Inzpire Limited Support Exercise SPARTAN WARRIOR
27 Oct 21
Collective Training and Services OBU
BY Becki Hall
Experts from Inzpire Limited’s Collective Training Division, who are part of the Gladiator White Force at the RAF Air Battlespace Training Centre (ABTC), have recently been involved in the successful delivery of Exercise SPARTAN WARRIOR in Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Taking place from 27 – 30 Sep at Kaiserslautern’s USAFE Warrior Preparation Centre (WPC), SPARTAN WARRIOR’s participants included: the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control (NAEWC); the Canadian Control & Reporting Centre (CRC); 51 Sqn Rivet Joint; USAF MQ-9 Reapers; ITAF MQ-9 Reapers; Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) F-16s; Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs) from several countries and observers from the Spanish and German air forces.
The WPC draws together simulators and crews from across NATO to enable training in operationally representative situations in a synthetic environment, similar to how the RAF’s Gladiator programme will act as a hub for simulators across UK defence.
WPC personnel are responsible for the design and delivery of Exercise SPARTAN WARRIOR, including identifying and ensuring that Desired Learning Objectives (DLOs) are obtained.
The DLOs are tailored to the training audience and this exercise saw the NAEWC and Canadian CRCs tested on controlling the coordination of fighter lanes for a NATO coalition, with the RDAF F-16s being one of their allocated assets. The US and Italian MQ-9 crews worked together with the JTACs conducting close air Support, strike coordination and reconnaissance, and search and rescue.
Inzpire personnel assisted the WPC white force (WF) with the delivery of the exercise by roleplaying UK and US fast jets and their capabilities, in order to meet the training audience’s learning objectives.
Inzpire’s collective training experts also assisted the participating students during their planning phases and delivered comprehensive after action debriefs to either ratify the DLOs or identify focus areas for improvement in subsequent serials.
Inzpire personnel assisted the delivery of Exercise SPARTAN WARRIOR by roleplaying fast jet platforms including F-15C, F-15E, Typhoon, Canadian F/A-18, US F/A-18E, A-10C and F-16C.
Richard Tattersall, head of Inzpire’s collective training division said: “Exercise SPARTAN WARRIOR provided an excellent opportunity to continue years of successful collaborative work between the USAFE Warrior Preparation Centre in Germany and the Air Battlespace Training Centre at RAF Waddington in the UK. As centres of synthetic collective training excellence both organisations have been instrumental in expanding both the UK, USAFE and coalition partner synthetic training capabilities.
“This iteration of Exercise SPARTAN WARRIOR allowed the Officer Commanding ABTC to deploy four collective training subject matter experts to not only complement the white force at the WPC in delivery of the exercise but also to develop procedures for the nascent UK Gladiator programme. As customers begin to connect into the ABTC Gladiator hub, utilising best practices, implementing lessons learnt from years of global synthetic exercise delivery and sharing knowledge will set up the UK organisation for immediate success. Similarly, fostering close relationships with our USAFE counterparts, both military and civilian, truly embraces the Whole Force approach.
“Working with the Officer Commanding ABTC and his military SMEs, the Inzpire white force will be actively supporting further SPARTAN WARRIORS and look forward to welcoming the WPC as it potentially connects into the Gladiator facility within the very near future”.
Wing Commander David Williams, Officer Commanding ABTC said: “The ABTC’s continued support to Exercise SPARTAN WARRIOR provides an opportunity to keep the whole force WF relevant in the delivery of Large Force Employment exercises. More so, as we look forward to the transition into Gladiator, our participation keeps alive an essential skill set that we will need from day one of the programme achieving Initial Operating Capability. It builds upon our excellent relationship with the WPC and allows us to showcase the very best of what a professional whole force WF can bring to the collective training environment.
“Partnering with Inzpire and BDUK, Gladiator will deliver a step change in the way the RAF looks at collective training and, with semi-persistent connections to the WPC and other coalition partners, the benefits of these rich, complex and tactically representative training events will go from strength to strength”.
Ben Hawkins (Inzpire combat air subject matter expert), who roleplayed UK fast jets during Exercise SPARTAN WARRIOR said: “The COVID pandemic has disrupted training all over the world and frustratingly it’s been quite a while since we’ve been able to facilitate any training with students.
“Getting back to the WPC and delivering has been a breath of fresh air. Being able to help instruct various military forces in this way keeps Inzpire connected with the front lines and ensures we stay current and relevant. It’s also good to be able to interact with the personnel and see how our experience can help them develop and learn.
“Working alongside the WPC staff also allows us to exchange ideas, problem solve and improve the future of synthetic collective training for the Gladiator programme here in the UK”.
Inzpire Limited is delivering the Defence Operational Training Concept (Air) (DOTC(A)) – known as Gladiator - Interim White Force contract and is managing the transition from the Defence Synthetic Air-Land Training (DSALT) programme to Gladiator over a 42-month period.
Please note images used in this article are conceptual to demonstrate participating platforms and were not taken during Exercise SPARTAN WARRIOR
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