Boeing has been selected by the US Air Force to build and operate networked simulators for the former McDonnell Douglas F-15C.
Under the F-15CContractor Training Simulation Service programme, the company will privately finance construction of the simulators, in return for a ten-year, $333 million fee-for-service contract from the USAF.
The initial contract is for two four-ship sets of F-15 full-mission trainers to be installed at Eglin AFB, Florida, and Langley AFB, Virginia, with training to begin by mid-1999. These devices will be networked together and with Boeing E-3A mission-simulators at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.
Boeing's trainer is a fixed-based cockpit enclosed by back-projected screens which provide a 360í visual display. Evans & Sutherland will supply eight ESIG-4530 image-generators for the programme. Boeing is already delivering a similar four-ship system to the USAF's Air Education and Training Command at Tyndall AFB, Florida, for F-15C pilot training.
The latest F-15C contract is the first step in the USAF's Distributed Mission Training initiative. It plans to award similar contracts for networked simulators for the Boeing F-15E, Fairchild A-10 and Lockheed Martin F-16, while future growth could include the Boeing C-17 and Lockheed C-5, as well as US Army, Navy and Marine Corps weapon systems.
Source: Flight International
