Boeing and Thales have joined forces to compete for the role of training system integrator for the UK Military Flying Training System (MFTS). The integrator will be responsible for managing tri-service flying training from completion of initial training up to operational conversion, probably in a public-private partnership.
Boeing and Thales were among five teams downselected to proceed into the next phase of the MFTS programme. The others are BAE Systems/Bombardier/Serco; Lockheed Martin/Rolls-Royce/VT Group; and the VECTOR consortium consisting of Kellogg Brown & Root and EG&G/Lear Seigler.
The 15- to 25-year MFTS contract will cover fast jet, multi-engine, rotary wing and rear crew training for the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and British Army Air Corps. The integrator's role includes designing a new training system, managing the training pipeline and management of existing and new training service providers.
The programme is in the assessment and convergence phase, with a winner to be selected at the end of 2005, leading to initial service provision in 2007 and full service provision in 2012. "We decided not to stay standalone for the next phase and to look for complementary skills," says Guy Delevacque, Thales Training & Simulation chief executive. Both companies have experience in providing synthetic training services.
Source: Flight International
