Three simulator manufacturers have submitted bids for the UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD's) Medium Support Helicopter (MSH) programme. A contract to build and operate the training centre is expected to be awarded by March 1997, although the MoD may first narrow the competition to two contractors.
CAE Electronics, Reflectone and Thomson Training & Simulation have all submitted bids for the MSH programme, which is for a training centre equipped with up to six full-flight simulators for the Aerospatiale Puma, Boeing Chinook and EH Industries EH101 transport helicopters.
The MSH will be the second programme under the MoD's Private Funding Initiative (PFI), after award of the Defence Helicopter Flying School contract to the FBS consortium. Under the PFI, industry is required to fund development of the MSH training centre and its operation up to 20 years. The MoD will buy a guaranteed minimum number of training hours once the centre is operational. The winner can market spare training capacity, sharing revenue with the MoD.
Source: Flight International