VSTARS: A STEP Success Story

The End-To-End Test ETE is being conducted under the auspices of the Joint Advanced Distributed Simulation JADS Joint Test and Evaluation JTE. The purpose of the ETE is to investigate the utility of using advanced distributed simulation ADS to augment both developmental and operational testing of the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System STARS. The basic concept behind the ETE is to augment the Joint STARS environment with a virtual environment created by thousands of simulated entities or targets. This virtual environment is imaged by a simulation of the radar system onboard the Joint STARS E-8C aircraft. The simulation environment representing the radar subsystem onboard the E-8C aircraft is called the Virtual Surveillance Target Attack Radar System VSTARS. VSTARS uses a combination of actual radar subsystem software, simulations of aircraft subsystems, and two near real-time stochastic radar simulations with necessary databases and libraries to simulate the Joint STARS radar subsystem. VSTARS uses early engineering models and simulations and results of early developmental tests to develop a simulation that may be used to assess cost-performance trade-of-technical risk, system maturity, operational effectiveness, suitability, training, mission planning, and employment. The adaptation of VSTARS as the primary training simulation for Joint STARS by the Air Force represents the last step pun intended in the application of the simulation, test and evaluation process STEP to Joint STARS and establishes the validity of the process in support of the Department of Defense acquisition process.