The US Navy has awarded a contract to CAE to design and develop two MH-60R Seahawk tactical operational flight trainers (TOFT) for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
Under the contract, CAE will design, manufacture and deliver two TOFTs for installation at HMAS Albatross, also known as Naval Air Station (NAS) Nowra, by 2015.
CAE Military Products Training and Services group president Gene Colabatistto said that the MH-60R training systems was expected to play a key role in preparing aircrews to operate Australia’s next-generation multi-role naval helicopters.
The company will customise and leverage already developed Australian-specific common databases (CDB) to support the trainers’ development.
RAN’s MH-60R TOFTs include a full-motion operational flight trainer (OFT) to train navy pilots and co-pilots, as well as a weapons tactics trainer (WTT) to train rear-crew sensor operators in the helicopter.
For the Australian Navy, the MH-60R OFT is equipped with the CAE True electric motion system, motion seats, Barco visual display, and the CAE Medallion-6000 image generator.
Capable of being used as a standalone training unit, the MH-60R OFT and WTT can also serve as a networked device to provide a total aircrew mission training system.
As part of the AIR 9000 Phase 8 requirements, Australia had selected the MH-60R Seahawk helicopter as its new multi-role anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare combat aircraft and is acquiring a total of 24 through the US foreign military sale programme.
The US Navy’s MH-60R helicopter team consists of Sikorsky, Lockheed Martin, GE, Raytheon and CAE.
Image: MH-60R TTOT simulator being operated by a trainer. Photo: courtesy of CAE.
