Two Training Devices for Pilot and Airborne Tactics Officer Training

CAE announced on 7 March it has won a foreign military sales (FMS) contract from the US Navy to provide a comprehensive training system for the S-70B SEAHAWK helicopters operated by the Brazilian Navy.

CAE will design and manufacture two S-70B training devices: a fixed-base S-70B operational flight trainer (OFT,) to be used for pilot training, and an S-70B weapons tactics trainer (WTT) to be used for training rear-crew sensor operators and airborne tactics officers. The two training devices can operate independently or when networked they create a tactical operational flight trainer (TOFT) that provides a total aircrew mission training system, at which point the pilot and co-pilot, along with the rear crew, can interact and interoperate in the training scenario as they would during an actual mission.

The OFT will support training of the Brazilian Navy S-70B pilots and co-pilots in normal and emergency procedures as well as a range of mission scenarios. The flight simulator will feature the CAE MEDALLION-6000 image generator and Open Geospatial Consortium Common Database (OGC CDB) architecture, an international standard for the creation of synthetic environment databases. The WTT will replicate the back-end of the helicopter and be used to support the training of sensor operators and airborne tactics officers: it will feature detailed simulations of the underwater and atmospheric environment and the aircraft weapons and sensors to prepare crew members for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare missions. CAE will deliver the training system to the São Pedro da Aldeia Naval Air Base near Rio de Janeiro.

“Over the past 15 years, CAE has developed a number of SEAHAWK helicopter training systems for the US Navy as well as other global militaries, and we are pleased the US Navy selected us to provide the Brazilian Navy with a world-class S-70B SEAHAWK helicopter training system,” commented President and General Manager, CAE USA, Ray Duquette. “High-fidelity synthetic training is ideal for cost-effectively training and preparing aircrews for mission success, and this comprehensive S-70B training solution will help the Brazilian Navy prepare their aircrews to safely accomplish a range of missions.”