AMR-June-July-2013

M I L I T A R Y
TRAINING & SIMULATION
VStep provide a range of maritime and naval simulator systems; these include the company’s
Nautis product line. Nautis provides a range of systems which can be tailored to the needs of the
user, with portable systems such as this available © VStep
that a full bridge simulator can be run with
just two PCs, with a six-screen desktop
trainer needing a single PC.
One of the newest products to enter the
VStep portfolio is the Trainee Assessment
and Analysis Module. This enables
instructors to “define certain observation
and assessment parameters upfront, like
maximum sailing speed in a certain area,
minimum distance that should be kept to
other vessels and the correct communication
channel to be used,” says Mr. van
Schothorst. “When the trainee runs the
exercise, the instructor can see where the
trainee offends these criteria, and after the
exercise is finished, he can effectively run
through all these mistakes and print out
an assessment report with a score which is
based on the upfront defined criteria.”
L3 Link
Away from the oceans, L3 Link is one of
the major names in aircraft simulation. On
4th February this year, the company
announced that it had been selected to
build a Mission Training Centre (MTC)
for United States Air Force Lockheed
Martin F-16 aircrew at Spangdahlem Air
Base, Germany. This is the seventh such
system which has been purchased from
the company. The MTC includes four
high-definition simulators; a mission
observation centre, four instructor/operator
stations and two brief/debrief systems.
The secret to the high fidelity of L-3
Link’s aircraft simulator products lies in
its use of high definition display technology,
databases and image and physics processing
to create a highly realistic environment
for the crews.
Significantly, in 2012, the company purchased
Thales Training and Simulation
Limited’s civil aircraft simulation and
training business which, according to Sean
Clark, director of international business
development at the company “has already
opened up new markets and allowed us to
develop new products for new customers.”
The company is also a world leader in providing
networking for simulators,
enabling several machines in disparate
locations to work together in a synthetic
environment: “Today, devices can be
located in different parts of one country, or
in different parts of the globe. We are networking
these devices across multiple
time zones and multiple countries.” L3
Link is keeping a sharp eye on future technological
trends, especially regarding the
commercial computer industry and
advances in projection technology. “We
are always driven by technology,” says
Mr. Clark, “as the technology gets better,
we can bring this into the simulator.”
CAE
CAE joins L3 as a provider of aircraft simulation
solutions. According to Gene
Colabatistto, the firm’s Military Group
President “the company has a wellearned
reputation in flight simulation
and training.” In recent years, the firm
has won contracts to develop simulators
for Kuwait’s Lockheed Martin KC-130J
turboprop tanker/transport aircraft and
Oman’s Airbus Military C-295 tactical
freighters. Moreover, the firm is developing
simulators for the Airbus Military
A330-Multi Role Tanker Transport platforms
acquired by the United Arab
Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Beyond
the tanker and transport domains, the
firm has developed simulators for
the Sikorsky MH-60R/S Seahawk,
AgustaWestland AW-139, NH Industries
NH-90 and Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters,
along with the Alenia Aermacchi
M346 and BAE Systems Hawk lead-in
trainers; plus the Boeing P-8A Poseidon
maritime patrol aircraft.
e.Sigma
Air defence training is a speciality of
e.Sigma of Germany which provides the
ALVE trainer to train Control and
Reporting Centre (CRC) personnel. A
range of tasks used by such individuals
can be practiced using the ALVE such as
fighter controller procedures, the handling
of radar surveillance data and the
rehearsal of air operations in busy envi-
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