The Australian Defence Acquisition Organisation (DAO) is exploring the use of private finance to overcome budget problems facing the replacement of the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) Boeing F/A-18 Hornet flight simulators.
A competitive tender for the replacement, involving two new-generation dome simulators and associated infrastructure, is to be launched between July and October this year.
In the interim, the DAO has begun a formal invitation to register (ITR) process, calling for detailed costing on options for leasing, outright purchase and what is termed the Australian Defence Private Funded Initiative.
The training system redevelopment is a result of the RAAF's Project Air 5376 F/A-18 upgrade, which will render the existing Hornet operational flight trainers obsolete within four years.
According to the ITR documents, "the Commonwealth has a limited budget-that is unlikely to provide all of the capability sought" from the simulator requirement.
Source: Flight International
