Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
CAE Electronics has benefited from an upsurge in military flight simulation business in the closing months of 1999.
As part of a Raytheon-led team that has taken over training of US Air Force Boeing E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircrew, the company is to build two operational flight trainers (OFT) and a flight training device.
The E-3 OFTs, which will be installed in a new Raytheon-owned training centre to be built near Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, will be the first devices to use CAE's MaxVue Medallion high-performance visual system. Medallion is based on Sogitec's Apogee-3 visual.
CAE has also received a contract from FlightSafety Services for a Lockheed C-5B weapon system trainer - the ninth such device and the second to be ordered in 1999. The simulator will be delivered in 2001. FlightSafety provides C-5 aircrew training for the USAF.
Thomson Training & Simulation (TTS), meanwhile, has been selected to produce a mission simulator for the UK Royal Navy's BAE Systems Sea Harrier FA2. The simulator will feature a five-channel Evans & Sutherland (E&S) Harmony visual system, with a dome display mounted on a motion base.
TTS has also awarded E&S a contract to supply a five-channel ESIG-5530 image generator for the simulator it is developing for the Royal Australian Air Force's upgraded Lockheed AP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft.
In the USA, Reflectone has been awarded a US Navy contract to build a Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye flight simulator for onward delivery to the French navy. The device will feature a Sogitec Apogee-3 visual.
Reflectone has also received a US Navy contract to produce a Lockheed Martin KC-130J cockpit avionics part-task trainer for the US Marine Corps. The unit will be used for maintenance training.
Lockheed Martin, meanwhile, has won a contract to upgrade the US Special Operation Command's AC-130U simulation testbed at Hurlburt Field, Florida, where it will be used for avionics development and aircrew training.
Source: Flight International
