Today at the International Training and Education Conference (ITEC), Europe's largest show for military training and simulation, CAE announced that the company has completed a major upgrade on the German Navy's Sea King MK41 helicopter simulator ahead of schedule and it has re-entered service at the Nordholz Naval Airbase in Germany.
Previously, Sea King training was conducted on a basic instrument flight rules (IFR) training device originally built by CAE in the mid-1970s. As part of the major upgrade to a full-mission simulator over the past 12 months, CAE performed a range of significant updates, including the addition of the latest-generation CAE Medallion-6000 image generator with Common Database (CDB) architecture, upgraded avionics for concurrency with the current helicopter, enhanced synthetic and tactical environment simulation software, new vibration system, an improved instructor operator station, and a new brief/debrief station. The CDB architecture, which was recently adopted by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) as an international standard for the creation of synthetic environment databases, will further enhance the ability to perform networked, interoperable mission training across the German Armed Forces.
"For almost 40 years the Sea King training device has provided valuable training, and now with the updates the Sea King full-mission simulator will continue to deliver critical training that enhances the readiness of the German Navy's Sea King aircrews," said Marc-Olivier Sabourin, CAE's Vice President and General Manager, Europe/Africa. "With the operational requirements placed on the German Navy's Sea King helicopter fleet, they needed to increase the use of synthetic training and the upgraded simulator enables the German Navy to conduct more training in the full-mission simulator."
The German Navy is now able to conduct a range of training tasks in the Sea King full-mission simulator that were previously not possible, such as ship deck landings and night vision goggle training.
"This project required very close collaboration with the German Navy and we are pleased to have delivered the upgraded Sea King full-mission simulator ahead of schedule," said Sabourin. "CAE's training systems integration experience and expertise is helping our defence customers increasingly leverage synthetic training to cost-effectively prepare aircrews for mission success while contributing to the efficient use of operational platforms."
Photos to accompany this release are available at www.cae.com/photos
CAE's Defence & Security business unit focuses on helping prepare our customers to develop and maintain the highest levels of mission readiness. We are a world-class training systems integrator offering a comprehensive portfolio of training centres, training services and simulation products across the air, land, sea and public safety market segments. We serve our global defence and security customers through regional operations in Canada; the United States/Latin America; Europe/Middle East/Africa; and Asia/Pacific, all of which leverage the full breadth of CAE's capabilities, technologies and solutions.
CAE is a global leader in training for the civil aviation, defence and security, and healthcare markets. Backed by a 70-year record of industry firsts, we continue to help define global training standards with our innovative virtual-to-live training solutions to make flying safer, maintain defence force readiness and enhance patient safety. We have the broadest global presence in the industry, with 8,000 employees, 160 sites and training locations in over 35 countries. Each year, we train more than 120,000 civil and defence crewmembers and thousands of healthcare professionals worldwide. www.cae.com
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