CAE [CAE] was awarded a contract from the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Armed Forces to provide the UAE Joint Aviation Command (JAC) with a set of helicopter simulators and training devices for the NorthStar Aviation 407 Multi-Role Helicopter (407MRH) and the Sikorsky [LMT] UH-60M Armed Black Hawk (ABH), the company said June 15.
The contract was announced as part of a larger $113 million set of contracts for CAE to provide the helicopter devices and to also design and develop a comprehensive Naval Training Center for the UAE Navy.
The 407MRH is a modified variant of the Bell Helicopter [TXT] 407GX designed for light attack; close air support; and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. For that aircraft CAE will design and manufacture a high-fidelitym fixed-based Level-7 equivalent flight training device (FTD). CAE was also ordered to provide a suite of desktop trainers and brief/debrief systems for the 407MRH.
The total group of 407MRH training systems are to be delivered to the USAE during 2017.
CAE highlighted it will work closely with NorthStar Aviation on this contract after they signed a collaboration agreement in 2015 to conduct flight test data collection and support the development of high-fidelity training devices for the 407MRH.
“We are extremely pleased to be selected to support the helicopter training and mission rehearsal requirements of the UAE Joint Aviation Command. The UAE as well as other Gulf Cooperation Council countries are making significant investments in simulation-based training,” Gene Colabatistto, group president of CAE’s defense and security business unit, said in a statement.
“These will be the first simulator and training devices developed for the 407MRH so our partnership with NorthStar Aviation along with CAE’s extensive experience with helicopter simulation will help ensure we deliver world-class training systems on-schedule,” he added.
The UH-60M contract work will have CAE design and manufactures a full mission simulator of the Black Hawk for the UAE JAC that is planned for delivery in 2018. The simulator will feature a six-degree-of-freedom motion system, vibration platform, and extreme field-of-view system, the company said.
CAE also highlighted simulators and training devices for both helicopters will include the CAE Medallion-6000 image generator with Common Database (CDB) architecture, “which will further enhance networked, interoperable mission training across platforms.”