PLA Air Force Integrates Live Aircraft and Networked Simulators in Combat Drills

A People's Liberation Army Air Force aviation unit recently conducted day-and-night aerial combat exercises combining live aircraft with ground-based simulator systems. According to state military media reports, the confrontation pitted four real fighter aircraft against four simulated 'digital fighters,' two of which were controlled remotely by pilots from partner units. The exercise reflects the Chinese military's ongoing efforts to leverage networked digital simulation to expand tactical training, lower operating costs, and capture granular telemetry for post-mission debriefing.

Integrating live aircraft with remote simulator networks allows air forces to scale tactical complexity, test high-risk edge flight regimes, and practice contested intercepts without the logistical strain, airspace limitations, and airframe wear of large-scale live-fly exercises.

A People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) aviation unit has conducted day-and-night aerial combat exercises integrating airborne fighters with networked ground-based simulators, according to official reports published by the PLA Daily and People's Daily. The exercise featured a confrontation between a 'Red' team flying actual aircraft at high altitudes and a 'Blue' team operating four 'digital fighters' generated inside ground simulator cockpits. To enhance operational realism and inter-unit coordination, two of the simulated adversary aircraft were operated remotely by pilots located at partner units hundreds of kilometers away. According to unit leadership cited in state media, combining live flight with simulated adversaries improves training cost-effectiveness, reduces airframe wear, and lowers safety risks while allowing pilots to hone situational awareness in complex tactical scenarios. During the drill, participating pilots engaged in dynamic maneuvering, with the Red force successfully scoring a simulated hit on a virtual adversary to break a tactical stalemate. The ground simulators generated visual and tactile cues, including extreme attitude changes and simulated missile-approach warnings, enabling newer pilots to practice emergency procedures and explore aircraft performance limits under combat-like stress. Ground technicians subsequently exported detailed telemetry data packets from the simulator bays back to the flight squadron to support quantitative after-action reviews. PLAAF unit commanders stated that expanding cross-regional simulator networking has facilitated the development of new tactical concepts, several of which have subsequently been validated in live-fire exercises. The unit plans to further expand multi-type aircraft networking across wider operational domains.