Australia orders armored vehicle trainers

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POTTS POINT, Australia, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Thales Australia reports it has received an order for nine additional Australian Light Armored Vehicle Crew Procedural Trainers for the Australian army.

The order follows a contract for nine CPTs that were delivered in 2006.

CPTs offer a safe, transportable and fully immersive environment enabling cost-effective and realistic training for ASLAV crews to develop, practice, enhance and support gunnery drills and skills in non-live firing situational scenarios.

"These CPTs are valued by the customer because they provide excellent training with very high levels of availability," said Chris Jenkins, Thales Australia's chief executive officer. "They are a reliable, value for money solution that helps ASLAV crews refine the techniques and tactics on which they depend while on operations.

"We are looking forward to working closely with the commonwealth to further develop the CPTs, incorporating new methods of enhancing their capability in cooperation with our supply chain partners.

"We are also pleased to deliver a long-term, sustainable solution that matches the aims of Defense's Strategic Reform Program. The CPTs save significant amounts of taxpayer dollars through reducing the requirement to train with live ammunition in actual vehicles, with all of their associated running costs," he said.

Housed in ISO shipping containers, the CPTs are based on ASLAV Type I vehicle functionality and include a fully replicated turret interior, complete with facsimile cannon and coaxially mounted machine gun, plus an instructor operator station and driver's station.

The CPTs will be constructed at the company's facility in Rydalmere, New South Wales, before being delivered along with service support materials such as spares, manuals and operator training. Deliveries begin in early 2013.

The value of the contract wasn't disclosed.