HUGHES TRAINING (HTI) is to provide maintenance-training devices for the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 fighter. The $22 million development award from Boeing follows receipt of a $28 million contract to supply the initial suite of F-22 pilot-training devices (Flight International, 19-25 February).

The maintenance-trainer contract covers the supply of seven devices by May 2000. Each of the modular trainers replicates a section of the F-22 airframe, integrated with instructor and student stations. The devices include an armament trainer, consisting of the mid-fuselage section - where the F-22's internal weapons bays are located - and one wing.

The base-level forward-fuselage trainer replicates the F-22 from the inlets forward, while the aft-fuselage trainer simulates the left half of the aircraft, including wing and tail. Other devices will be supplied for maintenance training on the seat and canopy, landing gear and engine line-replaceable units. Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Safety Training Systems will provide cockpit shells, while Houston, Texas-based USM will built aft-fuselage sections.

The HTI pilot-training devices include full-mission, weapons-tactics and egress-procedures trainers. The full-mission device is a fixed-based simulator with 360 degree field-of-regard, faceted-dome, visual-system: the weapons-tactics trainer has a 30 degrees x 40 degrees monitor-based visual. The latter can be networked with other weapons-tactics or full-mission trainers.

Source: Flight International