Boeing delivers F/A-18E/F trainers

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ST. LOUIS, May 9 (UPI) -- The Australian air force has taken delivery of six F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircrew and maintenance trainers from Boeing of the United States.

The trainers were delivered to air base Amberley in Queensland.

"These are the first Super Hornet training devices for a Foreign Military Sale customer and are part of the acquisition and establishment of 24 Australian F/A-18F Block II aircraft, initial spares, support equipment, trainers and training," said Mark McGraw, Training Systems and Services vice president for Boeing.

The suite of aircrew devices includes two Tactical Operation Flight Trainers and two Low Cost Trainers.

Each TOFT is built on Boeing's and L-3 Link's proven F/A-18 simulator common hardware and software baseline, and is integrated with L-3 Link's 360-degree SimuSphere visual display, SimuView image generator and Boeing Training Systems and Services' mission computer emulation; simulated radar, electronic countermeasures, and Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System; and high-fidelity crew station controls.

The Boeing-built LCT runs a mission computer emulation and provides pilot and air combat officer training for navigation, weapons, radar and electronic countermeasures. The LCT can be reconfigured to accommodate a number of aircrew training combinations with minimal facility requirements.

Boeing said two Integrated Visual Environment Maintenance Trainers also were installed, including the conversion of an earlier VEMT to the IVEMT configuration.

"The IVEMT is a new development and the first fully integrated Super Hornet maintenance device," McGraw said. "It allows maintenance personnel to virtually train across all major Super Hornet systems and subsystems."

Boeing is on schedule to complete delivery of the Australian air force Super Hornets by the end of this year.