Dim Jones

Dim Jones, our MS&T Magazine Europe Editor, is a former RAF Group Captain with 44 years’ experience in defence aviation, having flown more than 7,700 hours in a wide variety of aircraft, the vast majority fast- jet. Dim served as an Instructor Pilot and Flight Examiner with the USAF, and as a Qualified Tactics Instructor, Squadron Commander, Station Commander and Deputy Inspector of Flight Safety. Dim spent the last six years as a Qualified Pilot Nav Instructor on the Hawk.

Grooming QEAF Typhoon Pilots

May 11, 2021

Dim Jones

A joint RAF/Qatari Hawk training squadron will stand up at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire in September.

Aberporth Training Swing-Role Missions

March 30, 2021

Dim Jones

The RAF and UK defence company QinetiQ recently conducted the first live weaponry ‘swing-role’ mission on the range at MoD Aberporth. MS&T’s Dim Jones takes a more detailed look at this significant milestone.

F-35 Simulation and Training Make Important Advances

December 9, 2020

Marty Kauchak and Dim Jones

Dim Jones, MS&T Europe Editor and Marty Kauchak, Halldale Media Group Editor attended the 1 December Lockheed Martin F-35 Training Update Media Roundtable and filed this report.

“The Future We Imagined in the Past is Happening Today”

December 1, 2020

Marty Kauchak, Andy Fawkes, Rick Adams, and Dim Jones

Day 1 (30 November) 2020 vIITSEC highlights. Compiled from reports filed from the conference exhibition floor and briefing rooms by Halldale staff members: Andy Fawkes, MS&T Editor; Rick Adams, CAT Editor, Dim Jones, MS&T Europe Correspondent; and Marty Kauchak, Halldale Media Group Editor.

Simulation and Training Anywhere

December 1, 2020

Dim Jones, Andy Fawkes, and Marty Kauchak

This 25 November, Andy Fawkes, MS&T Editor, Dim Jones, MS&T Magazine Europe Editor and Marty Kauchak, Halldale Media Group Editor, completed a wide-ranging interview with Sébastien Lozé, Industry Manager, Simulations at Epic Games. The participants spoke about the growing Epic Games’ S&T ecosystem, the latest technological developments, and S&T acquisition.

British Army Officer Training at Sandhurst

November 1, 2020

Dim Jones

In the second of three articles on UK Armed Forces Officer Training, MS&T’s Dim Jones visited the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, located in the town of Camberley on the Berkshire-Surrey border some thirty miles south-west of London.

Current and Future Operational Training in the Royal Navy

November 1, 2020

Dim Jones

After covering Gladiator in Issue 3/2020, the Royal Air Force’s synthetic training initiative, MS&T Europe Editor Dim Jones explores the Royal Navy’s equivalent programme.

MS&T readers will be aware of the plans for the future of synthetic training in the Royal Air Force under the Defence Operational Training Capability (Air) (DOTC(A)), also known as Gladiator. Similarly, the Royal Navy is looking to transform the way it trains its people and also the way in which it mans and deploys its forces. The Defence Operational Training Capability (Maritime) (DOTC(M)) is key to this transformation. I visited the home of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth to learn more from the RN and industry about plans for the maritime equivalent.

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Out Of The Blue: Flying in the Royal Air Force

August 19, 2020

Chris Long and Dim Jones

Ever wondered what it was really like to fly in the RAF? Well CAT Europe Editor Chris Long and MS&T Europe Editor Dim Jones give you the chance to find out with their very popular Out Of The Blue series.

ITPS Canada – A Focus on the Customer

August 11, 2020

Dim Jones

The world of flight testing, both military and civil, is one which is somewhat set apart from the more mainstream aviation disciplines, yet it is one without which those engaged in the latter would have nothing to fly.

Gladiator – Towards Greater Networked Training PREMIUM

July 15, 2020

Dim Jones

MS&T Europe Editor Dim Jones reports on Project Gladiator, the UK’s networked air collective training, capability development, and mission preparation initiative.

The mix between live and synthetic flying training has been a hot topic within the military aviation fraternity for some while now. The arguments for synthetic training (ST) have been well rehearsed: the reduced cost per training hour of a simulator as compared with live flying; the environmental benefits, in terms of both fuel and noise; and the improved longevity of an aircraft fleet resulting from reduced flying hours, fatigue consumption and attrition. To these, more recently, have been added some operational considerations.