ITPS Canada – The RCAF’s Test Pilot & Tactical Edge

BY JAMES CARELESS

Amid rising global instability, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) urgently needs the best test pilots it can find. It also needs tactical trainers to equip the RCAF’s air crews with the skills to confront, conquer, and survive their adversaries in combat. As the international security situation worsens, nothing less will do.

Fortunately, ITPS Canada is here to help. Based at Ontario’s London International Airport, ITPS Canada has two facilities: the International Test Pilots School (ITPS) — one of only eight internationally recognized test pilot schools in the world, and the only one located in this country — and the International Tactical Training Centre (ITTC). Both are trusted providers to the RCAF and other NATO air forces, and true strategic national assets in the defence of Canada and our allies. Both are trusted providers to the RCAF and NATO air forces — true strategic national assets that enhance Canada’s defence capabilities and those of its allies.

For the record, ITPS Canada was established in the United Kingdom in 1986 by James Giles, a former Royal Air Force test pilot. The school was moved to Canada in 2001 and initially co-located with the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment at CFB Cold Lake, Alberta. In 2005, ITPS Canada moved to its current location at the London International Airport.

“Today, we offer flight test training to civil industry and allied air arms, and ITTC offers fast jet tactical training to allied air arms,” said David Lohse, CEO of ITPS Canada. “We collaborate with industry partners to develop, test and implement cutting-edge and cost-effective aviation training and simulation technologies, advancing defence capabilities and fostering growth in the aerospace industry.”

“Since the late 2010s, ITPS Canada has also been offering expert training in remotely piloted aircraft systems and uncrewed aircraft systems flight test techniques,” said Michael Mulquiney, ITPS Canada’s Chief UAS (Uncrewed Aircraft Systems) Flight Test Instructor. “Historically, our focus has been on experienced test pilots and flight test engineers who haven’t had exposure to uncrewed systems. But now we’re seeing an increasing uptake from both government and civil agencies who understand that they’re lacking in both experience and exposure to these types of systems. We’re ready and able to help them as well.”

A TRIAD OF TRAINING SERVICES

The training services offered by ITPS Canada represent a triad of necessary skills for the RCAF air crews.

            Let’s start with the ITPS. “The RCAF students at our test pilot school undergo the most comprehensive fixed and rotary wing, 48-week masters test pilot, and flight test engineer training courses,” Lohse told CDR. “The courses are conducted with students working simultaneously as a syndicate — either fixed-wing or rotary-wing — which is pretty much how they will work when they return to their sponsors’ flight test organizations after graduation. The ground school, simulator, and airborne training is academically and physically intense. Students are constantly exposed to unfamiliar concepts, such as advanced systems integration and envelope expansion testing and novel flight test techniques. To succeed, they learn to work in teams to develop the key attributes of flight test professionals: namely integrity, teamwork, communication skills, adaptability, power of observation, effective crew resource management, and applying a disciplined buildup approach to an unfamiliar aircraft.”

            To deliver the best results, ITPS students are trained by “a world-class team of flight test instructors, test pilot instructors, and flight test engineer instructors,” said Lohse, and they are evaluated on a constant basis to remedy problems and optimize educational outcomes. “It’s a pretty intense curriculum,” he admitted, “but we’re confident that our graduates are armed with the discipline and methodology to safely and effectively conduct experimental flight test activities on a full range of aircraft.”

            Then there’s the ITTC, which teaches pilots from allied air arms how to use the complex weapons systems on military fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. “Although the International Tactical Training Centre got its name in 2019, ITPS has been doing tactical training since the early 2000s,” said ITTC VP Brendan Pierce. “When we started doing tactical training, we didn’t have a full-time footprint in a shared facility with ITPS. Instead, it was mostly done contract-to-contract in the customer’s country with subcontracted trainers. However, due to the increased demand for tactical training, plus the pilot training shortfall that the NATO and Western allied countries were and are experiencing, we created a subdivision within the company that is the ITTC. Since then, we’ve been offering a multitude of courses here at ITPS Canada, the main ones being a NATO standard Fast Jet training pipeline from Phase II all the way up to Phase IV fighter lead in training.”

            Finally, there’s drone flight training, which is a skill that is in ever-increasing demand. “ITPS has three bespoke courses focused on Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems and UAS,” Mulquiney said. “The first is the two week ‘Introduction to UAS Flight Testing’ course where we show our students how to use traditional flight test techniques with UAS. The second is a 13 week ‘Certificate UAS Test and Evaluation’ course, which develops a test practitioner who can immediately contribute to test and trials activities when they go back to their parent units. And the final one is the 23 week ‘Diploma UAS Test Pilot & Lead Flight Test Engineer Course CAT-2 Equivalent’ course, which delivers a test practitioner who is able to execute test missions as the trial’s lead or test director. We also offer a course in UAS operational test and evaluation: This is a niche area for personnel who are not necessarily long course qualified or have a specific focus on flight tests per se.”

