Raytheon has won the US army's long-delayed Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (AVCATT) competition - a follow-on to the Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT) programme awarded to Lockheed Martin several years ago.
AVCATT and CCTT come under the army's Combined Arms Tactical Trainer programme, which merges manned simulators with a synthetic battlefield to provide collective training.
The latest version of CCTT provides the virtual environment , including semi-automated forces and terrain databases, and includes manned simulators for tanks and other armoured vehicles.
Under an initial $30 million contract, Raytheon will develop the AVCATT Aviation Reconfigurable Manned Simulator, which will be able to represent the army's Bell OH-58D, Boeing AH-64A/D and CH-47D and SikorskyUH-60A/L helicopters.
The mobile simulator will feature a helmet-mounted visual display system based on the flight-certified Advanced Visionics System helmet developed for the US Army.
This will use miniature liquid-crystal displays to project a wide field-of-view visual scene and cockpit instrumentation graphics on to visor optics.
Under later phases of the programme, Raytheon is expected to produce 18 suites of trainers, each with six reconfigurable cockpits: 12 for the active army and six for the National Guard. A contract option covers extension of the system to include the Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 scout/attack helicopter.
Source: Flight International
