US Army Exercises Option for Five Additional Trainers

CAE announced at AUSA 2019 on 14 October that it is preparing to deliver the first M1A2 ABRAMS engine maintenance trainer to the US Army’s Armor School at Fort Benning, GA.

The new ABRAMS engine maintenance trainer recently completed the first phase of factory acceptance testing at CAE’s facility in Tampa, FL, and will be shipped to Fort Benning in November, where it will be part of the comprehensive training delivered at the Maneuver Center of Excellence. The first ABRAMS engine maintenance trainer will be formally ready-for-training in December. CAE also announced the Army has exercised contract options for five additional trainers to be delivered to Fort Benning.

“CAE has a long history developing ABRAMS virtual and hands-on maintenance trainers for the Army, and we’re excited to provide new engine maintenance trainers that deliver a more realistic and practical training experience for students before they proceed to maintaining engines on the Army’s fleet of ABRAMS main battle tanks,” said Ray Duquette, President and General Manager, CAE USA. “We are also pleased our program performance and on-time delivery of the first ABRAMS engine maintenance trainer has resulted in the Army exercising additional contract options ahead of schedule.”

The ABRAMS trainer includes a driver station linked with a live engine to support diagnostic maintenance training tasks. There are more than 80 simulated faults built into the trainer, designed for student troubleshooting. CAE has also developed new courseware to be used in conjunction with the device and introduced a modern instructor operator station to help automate the set-up of training scenarios.