Six Super Hornet aircraft trainers received by Australian air force

Posted by John McHale
QUEENSLAND, Australia, 10 May 2011. The Royal Australian air force received six F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircrew and maintenance trainers at its based in Amberley, Queensland from Boeing in St Louis. The suite of aircrew devices includes two tactical operation flight trainers (TOFT) and two low cost trainers (LCT).
Each TOFT is built on Boeing's and L-3 Link's F/A-18 simulator common hardware and software baseline, and is integrated with L-3 Link's 360-degree SimuSphere visual display, SimuView image generator, and Boeing Training Systems & Services' mission computer emulation; simulated radar, electronic countermeasures, and Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System; and high-fidelity crew station controls. This provides pilots and weapons sensor officers with a completely immersive training environment and a full spectrum of advanced tactical training.
The Boeing-built LCT runs a mission computer emulation and provides pilot and air combat officer training for navigation, weapons, radar, and electronic countermeasures. The LCT can be reconfigured to accommodate a number of aircrew training combinations with minimal facility requirements.
"These are the first Super Hornet training devices for a Foreign Military Sale customer and are part of the acquisition and establishment of 24 Australian F/A-18F Block II aircraft, initial spares, support equipment, trainers, and training," says Mark McGraw, Training Systems & Services vice president for Boeing.
Two Integrated Visual Environment Maintenance Trainers (IVEMT) also were installed, including the conversion of an earlier VEMT to the IVEMT configuration.
"The IVEMT is a new development and the first fully integrated Super Hornet maintenance device," McGraw says. "It allows maintenance personnel to virtually train across all major Super Hornet systems and subsystems."
The IVEMT's features include an interactive 3-D model environment, test/support equipment and realistic aircraft responses. Students can perform more than 500 routine troubleshooting procedures using the device.
Boeing is on schedule to complete delivery of the Australian Super Hornets by the end of this year.