GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
But Canadian losing bidder CAE may protest as 20-year deal goes to American supplier
Computer Sciences (CSC) has won a 20-year, $1.1 billion contract to provide simulator-based flight training services to the US Army Aviation Center at Ft Rucker, Alabama. Under the Flight School XXI programme, a CSC-led team will build and operate a schoolhouse equipped with 57 simulators and provide fee-for-service training.
Losing bidder CAE is waiting to be debriefed by the US Army before deciding whether to protest. The Canadian simulator manufacturer believes its bid was almost $160 million cheaper and would have delivered training sooner. CAE's US arm bid as prime on the contract, with Boeing as its team member.
CSC is teamed with US simulator manufacturers FlightSafety International, L-3 Link and NLX to provide 20 Bell TH-67 simulators for initial rotary-wing training; 19 simulators for the Bell OH-58D, Boeing AH-64A/D and CH-47, Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 and SikorskyUH-60 for graduate flight training; and 18 reconfigurable devices for collective training.
The goal of Flight School XXI is to provide pilots to combat units with significantly greater experience in advanced aircraft through increased use of simulator training, says CSC programme manager P J Penny. Collective training will be introduced into the syllabus, with the first crew trainers delivered a year from now. "Within 28 months sufficient simulators are to be in place for students to begin going through the Flight School XXI course," he says. All devices are to be in place within 57 months.
CAE had been counting on Flight School XXI to establish the company as a US prime contractor, following its acquisition of the Florida-based former Reflectone business.
Source: Flight International
