The 8^th iteration of the Defence Simulation Education & Training (DSET) conference and exhibition took place at the Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol UK between 5-8 June. Representing the event’s Media Partner, Halldale / MS&T’s Andy Fawkes and Dim Jones attended. 

MS&T’s Andy Fawkes and Dim Jones had the opportunity to chat with Daniel Robinson, Co-Founder and CEO of augmented-reality company Red 6, a former RAF Tornado F3 pilot and the first non-US pilot to fly the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor operationally.

The 8^th iteration of the Defence Simulation, Education and Training (DSET) conference and exhibition will take place 5-8 June 2023, live at the Ashton Gate stadium in Bristol and also online. MS&T Magazine is the Lead Media Sponsor. Dim Jones previews the event.

Young people who have chosen to join the Army straight from school receive their initial training at the British Army Foundation College, some 3 miles west of the spa town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire. MS&T’s Dim Jones visited to observe what goes on there.   

The parlous state of the UK’s military pilot training system has been much in the news of late. Although the RAF and the MoD have been at pains to downplay any suggestion of a crisis, there is little doubt that the situation is serious, and that the problems are both chronic and acute.  

Outsourcing of aircrew training within the UK Armed Forces has been a long-running saga. The concept of what eventually became the Military Flight Training System (MFTS) was widely discussed in the MoD during the 1990s, but it was not until 2008 that the first contract was signed between the MoD and Ascent Flight Training. MS&T’s Dim Jones visited Ascent in their Bristol HQ to get their take on past achievements and future plans.

The return to London’s ExCel Centre and lifting of Covid restrictions helped resurrect the long-delayed 31st iteration of IT²EC. MS&T’s Andy Fawkes and Dim Jones took in the conference and exhibition and came away with a range of reactions.