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Aviation History
1992
1992 - 0019.PDF
SIMULATION USA's SOF rehearses with Loral BY GRAHAM WARWICK IN ATLANTA Loral is developing simulators that can be reconfigured within 2h to represent any of the US Air Force's special-operations aircraft, from the Lockheed MC-130E Combat Talon I to the Sikorsky MH-60G Pave Hawk. The devices will be used for mission rehearsal within the Special Operations Forces air crew training system (SOFATS) Loral is developing for the USAF. The company is building a mission rehearsal device (MRD) for the MC-130E and developing another for the MC- 130H Combat Talon II. Contract options cover MRDs for the HC- 130N/P Combat Shadow, MH- 53J Pave Low and MH-60G. Rehearsing covert missions in aircraft poses security problems, says Loral. Under SOFATS the five MRDs, which can be recon figured to provide the correct aircraft complement for any mis sion, will be linked by a secure network including two AC- 130H/U Spectre gunship simula tors. Participants will "fly" through a database simulating the mission area's terrain, which the USAF requires to be pro duced in 48h. The requirement is compli- Special forces will rehearse covert missions in reconfigurable devices cated by the sophistication of the special-operations aircraft: Combat Talons are equipped with ground-mapping and ter rain-following radars, forward- looking infra-red (FLIR) sensor, radar altimeter and electronic- warfare (EW) systems, and are crewed by pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, navigators and EW and communications specialists. Loral is developing a database- generation system that will use maps, photographs and digital data to produce correlated vis ual, radar and infra-red data bases, which will be processed simultaneously by Loral's digital SIMULATOR REFLECTS CHANGES CAE-Link is to upgrade the Venezuelan air force's General Dynamics F-16A/B flight simulator under a contract worth almost $4 million. The modified simulator, to he ready early in 1994 with upgraded computer and instructor station, will model the F-16A/B with Operational Capability Upgrade improvements, including cockpit changes. radar landmass simulator (DRLMS) and Evans & Suther land's ESIG-4000 image genera tor. The DRLMS will produce ground-mapping and terrain- following radar displays, while the ESIG-4000 will generate out- of-the-window and FLIR images. Pilot, co-pilot and flight- engineer seats, forward, centre and overhead console structures are common to all five MRDs. Physical reconfiguration is achieved by replacing the win dow frames, flight controls and instrument-panel overlays. The unique feature is the software- reconfigurable "virtual display" concept, which allows different aircraft panels to be simulated by the same hardware. The forward instrument panel is replaced by three cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) which display a digitised photograph of the ac tual aircraft panel. Moving in struments are inserted calligra- phically into the static panel image. Touch-screens and over lays with switches allow the crew to operate virtual and ac tual controls. Loral says the reconfigurable hardware and software, has been demonstrated and development is on schedule. An ESIG-4000 photovisual demonstration to the USAF is due in February, and a major review planned for August-September 1992- will bring together the MRD hard ware, visual and radar simu lation and database ahead of its operational debut in 1993. • ASDL aims 747- 200 simulator at UK airlines UK-based Aeronautical Sys tems Designers (ASDL) is to build and operate a Boeing 747- 200 full-flight simulator. Train ing time on the device, which is located at ADSL's factory in Bur gess Hill, West Sussex, will be offered to 747-200 operators using London's Gatwick and Heathrow airports. A major customer could be Virgin Atlantic Airways, which has been looking for a 747-200 machine as an alternative to buying simulator time from its competitor, British Airways. ASDL says: "A number of airline customers have been identified as a result of independent re search made over the last few months. It is by no means cer tain that Virgin will be one of those customers, as it currently trains elsewhere." ASDL's 747-200 simulator will be built to UK Level 3 and US Level C training standards, with six-axis motion and four-win dow McDonnell Douglas Vital IV visual system. The onboard instructor station will be based on Silicon Graphics hardware. The simulator will enter serv ice in one of ASDL's four bays in November 1992. This short timescale is made possible by using aircraft parts and data from a Link-built 747-200 simu lator bought secondhand from Northwest Aerospace Training, the company says. ASDL, part of the Spanish electronics group Ceselsa, is currently building a CASA/IPTN CN-235 simulator for delivery to Indonesian do mestic airline Merpati. • NEWS IN BRIEF SWISS SIMULATOR Switzerland's $2.6 billion Government-to-Government purchase of 34 McDonnell Douglas F-18 fighters, sub mitted for Parliamentary ap proval in December, includes a Hughes-built twin-dome weapon tactics trainer with General Electric Compu- Scene IV visual systems. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 8 - 14 January, 1992 17
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