Hughes Training (HTI) has secured the first international customers for its unit training device (UTD), developed to provide squadron-level training for USAir Force Lockheed Martin F-16 pilots. Jordan has ordered an F-16A UTD, South Korea has committed to six F-16 devices, and Bahrain is to buy an F-16C UTD.
The sales show that the market for lower-cost training devices is increasing. HTI is under contract to supply 65 of the $1.4 million F-16C UTDs to the USAir Force and has so far delivered ten devices. The company is also delivering six higher-fidelity F-16A unit-level trainers to Taiwan, plus one UTD to Denmark for the F-16A/B mid-life update (MLU).
McDonnell Douglas (MDC), meanwhile, has sold three F-18C unit-level trainers to Finland and will deliver up to 11 UTDs to the USAir Force for the Northrop T-38 avionics-upgrade programme. MDC will also supply eight operational flight-trainers -UTDs with wide-angle visual systems - for the T-38 programme.
The same MDC-developed visual display is being added to an initial four F-15C unit-level trainers previously delivered to the US Air Force, to upgrade the devices to full-mission trainers.
Thomson Training & Simulation says that it will deliver the first unit-level trainer for the F-16A/B MLU programme early in 1997.
Source: Flight International