A WIDE-RANGING FLEET

            Training test pilots and tactical specialists requires access to the right aircraft. This is why ITPS Canada has a unique and diverse fleet of 28 aircraft. It includes 16 jet trainers, three transonic fighters, a seaplane and several helicopters.

            “The primary aircraft we fly at ITPS Canada is AERO Vodochody’s L-39 Albatros, which

is the most widely used operated jet trainer in the world,” Lohse told CDR. Developed in Czechoslovakia during the 1960s as the first turbofan-powered trainer ever produced, the L-39 is powered by an AI25-TL turbofan engine, with a maximum Mach number of 0.8 and a service ceiling of 36,000 ft. “We have upgraded the L-39’s cockpits with modern avionics in order to enhance the student training experience,” Lohse noted. “It remains a forgiving aircraft for students that is relatively easy to handle, while also offering enough performance to do advanced aerobatics and all at a relatively low cost-per-flight hour price point.”

            ITPS Canada’s training fleet also includes the Hawker Hunter T.7 transonic British jet aircraft. “Though vintage, the Hawker Hunter offers rugged reliability and flight characteristics that rival many contemporary platforms — especially after its modern avionics upgrade,” said Lohse. “It allows our students to evaluate simulated tactical scenarios using a modern hands-on throttle and stick architecture and modern touchscreen displays, in a glass cockpit-type setup.” The fleet also has an AERO Vodochody L-29 Delfin jet trainer and Bombardier/Embraer civilian business jets; Airbus, Bell, Leonardo, MBB, and Sikorsky helicopters; and Beechcraft, Cessna, Diamond, and Grumman fixed-wing aircraft, among others. (As well, ITPS Canada has simulators for the AH-64 Apache, eVTOL, F-16C, F-18, F-35, and Leonardo AW139.)

            “The student favorite here at ITPS would be the Grumman Albatross HU 16,” Lohse said. “Developed in the 1940s, the HU 16 is a twin-engine amphibious aircraft. The aircraft itself is an iconic design: We can take off from the runway at London International Airport and go to one of the many lakes around the region and conduct water landings. For a lot of our students, it’s the only time they’ll ever get that unique experience, and one that they want to get into their logbooks.”

            On the UAS side of the hangar, ITPS has Albatross UAVs, Matrice 300RTKs, and Mavic 2ED Advanced sRPAS in its fleet. “Historically, we’ve used some of the more cost-effective systems, which are highly capable and produce really good training outcomes in terms of teaching the fundamental techniques of flight testing,” said Mulquiney. “But we have the vision to understand that our customers need more, they need access to more complex and relevant systems, and so we’re well advanced on our path to providing access to those sorts of systems.”

            As for tactical training? In addition to the aircraft in the ITPS Canada fleet, the ITTC is able to leverage the company’s AH-64 Apache, F-16C, F-18, and F-35 simulators to teach air combat skills. “We also have four sets of half dome visuals for roll-in/roll-out fast jet fighter simulators,” Pierce said. “The nice thing about them is these simulators can be set up in any configuration that meets the training requirements for the specific sortie. This can be anything from one aircraft in one dome, one aircraft in a mixed reality-type headset, or one aircraft in a virtual reality headset. As well, all of our simulators can be networked together as well as run individually. So, we can run anything from a single aircraft doing a single exercise to hundreds of aircraft and entities in a large force employment exercise, all of which can be managed from a central control center to optimize the training outputs and requirements for that specific mission.”

LOOKING AHEAD

            With almost 50 years of experience under its belt, ITPS Canada has proven itself to be a reliable, trusted training provider for the RCAF. Looking ahead, “we are looking to deepen our collaboration with the RCAF and be seen as a strategic national asset that enhances sovereign capability,” said Lohse. “Overall, we want ITPS Canada to be the preferred flight test and tactical training provider for Canada and its trusted allies.” 

            ITPS Canada is also hoping to use its experience to make a contribution to fighter lead-in training programs in Canada, as this country gears up to integrate the F-35 into the RCAF’s fleet. “Our goal is to build an advanced 4.5 training capability for Fast Jet training in Canada, as our country has no such fighter pilot training of its own at present,” Lohse said. “In general, ITPS Canada wants to be there for the RCAF when they need us.”

            As for the impact of worsening relations between Canada and the US, which have been driven by President Trump and accepted as a reason for Canadian self-reliance by Prime Minister Carney? David Lohse sees this sad reality as offering new opportunities to ITPS, both for supporting Canada and other western allies who no longer believe that they can count on the United States. “A lot of countries have always seen Canada as a reliable and stable strategic partner,” said Lohse. “In the currently uncertain global climate, they are relieved to see that ITPS Canada continues to offer our training solutions to Canada, NATO, Five Eyes, and allied air arms around the world.”

The bottom line: In a world where global alliances shift unpredictably, ITPS Canada stands as a rare constant — ready, capable, and trusted.

James Careless is CDR’s Ottawa Bureau Chief