# April 2009 DRDC Study:  Herc Observer Trainer Works, Should be Adopted



## The Bread Guy (15 Jul 2009)

Stuart C. Grant.  "A training study of the Hercules Observer Trainer," DRDC Toronto TR 2009-008, Defence R&D Canada – Toronto, April 2009. 

Full study (.pdf, 36 pg.) here, cover and summaries attached. 

Abstract:  "The Canadian Forces (CF) operates aircraft in theatres where they are threatened by missiles and gunfire.  Timely, coherent and accurate reporting of the threats is vital to defeating them. A training device called the Hercules Observer Trainer (HOT) was developed to support the training of surface-to-air threat reporting. To validate the simulation and determine its training effectiveness, an experiment employing 16 CF air crewmembers was conducted at CFB Trenton.  Half of the experimental subjects were qualified tactical aircrew and were deemed experts at making threat calls. The other half consisted of students on a CC-130 Basic Loadmaster course who had not yet qualified as loadmasters on the CC-130 and were deemed novices. Both groups of subjects completed two sessions of making threat calls against 26 surface to air missile and 24 anti-aircraft artillery threats. In the first session, experts made more accurate and more syntactically correct threat calls than novices. By the end of the second session, both groups showed improved accuracy and syntax over their earlier levels of performance, and the performance of the novices was equivalent to that of the experts. *It is concluded that the HOT is a valid simulation of the threat call task, that students can use the HOT to learn the task, and that the training is transferrable to the operational environment. It is recommended that HOT be considered for operational training in the CC-130 community. It is further recommended that the training scenarios be adapted and the technology improved to best represent the current operational environment.*"


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