Air traffic management (ATM) for commercial traffic will need tomeet major challenges in the coming years. The industry is facedwith many questions, for example:

• What ATM system can we realistically expect to have in 2010,2020 and beyond?

• What safety improvements should we target for?

• What business analyses are needed to drive innovation forward?

• What are the key questions to be answered about the balance of responsibility between air and ground?

• How do we best address ‘gate-to-gate’ ATM issues?

• What are the systems architecture problems?

There is widespread and growing interest in the potential use of distributed simulation for aircrew team and collective mission training for military operations. Live flying training is becoming increasingly limited due to a combination of factors, including lack of airspace availability, environmental and security constraints, concern about consumption of aircraft flying hours and airframe life, the cost of major exercises and limited opportunities to practise co-ordination of critical multi-national NATO air missions in a representative operational environment, complete with threats. Furthermore, peace-time constraints typically preclude full operational use of electronic warfare (EW) systems, deployment of defensive aids such as chaff and flares and firing of live weapons. Data links are also extending the ‘tactical reach’ of an air package. Thus, training methods have to adapt.