Britain to receive second A400M simulator from Thales

LONDON, May 22 (UPI) -- A second full-flight simulator for the Airbus A400M military transport is to be produced by Thales for use by Britain's Royal Air Force.

Thales said the contract was issued by Airbus Defense and Space. It gave no specific dollar value but said it was worth millions of dollars.

The A400M is a four-engine turboprop airlifter introduced into service last year. It has a cruise speed of 485 miles per hour, a range of 2,450 miles with a 30.4 ton payload. Nine countries, including Britain, have ordered more than 170 of the Airbus produced aircrafts.

Thales' A400M full-flight simulator represents the current cockpit configuration of the plane. It simulates ground and flight operations in a variety of operational environments and features an enhanced field-of-view visual system, air-to-air refueling simulation and low-level tactical operations.

The second simulator will be delivered to Britain's Ministry of Defense this year and will train A400M aircrews at the RAF Brize Norton training school in Oxfordshire, which was built for the RAF by Thales.

"This order follows on previous orders for A400M full flight simulators from Spain, France, Germany and the UK," said Peter Hitchcock, Thales's vice president, UK avionics business. "It confirms Thales as a leading military training service provider for the UK Ministry of Defense".