Navy Uses First-of-Their-Kind Simulators to Train Carrier Air Wings at Sea 

Aviators across USS Abraham Lincoln’s (CVN 72) carrier air wing now train as a joint fighting force while deployed at sea in advanced simulators thanks to aviation pros across the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) enterprise. 

The new training capability was made possible through extensive partnership between Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division’s (NAWCAD) Joint Simulation Environment (JSE); NAWCAD’s Webster Outlying Field (WOLF); the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD); and the Naval Aviation Training Systems and Ranges Program Office, with support from industry partners Boeing, Collins Aerospace and General Dynamics Information Technology. 

The system—called Simulators at Sea—increases readiness for aviators flying the F-35C Lightning II, F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers and E-2D Hawkeyes attached to Abraham Lincoln’s Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9. It is the first integrated training capability for an air wing to deploy on a Navy carrier. 

The training system features a suite of connected virtual desktop trainers that enables CVW-9 aviators to rehearse missions—including wartime scenarios—together while at sea, an exercise not possible before this program. Historically, joint mission training on this scale is limited significantly, because practicing wartime scenarios can be risky, flight operations can be expensive, and real-life rehearsal puts Navy tactics on display for adversaries. 

After the team learned squadrons were deploying on Navy carriers with a limited ability to train together consistently, they started with the outcome: ensure Navy fighting forces maintain proficiency while deployed at sea. 

“Naval aviators train extensively working up to deployment, but those skills begin to atrophy when they pull out of port,” said NAWCAD JSE Director Blaine Summers, whose team delivered the Simulators at Sea capability. “This was a capability gap we had to plug with a fully integrated carrier air wing solution—one we’re ready to scale across the Navy’s fleet of carriers.” 

With no formal requirement or funding, the team made it happen. Their success was thanks to an abundance mindset by the joint team, who recognized our NAVAIR enterprise has the talent and technology to make Simulators, at Sea possible, all it took was bringing it together. After mapping out a plan, the joint team brought the new trainers to CVN 72 in less than 12 months. 

“Coordinating the engineering, logistics and ship modifications for these classified programs was daunting—these were things we never really tried,” said Mark Mckinnis, IPT lead for Virtual Integrated Training. “Getting this moving quickly sometimes required elevating things to senior leaders, including U.S. Pacific Fleet, the Naval Aviation Enterprise, and ship and air wing commanders.” 

The Simulators at Sea effort was complex, requiring multiple technical disciplines from across the enterprise to put their expertise onto the same project. When the team hit challenges—cyber and security, for example—they elevated issues quickly to leaders who could remove barriers to stay on timeline. 

“The challenges we were up against included tight timelines, the scope of the ship modification, and the unknowns along the way—our relationships were key to navigating all three of these areas,” said A.J. Lawrence, NAWCAD’s Ship Alteration Installation manager at WOLF. 

CVW-9 has trained in its new simulators daily since its July 2024 deployment. The team plans to expand Simulators at Sea to other aircraft carriers through partnerships with OPNAV and the Naval Aviation Training Systems and Ranges Program Office. 

“The best part of this project was hearing an E-2 aviator describe the new training to Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Stephen Koehler,” Mckinnis said. “He called it ‘better than the training they get ashore’ because in Sims at Sea, they can train for things they can’t anywhere else—that was an exciting breakthrough.” 

From the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division.