S2. E4: Gladiator: The Future for Air Synthetic Training

Following on from the trend of finally getting some of the guests we had shortlisted for Season 1, we are very pleased to introduce Ruari Henderson-Begg. Ruari was previously SO1 Synthetics in Air Capability, and was also the Programme Manager for Gladiator - a distributed synthetic training system for Air Combat Training for the Royal Air Force.

Ruari has lived the experience of bringing a challenging programme from its early inception through to full Initial Operating Capability, something not many can say. He therefore offers a number of important insights about the challenges, opportunities and lessons learnt from one the first of type for this scale of synthetic training system.

We cover a lot of ground in a relatively short time with Ruari, discussion Agile vs Waterfall development, how to grow as an Intelligent Customer, the impact of COTS on defence policy and our approach to simulation coherence.

His thesis is that all domains can learn from this experience, through shared lessons learnt, even if the architecture and end use case is different. Experience that Ruari hopes to bring to bear in his future role as Chief Modelling & Simulation Officer for the RAF.

Hosts:

• Tom Constable: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-constable/ 
• Colin Hillier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinhillier/

Guests:

• Ruari Henderson-Begg: https://des.mod.uk/world-class-synthetic-training-system-opened-at-raf-waddington/

Links:

• Website: https://www.warfighterpodcast.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/warfighter-digital/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkgiH-cwmyc2I2Iyc8MLYtg
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/WarfighterPod

Episode Sponsor: Babcock International

Babcock has always operated hand in hand with our customers because their mission is our mission. Our people support the British Army by contributing to front-line support, delivering the capability they need, available to them wherever, whenever and however they need it. We ensure the British Army can focus on their missions safely by supporting their vehicles, both armoured and white fleet with skilled engineers and capability backed by long-term through-life engineering expertise.

We enable our defence and emergency services customers to do their job with our technical training programmes. We combine deep understanding and long-term commitment with constructive challenge. An embedded partner, focussed on outcomes. Globally, new defence and resilience equipment programmes and asset modernisation programmes are seeing a resurgence. Training personnel is a critical component to support these programmes.

Whether it’s applying engineering excellence or the latest technology, we combine our expertise with a practical mindset. Alongside our deep engineering experience, digital and data technologies will allow us to better understand, predict and enhance the performance of the assets we manage, make better engineering decisions to reduce risk and improve service delivery.