Galileo starts Eurofighter training for Italian pilots

Manufacturer to host cockpit instruction work until 2009, following delays at Grosetto

The Italian air force's first enhanced cockpit trainer-interactive pilot station is ready to fully support Eurofighter training activities at Galileo Avionica's Ronchi dei Legionari production facility near Trieste, following the device's acceptance last November.

"The first course for Eurofighter pilots will start here at the beginning of February," said Brig Gen Gabriele Salvestroni, chief of logistics for the air force general staff, during an opening ceremony at the site last week. Training will continue to take place at the Galileo facility until a dedicated building is completed at the air force's Grosseto airbase following procedural delays, he said.

Italy's Eurofighter pilot training has until now been conducted at Alenia Aeronautica's Turin facilities, with ground school work already taking place at Grosseto. The new cockpit trainer is scheduled to be transferred to Grosseto in 2009, with the base to also house two full mission simulators (FMS).

Additional systems will also be installed at the air force's Gioia del Colle airbase, which will receive its first Eurofighters in the second half of 2007.

The new device will provide procedural and familiarisation training, simulate friendly and hostile forces and model air-to-air radar use and weapons firing. Capable of being networked with other training devices, the system's fidelity is also comparable to that of an FMS, according to Galileo.

Initially to be used for air-to-air and basic air-to-surface training, the simulator will also support development of the air force's operational doctrine and advanced air-to-surface training syllabus, leading to pilots achieving limited combat readiness.

Galileo Avionica is part of the Eurofighter Simulation Systems consortium, which is providing launch customers Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK with the simulator-based elements of the aircrew synthetic training aids system.

It provides the multinational digital radar landmass system, debriefing and instructor facilities and lesson planning and scenario generator, plus installation and support services.