Boeing supplying Australia with P-8 maintenance trainers

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Maintenance training systems for P-8 Poseidon aircraft are to be supplied by Boeing to the Royal Australian Air Force.

The order for the virtual trainers comes through the U.S. Navy and RAAF Cooperative Program and will be used to train P-8A maintenance personnel starting in early 2018.

"This provides the RAAF with the ability to train its maintainers on more than 1,400 maintenance procedures using the Boeing provided suite of devices," said Tom Wagner, Boeing's P-8 maintenance program manager. "RAAF maintainers will be able to practice at great length before they are required to perform maintenance on the actual P-8A aircraft."

Australia is obtaining at least eight of the maritime surveillance aircraft, Earlier this year it ordered the Boeing P-8 aircrew training system for training pilots and mission crews to operate the aircraft, its sensors, communications and weapons systems.

The maintenance training system provides interactive, high-fidelity simulations based on actual mission systems software. The hardware-based trainers are full-scale replicas of aircraft components.

The sale of P-8 maintenance trainers, which are used by the U.S. Air Force, to Australia is the first international sale for the system.