The Air Operations Centre of Excellence works to improve the effectiveness of Allied and Partner Air Operations, and supports the development of Air Operations capabilities, concepts, doctrine, and experimentation.
The Air Operations Centre of Excellence, also known as the Centre of Analysis and Simulation for the Preparation of Air Operations, is located in Lyon, France, and received its accreditation in 2008. The Centre draws on the experience and skills of its multi-national staff on Air Operations, technical simulations, and Air Command and Control systems to deliver training and expertise to Allied warfighters. In doing so, the Centre aims to provide NATO with primary tactical training and expertise in the Air Operations domain. It also aims to shape the future of the Air Operations domain by providing world-class education and training to joint, multi-national war fighters who plan, task, command, and control air operations.
In support of NATO’s ongoing transformation efforts, the Air Operations Centre of Excellence is developing a new virtual reality training capability through the ORCHEstration of Stressful situations for Training based on virtual Reality and adaptive Agents in Air operations, or ORCHESTRAA, project. This project aims to offer advanced training capabilities for Air Command and Control by integrating learners into a virtual training range where they will act with simulated participants controlled by artificial intelligence. This application of virtual reality technology to Air Operations training provides a new and beneficial pedagogical method to train learners by:
- Leveraging virtual reality to deliver immersive learning and simulate a wide range of interactive scenarios.
- Decreasing the resources needed to prepare and monitor training sessions due to simple and intuitive management tools.
Work on the ORCHESTRAA project began in 2018 with the support of small and medium businesses as well as academia, with the ORCHESTRAA demonstrator being tested by the Centre’s instructors in 2022. With the successful testing of the demonstrator, this capability will continue to be developed under the Automatic Air Command and Control Exercise Control for Training to Operation Project, that seeks to integrate artificial intelligence into the exercise control function of the Time Sensitive Targeting training simulations.
Speaking on the evolution of the project, the Director of the Air Operations Centre of Excellence, Colonel Emmanuel Singaraud, said:
“ORCHESTRAA is a major project for the Centre at the crossroads of two fields: education & training and concept development & experimentation. The first phase is now completed. We are about to embark on the next stage, which will be divided into two new projects: artificial intelligence for training, and the contribution of virtual reality technologies.”
NATO-accredited Centres of Excellence are (multi-) nationally established and sponsored entities, which offer recognized expertise and experience within a defined subject matter area to the benefit of the Alliance. Centres of Excellence are not part of the NATO Command Structure, but form part of the wider framework that contributes to the functioning of the Alliance. Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation coordinates the activities of the Centres of Excellence, ensuring that their outputs align with Allied Command Transformation’s Programme of Work. For more information about NATO-accredited Centres of Excellence, see the 2023 Centres of Excellence Catalogue.