There are currently just over 2,300 military aircraft simulation devices in operation globally, according to the latest data from FlightGlobal. This figure represents a 3% increase on the total for the same period in 2015.
CAE leads all suppliers, with a 22% market share, followed by L-3 Link & Simulation, with 18%. Flight Safety International and Thales both have shares of 11% and Boeing has 10%; the balance of the military devices are provided by other manufacturers.
More than half – 54% – of the world’s military aircraft simulators are based in the USA, which operates close to 1,250 devices. Globally, Lockheed Martin and Boeing types represent 22% and 20%, respectively, of all simulated aircraft.
Flight Safety International shipped 12 devices to the US Army between January and September 2016, including 10 UH-72 and two UH-60M simulators. The company has also delivered a single static flight training device for AH-1Z attack helicopters to the US Marine Corps.
CAE has provided a total of 11 simulators to various clients globally since January. During 2016, the Canadian manufacturer announced a series of contracts to provide a range of training services and simulation product upgrades for global military customers. These include the contract awarded by the Canadian Department of National Defence to CAE to perform maintenance and support services on flight simulators at various Canadian Forces bases. CAE was contracted to upgrade two CH-47 Chinook dynamic mission simulators at CAE’s Medium Support Helicopter Aircrew Training Facility at RAF Benson in the UK, while Boeing awarded a contract to CAE to provide concurrency upgrades on US Navy P-8A operational flight trainers.
L-3 Link Simulation & Training announced early in 2016 that it had been awarded a contract option from the US Air Force to build 34 new Predator Mission Aircrew Training System simulators. The contract was awarded by the US Air Force’s Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Later in the year, L-3 Link announced that two CH-47F operational flight trainers (OFTs) installed at the US Army’s Flight School XXI Warrior Hall facility had been released for training.
Other market activity during the year included the Indonesian Air Force delivery of a CAE-built C-130H full-mission simulator that was previously in service with the Royal Australian Air Force. In Norway, Airbus Helicopters designated CAE’s Olso helicopter training centre an Airbus Helicopters Approved Simulation Centre for H225 recurrent training. The CAE Simulation Centre, adjacent to Oslo’s Gardermoen Airport, offers some military operating profiles.
The military world is well known for its generous use of acronyms, and the simulation world is far from immune to this tendency. So the Census now available for download includes a key to acronyms for various simulator device types as used around the world. Different militaries use various names for a full-mission simulator, for example. A few of these include Operational Flight Trainer (OFT), dynamic mission simulator (DMS), combat mission simulator (CMS), weapon systems trainer (WST) and full-flight and mission simulator (FFMS).
The Military Simulator Census 2016, sponsored by CAE, features a listing of military simulators, including operator and device information by aircraft type and by country.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
