios through its displays.
Live-virtual-constructive training combines real aircraft with virtual simulators and computer-generated threats.
In the demonstration, instructors could introduce simulated surface-to-air missile systems, electronic warfare jamming and opposing aircraft into the shared environment.
The 12th Training Squadron’s T-7A civilian simulator instructor lead Erickson said: “Accomplishing this capability for the first time inside AETC represents a paradigm shift in how we train and build combat-ready aircrews.
“When APT-4 took flight, we weren’t just flying another training sortie. We established a live, bi-directional data link fusing an airborne aircraft directly into our simulators and synthetic battlespace.”
AETC said the system is intended to allow student pilots in simulators to operate as virtual wingmen or adversaries alongside live aircraft.
The approach can recreate complex tactical scenarios without fielding additional aircraft or requiring expanded airspace.
“The synthetic injection we proved today challenges aircrews with threat presentations and sensor-management puzzles that were impossible to replicate on our legacy flying platforms,” Sparkman said.
The command said the flight will inform syllabus modernisation under future undergraduate pilot training.
The 12th Flying Training Wing is preparing to receive production T-7A aircraft, which will replace the T-38C Talon in the Air Force’s advanced jet training role.
In May this year, the US Air Force (USAF) cleared the T-7A Red Hawk advanced trainer for production following Milestone C approval on 23 April 2026.
