The U.S. Navy is trying to increase the skills of their aviators, and keep the costs down, by doing 14 percent of of their training hours in simulators, instead of cockpits. More of the flight training will be in conjunction to electronically created targets (generated by software in the aircraft.) Training using  aircraft that are operating from carriers is not only expensive (carrier landings and all that salt water mean more maintenance and replacement parts), but dangerous (to pilots and aircraft) as well. So the increased use of simulators will save lives and money.