By Ward Carroll, PEO(A) Public Affairs Officer

On June 10, NAVAIR Orlando awarded a $38 million contract (with $75 million in potential options) to CAE Tampa for two different types of flight simulators in concert with the Naval Aviation Simulator Master Plan and PMA-205’s strategy to meet the future needs of the MH-60S community. The contract includes four Tactical Operational Flight Trainers and four Weapons Tactical Trainers. The TOFTs are used to train pilots in all MH-60S mission areas, to include Organic Airborne Mine Countermeasures and Armed Helicopter missions. The WTTs will be designed to train aircrewmen in OAMCM exclusively and the trainer can be linked with a TOFT to practice crew resource management. Both of these systems use advancements in simulation technology to maintain aircrew currency while saving flight hour dollars and reducing fatigue on fleet assets.

MH-60S Fleet Replacement Squadrons will use the trainers for initial pilot and aircrew training while operational MH-60S squadrons will use the trainers for advanced training. Further, these high fidelity trainers will give the fleet the ability to connect to other platforms via the Naval Aviation Simulation Master Plan server and the Navy’s Surface Forces Battle Fleet Tactical Trainer to support Carrier Support Group and Expeditionary Support Group training exercises.

The scheduled delivery of the third TOFT is a critical portion of the contract. CAE Tampa must deliver the simulator by March 2006 in order meet the stand-up of HSC-2 as the MH-60S East Coast Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) at Naval Station Norfolk In order to mitigate this risk, last February PMA-205 facilitated a contract between NAWC (AD) and JFT, Inc. to begin building the first TOFT cab. The successful delivery of the third TOFT has also been incentivized by a $400,000 award fee to motivate the contractor to figure out innovative ways of delivering the device early.

The MH-60S trainer program is complicated by the requirement that all of the trainers be reconfigurable from the Block 1 variant to the Block 3B variant within two hours. PMA-205 has put together a plan that allows the fleet to get their trainers in conjunction with block IOCs and a upgrade program once development is complete that brings all of the trainers in configuration with the highest block of the aircraft.

“Teaming with an outstanding partner such as CAE allows us to build a modern open architecture trainer that enables better management of configuration and obscelescence issues that have plagued training systems in years past,” said Capt. Larry Howard, program manager for PMA-205. “This contract is a great example of NAVAIR’s commitment to the warfighter in terms of providing cost-wise readiness to the fleet.”

CAPTION FOR PHOTO: The MH-60R/S Common Cockpit is the centerpiece of the Tactical Operational Flight Trainer. (U.S. Navy photo)