The Air Force is seeking proposals from industry for the development, production and sustainment of KC-46 aerial refueling tanker Aircrew Training Systems (ATS), according to a notice posted on Federal Business Opportunities.
According to the System Specification located in the Request for Proposals (RFP), the ATS will be an integrated system including academic materials, classroom instruction, several types of Aircrew Training Devices with Interactive Courseware, trainer instruction and a Training System Support Center (TSSC). The ATS will also provide familiarization, initial qualification, continuation, upgrade, remedial and requalification training for KC-46 aircrews. The TSSC will also provide the resources to develop concurrency updates, manage functional and physical baselines, perform ATS depot-level maintenance, develop and modify courseware and perform ATS student management and scheduling.
According to a Statement of Work, the ATS has the following requirements:
· Deliver aircrew training devices that reduce the need for aircraft flight training and support a guaranteed student approach, delivered on-time to meet ready-for-training need dates.
· Initially enable Aerial Refueling (AR) receiver qualification of previously AR receiver qualified aircraft commanders with only four training flights and a checkride in the PTX3 course, five training flights and a checkride in the PTX2 and Pilot Checkout courses for non AR-qualified tanker pilots and six training flights and a checkride in the PTX1 course for non-AR, non-tanker experienced pilots.
· Incrementally implement flight test data based on aerial refueling training such that Aerial Refueling Airplane Simulator Qualification- (ARASQ) certified flight simulators can reduce the training flights needed for the above courses to two (plus a checkride).
· Incrementally implement flight test data-based aerial refueling training in the Boom Operator Trainers (BOTs) such that the flying hours required to AR-qualify the pilot throughput at the Formal Training Unit (FTU) are also sufficient to AR qualify the boom operator at the FTU.
The Air Force said Tuesday it and prime contractor Boeing [BA] successfully completed the KC-46A Preliminary Design Review, the first major acquisition milestone, on April 27. The next major milestone, the Critical Design Review, is scheduled for the summer of 2013, according to an Air Force statement.
The entire RFP can be viewed at: http://bit.ly/KFFTlV