25 Years of Top Aces – PILOT TRAINING
EXPERIENCE MATTERS
BY MARC MONTGOMERY
When it comes to the various aspects of air combat training, there is one company that is known world-wide – Top Aces, an all-Canadian company that is celebrating 25 years of service in 2025.
Headquartered in Montreal, CDR spoke to Paul Bouchard, President, CEO, and Co-Founder, who proudly started off by telling CDR, “We are a Made in Canada, aerospace and defence success story.”
In Canada, Top Aces conducts adversary air training (ADAIR) for the RCAF, close air support/joint tactical air controller training (CAS/JTAC) with Canada’s land forces including CANSOFCOM and JTF-2, electronic warfare training and testing (EW) using specially equipped Learjets in conjunction with NORAD in the Arctic, and various training exercises with the RCN.
With decades of Canadian experience, the firm has grown with significant additional long-term operations in the U.S., and several EU/NATO countries. The Canadian company has also now greatly increased its presence in Australia through a partnership with the well-known Australian defence firm MilSkil. A company press release from Melbourne in March of this year noted the deal, ‘will provide the safest and most technically advanced, sovereign-based 5th Generation training solution for the Australian Defence Force (ADF)’.
CELEBRATING 25TH ANNIVERSARY
From relatively humble beginnings in Canada, Top Aces is now recognized as the global leader in the wide variety of air combat training needs. “When we started 25 years ago, we couldn’t have imagined what the company has grown to become,” said Bouchard.
This Canadian success story began when Bouchard and two others, all former CF-18 pilots, formed a defence and aerospace consultancy in 2000 advising industry on DND contracts. In late 2004 Canada was among the very first to take the innovative step of contracting out air combat training with its Interim Contracted Airborne Training Services, (ICATS) program. Top Aces invested in a handful of privately owned ex-Luftwaffe Alpha Jets and won the initial contract. This began their unbroken and ongoing chain of Canadian air combat and related training contracts since 2005.
READ: FIGHTER PILOT TRAINING – Top Aces
Bouchard tells CDR that in this field, “Top Aces now has the most total flight hours, the longest unblemished safety record, the most aircraft, has flown the most places, and logs the most flight hours annually.”
There are many advantages of a contracted service like Top Aces, but in their simplest form, it represents a vast saving for militaries and taxpayers by not using extremely expensive air frames and maintenance costs on front line fighters used in an adversary role. Pilots are also better used in the combat role practicing tactics rather than flying as the ‘threat’.
ADVANCING 5TH GEN READINESS
As air forces transition to 5th Gen fighters and embrace new technologies, Top Aces has been actively keeping in step with its training. The company has already logged many hours training F-35 and F-22 crews in the US and in other countries that are now flying F-35s. Worth noting: Canada will join the list of countries operating the F-35 starting in 2026.
Back in 2015, Paul Bouchard stated that the F-35 would substantially transform combat scenarios, “so we needed to develop 5th Gen combat training solutions that are capable, flexible, and affordable,” he told CDR.
All Top Aces fighters are upgraded with the latest technology which is as current as possible. The company is also the only commercial operation in the world permitted to own and fly the F-16 which are used in the US for training exercises.
With its proprietary, open architecture ‘Advanced Aggressor Mission System’ (AAMS) technology, Top Aces fighters – whether F-16, A4, or Alpha Jet – support systems like advanced weapons simulation, electronic warfare (EW), and Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) training, which adds simulated targets into an exercise where they are seen by the exercise pilots, adding to the tactical problem they must solve.
Top Aces’ AAMS also integrates an advanced Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, which closely simulates the technology on current operational fighters, as well as Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems (HMCS), scanning long-wave Infrared Search and Track (IRST) system, and other technologies which effectively replicate potential threats by near-peer and 5th Gen adversary fighters.
Systems can be scaled up or down depending on client mission training scenarios and costs. The AAMS is like a plug-and-play system where new sensors or systems can be rapidly integrated with minimal effect on the core avionics and operating system of the aircraft.
The arrival of 5th Gen and other technologies, along with global conflicts, has prompted an increased demand for Top Aces services as Allied militaries realize the need for increased pilot readiness while keeping costs low as they upgrade advanced 4th Gen fighters or transition to the F-35.
When the question arises regarding Top Aces not having stealth aircraft, Bouchard notes the ‘threat’ does not primarily operate stealth. He says the objective is to replicate the most realistic advanced threat which would be a something like an F16 4th Gen equipped with advanced radar and jamming systems adding, “that’s the technology suite designed for our F16, A4, and Alpha Jets and it can be scaled up or down in terms of aircraft performance depending on client training requirements, but the technology is the same and is geared toward 5th Gen training.”
