CAE has been awarded an AUD$12
million (C$11 million) contract by Australia’s Defence
Materiel Organisation (DMO) to provide a Tactical Training
Capability Upgrade (TTCU) to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)
C-130J and C-130H training systems.
The upgrades will make several tactical training enhancements to
the existing C-130J and C-130H full flight simulators, including
the addition of an off-board instructor operator station linking
both devices. In addition, the visual system on both simulators
will be upgraded to CAE’s Medallion-S™, and a common
synthetic tactical environment will significantly enhance mission
and tactical training capabilities. The C-130H simulator will also
be equipped with a navigator station in the cockpit to allow full
flight crew training.
"This is a significant milestone
achievement in the expansion of the two Air Lift Group C-130
simulators from conversion training devices to very capable crew
mission training assets,” said Air Commodore Glen Steed, the
Commander of the RAAF Air Lift Group. “The hard work by both
CAE and the RAAF Air Lift Group really starts now to bring this to
fruition. The Air Lift Group looks forward to working with CAE
Australia to achieve this very important project on time and on
budget."
“CAE Australia is proud of the confidence that RAAF Air
Lift Group has shown in our ability to provide training solutions
through our local engineering and support capability, and we look
forward to continuing our partnership with them well into the
future,” said Alan Johnson, Managing Director of CAE
Australia. “The upgrades ensure that the Air Lift Group
maximises the training utility from its previous investments in
high fidelity simulation and provides a real capability advantage
for the RAAF, particularly with the high operational tempo of
recent times.”
This upgrade project was contracted utilising the existing
Management and Support of ADF Aerospace Simulators (MSAAS)
contract, which CAE was awarded in 2003. The MSAAS contract has
enabled CAE to establish a world class support capability in
Australia, and CAE was recently certified by the Australian Defence
Force (ADF) as an Authorised Engineering Organisation (AEO).
“Our experiences in working with CAE through the MSAAS
contract gives us a great deal of confidence that the upgrades will
be delivered in a professional and timely manner” said Mark
Fairleigh, DMO Project Director. “I look forward to handing
back, on time, the upgraded simulators to Air Lift Group and seeing
the enhancements to their training.”
CAE currently provides support for the ADF’s C-130J,
C-130H, B707, S-70A Black Hawk, and S-70B Seahawk simulators, and
is competing for the provision of the A330 MRTT full-flight
simulator for the RAAF through prime contractor EADS CASA.