Posted by Courtney E. Howard
NEW YORK, 19 March 2010. L-3 Communications' Link Simulation & Training division won a $20.9 million contract option on the F-16 Mission Training Center (MTC) program. This contract option, received from the Aeronautical Systems Center's Training Systems Product Group at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, brings the total contract value on the program to $109.1 million.
Under the contract option, L-3 Link will build and deliver an F-16 MTC suite that includes four high-definition simulators. The Boeing Company will provide the instructor/operator stations and brief/debrief systems. This marks the second four-ship F-16 MTC the U.S. Air Force has ordered from L-3 Link.
All F-16 MTC suites under order are being integrated with L-3 Link's HD World simulation product line. HD World combines high-definition databases, image generation systems, physics-based processing technology, and visual system displays to create realistic, relevant environments for F-16 pilot training. SimuSphere HD, the visual display component to HD World, provides each simulator with an immersive, 360-degree field-of-view.
"The technologies being delivered on the F-16 Mission Training Center simulators are providing a solution that will maximize pilot operational readiness while reducing training costs to the U.S. Air Force," says Bob Birmingham, president of L-3 Link. "For the first time ever in a simulator, F-16 pilots will be able to detect, judge the orientation of, recognize, and identify targets from the same distance as when flying an actual mission."
Under the program, the U.S. Air Force could order as many as 20 four-ship F-16 MTCs for delivery to installations in the U.S., Europe and Pacific region. High-fidelity F-16 MTC simulators, which will accurately model all of the fighter aircraft's weapon systems and ordnance, will be delivered in Block 40/42 and 50/52 configurations to support basic and advanced pilot mission training, tactics validation, and mission rehearsal.
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