Air Force chooses 25 companies in $20.9 billion contract for flight training & simulation

Aug. 14, 2015
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio, 14 Aug. 2015. U.S. Air Force flight training & simulation experts are spending as much as $20.9 billion and involving 25 U.S. providers of flight simulators in an effort to streamline their acquisition and procurement process.

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio, 14 Aug. 2015. U.S. Air Force flight training & simulation experts are spending as much as $20.9 billion and involving 25 U.S. providers of flight simulators in an effort to streamline their acquisition and procurement process.

Officials of the Air Force Lifecycle Management Center's Simulators Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, announced a potential $20.9 billion contract to the 25 companies Tuesday as part of the service's Training Systems Acquisition III program.

The so-called TSA-III program seeks to establish a streamlined and standardized acquisition process for delivering and supporting Air Force training systems. Each of the 25 companies selected will receive $1,000 up-front, and will compete for Air Force training and simulation orders over the next 10 years.

Related: CAE delivers first U.S. Army UH-72A flight simulator to Ft. Rucker

The TSA III companies are:

-- Tru Simulation + Training Inc. (formerly AAI Corp.) in Goose Greek, S.C.;
-- The Boeing Co. in St. Louis;
-- CAE USA Inc. in Tampa, Fla.;
-- Camber Corp. in Huntsville, Ala.;
-- Computer Sciences Corp. in Norco, Calif.;
-- Cubic Defense Applications Inc. in San Diego;
-- FlightSafety Services Corp. in Centennial, Colo.;
-- L3 Communications Corp. in Arlington, Texas;
-- LB&B Associates Inc. in Columbia, Md.;
-- Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training in Orlando, Fla.;
-- Northrop Grumman Technical Services Inc. in Herndon, Va.;
-- Raytheon Technical Services Co. LLC in Dulles, Va.;
-- Aero Simulation Inc. in Tampa, Fla.;
-- Aerospace Training Systems Partners JV in Oklahoma City, Okla.;
-- Aviation Training Consulting LLC in Altus, Okla.;
-- Bowhead Systems Management LLC in Alexandria, Va.;
-- CTE Joint Venture LLC in Orlando, Fla.;
-- CymSTAR LLC in Broken Arrow, Okla.;
-- Delaware Resource Group Oklahoma LLC in Oklahoma City, Okla.;
-- DL PI JV in Clover, S.C.;
-- Fidelity Technologies Corp. in Reading, Pa.;
-- Logistics Services International Inc. in Jacksonville, Fla.;
-- Nakuuruq Solutions LLC in Herndon, Va.;
-- Nova Technologies in Panama City, Fla. and;
-- Quadrant Training Solutions LLC in Oviedo, Fla.

Contractors will provide analysis, design, development, production, installation, integration, test, and sustainment for Air Force training systems involving complex aircrew, maintenance, and system-specific training systems throughout the world.

Related: Zen Technologies and Rockwell Collins debut rotary-wing simulator, enter military flight simulation market

Air Force officials selected their 25 TSA III contractors from a total of 41 large and small companies that submitted bids for the contract.

The winning contractors will complete for Air Force orders of training systems through 2025 encompassing the tasks of analysis, design, development, production, installation, integration, test, database generation, and sustainment.

The Air Force Simulators Division, which is overseeing the TSA III contract, is in place to lead flight training & simulation development, acquisition, and sustainment for every Air Force major command. TSA III users will be active duty Air Force, reserve, and National Guard and Department of Defense (DOD) joint warfighter as well as Foreign Military Sales (FMS).

Aircraft supported include fighters, bombers, cargo aircraft, air tankers, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and special operations fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.

Simulation and training capabilities involved in the TSA III contract include aircraft operations, weapons, navigation, and command and control from individual and aircrew events in one aircraft to large-scale composite force mission rehearsal training.

Related: Boeing to provide flight training and weapons tactics simulators for P-8A crews

Maintenance training systems support the training of aircraft maintenance procedures specific to major subsystems of an aircraft platform that may include diagnostic and remove and replace tasks.

System-specific training systems provide solutions to unique training needs, such as the joint terminal controller training and rehearsal system (JTCTRS) that provides mission-rehearsal training scenarios to the forward air controllers.

The capabilities to be procured under TSA III range from the acquisition and support of extremely complex system-of-systems to the basic sustainment of a single trainer.

For more information contact the TSA III companies hotlinked above, or the Air Force Lifecycle Management Center at www.wpafb.af.mil/aflcmc.

About the Author

John Keller | Editor-in-Chief

John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.

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