US$48.5 million for Advanced Gunnery Training System
The US DoD announced on 15 November that Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Orlando, has been awarded a $48,554,905 firm-fixed-price Foreign Military Sales contract to upgrade the M1A2S Advanced Gunnery Training System (AGTS) for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Completion is estimated for April 2019, according to the statement.
Designed to train individuals and vehicle crews, as well as higher formations (to company level) in precision gunnery skills, the AGTS simulator enables trainees to transition rapidly to live or combat fire missions. Target recognition, fire control and distribution can all be rehearsed and practiced while under simulated engagement from hostile actors. AGTS is available in five variants: permanent, mobile, relocatable, deployable and table-top.
Over 200 AGTS have been delivered to DoD in the last 15 years, with a further 180 to foreign partner nations. The company undertook a two-year upgrade programme in 2011 for the US fleet, integrating the newest version of the Scalable Advanced Graphics Engine (SAGE) image generation technology, which draws from extensive visual databases to provide a more detailed and realistic simulated environment. Additional upgrades included new GUIs for the instructor stations.
