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Posted by John KellerARLINGTON, Texas, 21 Sept. 2011.Flight simulator designers at L-3 Link Simulation & Training in Arlington, Texas, will build a fifth F-16 Mission Training Center (MTC) for the U.S. Air Force under terms of a contract option announced this week. No dollar value of the contract option was released.Each F-16 MTC has four simulators, high-definition displays, image generators, databases, and simulated dynamic environments to enable as many as four F-16 jet fighter pilots to practice detecting, recognizing, and identifying targets from the same distances they would when conducting actual sorties in their aircraft, L-3 Link officials say.L-3 Link experts are installing the Air Force's first L-3 Link F-16 MTC at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., and should turn the simulation and training system over to the Air Force this fall. Candidate locations for the second, third, fourth, and fifth F-16 MTC simulators are Shaw AFB, S.C.; Hill AFB, Utah; Holloman AFB, N.M.; Kunsan Air Base (AB), Korea; Aviano AB, Italy; Misawa AB, Japan; and Spangdahlem AB, Germany.

The F-16 MTCs can simulate the fighter aircraft’s block 40/42 or 50/52 configurations. They also help F-16 pilots practice how to determine the orientation of air-to-air targets. "Pilots will be immersed in high-definition, dynamic training scenarios that will enable them to practice air-to-air and air-to-ground missions under any condition that might be encountered during actual flight," says Leonard Genna, president of L-3 Link.

The Boeing Co. is providing instructor and operator stations for the L-3 Link F-16 MTC installations, as well as the mission observation, brief, and debrief systems. L-3 Link's contract to provide F-16 MTCs includes options for as many as 20 simulation and training systems, which model all of the fighter aircraft’s weapon systems and ordnance.

F-16 pilots use the MTCs for basic and advanced pilot mission training, tactics validation, and mission rehearsal. Each MTC has L-3 Link’s next-generation HD World visual and display simulation technologies that help create realistic training conditions. HD World’s visual display component, SimuSphere HD, will provide each F-16 MTC training device with an immersive field-of-view that can display out-the-window imagery at 20/40 visual acuity, L-3 Link officials say.

Each of the four simulators in the F-16 MTC has a 360-degree visual display, synthetic environment, instructor and operator station, and brief and debrief station. The simulators can be operated individually or linked together to provide four-ship training within the MTC and in the Air Force Distributed Missions Operations (DMO) network.

For more information contact L-3 Link online at www.link.com.

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