Lockheed Martin has begun integration testing on a Boeing F/A-18D flight simulator for the US Marine Corps, the third device produced under the Marine Corps Aviation Simulator Master Plan contract that the company won in 2000. The transportable trainer is scheduled to be deployed to Iwakuni, Japan, in January next year.
Boeing CH-46 and SikorskyCH-53 simulators produced by Lockheed Martin under the Master Plan entered service at the end of last month at MCAS New River, North Carolina.
All three trainers use a PC-based image generator and host computer architecture designed to reduce life-cycle cost.
To meet the Marine Corps' logistics requirements, Lockheed Martin has adopted "a total PC-based solution: host computing, radar and forward-looking infrared simulation, visual and instructor operating system, etc", says programme manager Kevin Speed.
The simulators use Lockheed Martin's SE/View visual simulation software running onQuantum3D's Aalchemy PC-based image generator. All three fixed-based trainers are enclosed in portable shelters.
Lockheed Martin has also won a $16 million contract to provide a Northrop Grumman EA-6B simulator for delivery to the US Navy and Marine Corps in 2006.
The operational flight and navigation trainer will have the same PC-based architecture as the Marine Corps simulators, with Quantum3D image generator and SEOS cross-cockpit display, plus a six-axis motion system.
Source: Flight International