UNBLEMISHED RECORD &
GLOBAL REPUTATION
In celebrating this landmark anniversary year, Top Aces is now recognized as the world leader in ADAIR and CAS training.
With a global fleet of over 136 aircraft, mostly ex-military fighters, Top Aces’ unblemished tactical training record is now an amazing 140,000+ accident-free flight hours. Bouchard notes that Top Aces also logs about 15,000 hours annually, both figures representing a better track record than most active air forces.
THE TRUST FACTOR
As to why Top Aces has been chosen by so many military forces for so many years and is also allowed to own and fly the F-16, Bouchard says it’s not only the high level of training provided with the best available aircraft and best available technology, but also about trust.
With the company tagline of ‘Experience Matters’, he explained to CDR, “It is a significant shift for any military to have trust in a commercial operation to this level. To be fully embedded in formations of air force fighters, in air combat, and in such a dynamic training environment, there must be a very high degree of trust between us and the air force.” He adds that such trust comes from Top Aces’ decades of experience encompassing safety, reliability, and competence.
An aspect of that trust is the unblemished flight record which is due to the highest level of company safety measures and attention to detail practiced in the maintenance shops and in the air. There is an ingrained company culture of risk awareness whereby any staff member at any level has the authority to slow or stop an operation if there’s the slightest concern due to any anomaly or inconsistency.
Bouchard states, the goal for Top Aces is to be the most trusted provider in these services.
“From the outset our goal has always been to provide the most experienced and most qualified recently retired fighter pilots with the highest pedigree, combined with the best available aircraft and technology, the most experienced maintenance technicians from across the Canadian, US, European, and Australian militaries, and the best possible training at a reasonable price.”
TECH, AI & PILOTS
As technology advances and the ‘threat” evolves. Top Aces is working to be at the forefront in developing training solutions which are flexible and adaptable and incorporating new technologies. Some of that future tech involves AI, and Top Aces has an established partnership with one of the world’s leading military AI firms, the US based EpiSci.
A major project in development involves Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). These are uncrewed fighters – or drones – controlled by AI and crewed fighters. This represents more innovative proprietary technology from Top Aces, which will aid combat pilots and their training.
“As the threat evolves, so too will our training solutions with an adaptable path of integrating new technologies as they evolve,” said Bouchard. “Our upgraded aircraft either are, or can, simulate the latest technology.”
He continued, “whether aircraft are crewed or uncrewed, we’ll be operating them. No matter how tech evolves, pilots will still be needed to go into the air and train, and we’ll be there as a market leader.”
LOOKING AHEAD
Top Aces is determined to maintain its global leadership position through innovation, quality of training, and safety. In Europe the company’s presence is growing, prompted both by the geopolitical situation, transitioning to 5th Gen, and by US demands that NATO nations increase defence spending. In 2024 Top Aces and the Dutch provider, AEC Skyline, concluded a new partnership deal. At the signing, Mr. Stef Have, CEO and Managing Director of AEC Skyline, said, “Since partnering with Top Aces, our goal has been to enhance the quality of training for F-35 operators. We are eager to begin delivering on this promise for the Dutch customer under this new PoC scheme.” The deal will enhance readiness training in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Nordic countries in addition to Top Aces’ already well-established operations with German forces.
In the US, along with its partnership with EpiSci, in 2022 Top Aces acquired Blue Air Training, known as a leading provider in the US for CAS/JTAC training with its fleet of jets, turbo prop and helicopters. This acquisition further enhanced Top Aces training portfolio.
In Australia the RAAF is currently flying Super Hornets and F-35s with more of the Lightning II still to come. While Top Aces has worked there before, that nation sees an increased need for realistic, cost-effective advanced adversary training. The recent partnership agreement with MilSkil, a firm that has been providing training to the RAAF since 2003, will enhance 5th Gen ADAIR and CAS/JTAC training with live, synthetic and AI scenarios for all of the ADF.
In Canada, where Top Aces operates primarily from Cold Lake, Bagotville, and Halifax, but also across the country from coast to coast to coast, the company has contracts and options into the next decade. Top Aces is also working with Canada’s Team SkyAlyne in the Future Aircrew Training (FAcT) program providing instructor pilots for advanced jet training.
These acquisitions and partnerships serve to greatly advance training techniques and technologies throughout Top Aces’ offerings to the CAF and all Allied forces the Canadian company serves.
As a final note Bouchard states, “We are now exporting Canadian expertise to the world in the defence domain, which is quite rare, and it’s really beneficial to Canada and to our allies. It’s a way to increase readiness and save money at the same time. We’re very proud.”
Marc Montgomery is a Regular CDR Contributor
