Experts

Brendan Pierce

As a Fighter Weapons Instructor and recent retiree of a 14 year career in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Brendan ‘Darcee’ gained over 2300 hours of training and operational experience. The main portion of his military career was spent flying the CF-18 Hornet where he logged 1300 hours of experience. Highlights from that portion of his career were deploying to Iraq in 2015 flying combat missions against ISIS, completing the RCAF Fighter Weapons Instructor Course in 2017 as well as many other international operations and exercises.

He earned Mass Attack as well as Mission Commander designations which were exercised in many large force employment exercises. He gained valuable instructional experience being employed as an FWI by the RCAF and helping organize and instruct on multiple FWI courses. He ended his RCAF career in 2019 teaching at the operational training unit instructing new pilots to the CF-18 Hornet. Other aircraft flown include the CT-156 Harvard II, CT-155 Hawk, L-39 and Boeing 737NG.

Sibte Gillani

Sibte Gillani served in the Pakistan Air Force for 24 years. He graduated from PAF Academy with honours as Best Pilot. He flew 2000 hours on F7P and T-37 aircraft. Throughout his career, he served at different operational and command positions including Squadron Commander, Flight Commander Operations, Base Flight Safety Officer, Air Liaison Officer. His Qualifications include; Flight Safety Course, Command and Staff Course, Defence Resource Management course, Electronic Warfare course, FWIC and QFIC. Sibte has vast instructional and command experience in Basic Flying Training, FLIT Courses and FWIC.

He also planned and executed several national-level joint air exercises and participated in air superiority exercises with USN. While working in the Air Force planning department he was actively involved in trials of new armament and avionics for the upgrading of different fighter aircraft. Sibte has broad experience of leading a variety of air superiority and Ground Attack missions throughout his military career as a fighter pilot and planner.

Steve Bigg

Steve Bigg was principally responsible for establishing the Advanced Aircraft Simulation Centre (AASC) located at the International Tactical Training Centre (ITTC). The centre houses over seventeen simulators ranging from helicopters to heavy transport aircraft and three fighter types. Steve has been responsible for the acceptance and commissioning of all these simulators and in developing training sessions in support of a variety of courses. He was responsible for the development of the multi-cockpit dome simulation and integrated real-time Air Combat Manoeuvering Monitoring and Debriefing facilities in support of the Fighter Weapons Instructor Course (FWIC) and Fighter Lead-in Training (FLIT) courses including Computer Generated Forces red air scenarios for the FWIC. Steve established and supports flight test instruction sessions for the Boeing 787, F/A-18, and F-35 simulators.

Under Steve’s care, the AASC has added mixed- and virtual-reality capability on the F/A-18 and F-35 simulators, and a new eVTOL engineering simulator supporting Advanced Air Mobility systems testing.  Before joining ITTC, in 2003, Steve created and operated his own Air Combat Flight Simulation Centre which provided him with a deep understanding of how simulation can benefit air combat skills training. Steve holds a Diploma in Computer Electronics Technology and first earned his pilot’s license at age 17.

Muhammad Farooq

Muhammad Farooq, is a retired Pakistan Air Force pilot, latest rank as Wing Commander (Lieutenant Colonel) with highly concentrated background from different sources varying from Pakistan Air Force, UAE Air Force to PLA Air Force of PR China. He is a QFI, FWI and a graduate of the elite Combat Commanders School of Pakistan Air Force. He is also a certified Instructor Pilot on the F16 and served as Flight Commander Operations/Instructor Pilot in the Multi-Role F-16 Operational Conversion Squadron of Pakistan Air Force. In Air Superiority Roles, he has vast instructional experience in BFM, ACM, ACT/DACT (Multi Bogey), Fighter Escorts, and Cap vs Sweep type missions, simulating weapons like All Aspect BVR Missiles to IR Missiles, (under comm-jam environments). In Air to Surface role, he has vast instructional experience in Conventional, Inertial and Laser Guided Weapons delivery (including Live Night Bombing using FLIR), under various threat conditions, both Air to Air and Surface to Air. Also has instructional experience in night time anti-shipping bombing missions, using inertial and FLIR modes. He took part, both as a pilot and as instructor in the annual Highmark Exercises in Pakistan Air Force and GCC exercises in the middle east. Also flew DACT exercise against the US Navy F-18s. He authored the Hawk 102 Operational Course Syllabus and the squadron In-flight Guide, for UAE Air Force. For the PLA Air Force, he authored the Combined Basic/Advance jet course syllabus for the K-8 aircraft. As a fighter pilot, he has over 5000 hours on more than 13 different aircraft, including fighter aircraft like the F-16s, Mirage 3 & 5, F-6/FT-6, Hawk-102 and FT-9 (FTC 2000).