CAE to develop P-8A operational flight trainers for US Navy

A P-8A Poseidon in flight. Photo US Navy

25 March 2014 naval-technology.com

CAE has been awarded a contract by Boeing to develop simulator hardware for six P-8A Poseidon operational flight trainers (OFT) and five P-8A aircraft equipment desktop environment (AeDTE) trainers, intended for the US Navy.

Under the contract, CAE will provide the P-8A simulators as well as a suite of AeDTE trainers, which will be used for the training of P-8A aircrews.

The company will supply the hardware, which Boeing will install and integrate with the aircraft-specific software before delivery to the US Navy.

CAE USA president and general manager Ray Duquette said: "The P-8A programme is a perfect example of the Navy's increasing use of synthetic training and we are pleased to be working with Boeing to deliver some of the high-fidelity training systems required for training P-8A aircrews."

CAE has previously been contracted by Boeing to design and manufacture hardware for ten P-8A OFTs and 17 P-8A AeDTE trainers.

The P-8A Poseidon, a derivative of the Boeing's 737 commercial aircraft, can be used to conduct long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

The team for the P-8A Poseidon programme will be led by Boeing and include CFM International, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Spirit AeroSystems, BAE Systems and GE Aviation.

The US Navy is considering the procurement of 117 P-8A aircraft to replace its existing turbo-prop P-3 Orion fleet.