Air combat training pods are not only installed on Air Force fighter planes, but why are they also installed on the Navy’s four Keelung-class warships?

The Navy purchased the latest generation "ACTIS air combat real-time training system" developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and will be installed on four Keelung-class destroyers. The picture shows the navy's previous fleet confrontation exercise. The escort in the front is the Lanyang warship with hull number 935. There are three giant warships behind it, all of which are Gide-class warships. There is also one Gide-class warship on the rear right, forming a rare scene of four Gide-class warships in the same frame. (Picture: taken from the Facebook page of the Navy Fleet of the Republic of China)

The "air combat training pod" that was often seen on the wingtips of the Air Force's F-16V or IDF Ching-Kuo fighter jets will also be seen on the Navy's 10,000-ton destroyers in the future! According to the latest budget report submitted to the Legislative Yuan by the Ministry of National Defense, the navy and air force will jointly allocate a budget of up to 2.44 billion yuan to purchase the latest generation "ACTIS air combat real-time training system" developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Among them, the Navy has obtained four training pods, which will be installed on the four Keelung-class destroyers, the Navy's flagships. This construction project breaks the traditional impression that "training pods are exclusive to fighter aircraft" in the past, and becomes a major progress in cross-service integration of Taiwan Strait defense tactics.

What exactly is this real-time air combat training pod? To put it simply, it is a set of avionics equipment that allows the Chinese military to conduct "ammunition-free virtual combat." It is installed on Air Force fighter aircraft and Navy warships, allowing the Navy and Air Force to produce a common image during joint exercises (such as the Air Force's Tianlong exercise, the Navy's Sea Power exercise, and the Lianxiang joint air defense exercise).

The "ACTIS Air Combat Real-time Training System" developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences has now been added to the Navy's ship-based system functions, which can achieve joint sea-air training and generate common images. (Picture: taken from the website of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Since it is a pod installed on an aircraft, why do the Navy’s Keelung-class warships also need to follow suit? The Ministry of National Defense report points out the key, which is to complete the training specifications of "joint sea and air operations". In the past, the Air Force and Navy conducted separate exercises, and the data was like two parallel lines that could not be connected in real time. In the future, these four pods will be directly connected to the battle management system on the Keelung-class ship with regional air defense capabilities (equipped with standard type II ship-borne air defense missiles) in the form of "hardware communication interface and shipboard host computer". In this way, the Navy's air defense flagship can be officially connected to the Air Force's real-force confrontation network, allowing the 10,000-ton warship to be transformed into a maritime combat node in the virtual training network, simulating the confrontation between air defense and anti-ship missiles. Not only can tactical decisions be made in real time during the training, but missions can also be repeatedly inquired after the mission is over, achieving a great convergence of naval and air force tactical data.

The addition of this system will greatly enhance the effectiveness of the Keelung-class destroyers' core "anti-saturation attack" drills in Taiwan Strait defense. During the actual military exercise, although there may be only four Air Force fighters actually flying in the air, the system can be combined with a threat simulator to virtually create an additional 20 light spots simulating anti-ship missiles or drones on the radar screen of the Keelung-class situation room for a high-pressure test. In addition, the system can accurately calculate the physical limits of the Keelung-class fire control radar during time-sharing guidance and interception. Even the stealth electronic warfare soft-kill interference and the connection with the air defense fire network of the land-based Tiangong III anti-aircraft missiles can be verified most realistically without firing live ammunition.

The Ministry of National Defense emphasized that this time, through the Air Force coordinating the construction project and the Navy jointly sharing the model, it not only successfully broke the service standards and unified the Navy and Air Force's training return specifications, but also effectively reduced the training costs. Keelung-class warships can achieve high-pressure actual combat training without actually launching extremely expensive standard Type II anti-aircraft missiles. In the future, whether it is the Hanguang exercise or the Haiqiang exercise, the director's department can instantly reproduce the most scientific and realistic review of sea-air electromagnetic confrontation in the same 3D virtual battlefield, so as to improve the national army's joint sea control and joint air defense tactics and add the most powerful digital combat power.