The Chinook Mk 6 synthetic training facility was built following a £53 million contract with Lockheed Martin UK.
It is housed at RAF Odiham in Hampshire – home of the Chinook Force. According to the Ministry of Defence, the system includes two Flight Deck Device simulators, a Rear Crew Device and a suite of Computer Based Training equipment.
“It will train crews on how to work together in specific flying, emergency and mission capabilities of the Chinook Mk6 aircraft, such as relocating troops and equipment around the battlefield or evacuating citizens from dangerous conditions in national and overseas environments.”
Defence Minister Mark Lancaster said:
“The Chinook Force has continuously proven itself by supporting humanitarian efforts, strengthening counter-terror operations and providing essential support to our Armed Forces. Our ability to put it to use will be bolstered by this multi-million-pound new training facility. Chinooks are the backbone of our battlefield helicopter capability so it’s crucial this capability and its crews are receiving this support into the next decade.”
The MoD say that the environment allows aircrew to undertake high risk training operations such as a battlefield re-supply or a medical evacuation in an urban area from the safety of a simulator.
Director Air Support at Defence Equipment and Support Adrian Baguley said:
“DE&S is proud to be providing this new state-of-the-art chinook training facility for the Chinook Force that draws on cutting edge technology, including Augmented Reality, to give the whole of our Chinook crews a new immersive synthetic training capability. This new world-class facility will enable the crews to prepare for missions across the globe.”
great now we can save money by putting them in this than the real thing, think of the efficiency savings…..am i being too cynical??
We need to buy more vertical lift of all types ideally more of the Leonardo choppers made in the UK (should never had sold that I the first place to Italy). ON the positive side, with this facility you can do more training with less “sweating” the airframes so they last longer, and you can try stuff out here first where there is no danger of real loss of life if you crash. However to quote aliens you don’t want this situation either:… Ripley: How many drops is this for you, Lieutenant? Gorman: 38. …Simulated. Vasquez: How many combat drops?… Read more »
Interesting.
Hope that dies not spell the end for Benson.
The support helicopter force simulators are there.