Army simulator to fill gap in combined-arms training.

• Author: Tiron, Roxana
• Position: Related article: Training Instrumentation Made Deployable

The U.S. Army is investing $300 million in a new aviation trainer missions collectively with ground that will allow aircrews to practice forces, in a digital environment. Army officials said this flight simulator would fill a long-existing gap in the service's combined-arms training.

The contractor, Link Simulation & Training, in Austin, Texas, is expected to deliver the first Army Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer--Aviation Reconfigurable Manned Simulator (AVCATT-A) suite this April. South Carolina's National Guard is expected to receive a suite in August.

At least 18 suites will be deployed over six years, said the project director, Jean Burmester. "Existing aviation simulation training capability does not fully support the aviation combined arms training strategy," she said in an interview. Current trainers, Burmester explained, do not provide enough realism to support mission rehearsals in a joint-warfare environment.

Another consideration that prompted the development of AVCATT, Burmester added, is that live field exercises are costly and are constrained by environmental a d safety restrictions.

AVCATT is a "collective trainer that does nor currently exist in the Army," aid Allen Borgardts, program manager for AVCATT at the Army's Simulation, Training a d Instrumentation Command. "It does no focus on crew procedures but on flying e aircraft concentrating on a combined mission."

In late December, the Army awarded Link Simulation and Training a $19.7 mi lion contract to build two helicopter-training suites, to be delivered to the Army in t e fourth quarter of 2002.

An AVCATT-A suite consists of six recon-figurable simulators, a battle mast r control room and an after action review theater. The two training suites initially will be delivered with four reconfigurable simulator types, including the AH-64A Apache, H-58D Kiowa Warrior, UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47D Chinook.

The AH-64D Longbow Apache module is slated to be added to the training suites in May 2003 and the RAH-66 Comanche platform will be added at a yet to be determined date.

The Army decided not to include helicopters that will soon be retired fro service, such as the UH- 1 Huey.

Program officials said that the AVCATT-A program is an essential element in the Army's strategy to create a virtual war-gaming environment that will enable aviator to train within networked simulators that can be reconfigured to replicate attack, reconnaissance or utility helicopters.

Using this technology, Army aviators will be able to practice a full range of tactical scenarios over a common virtual battlefield as a team. In addition, AVCATT-A trainers will be interoperable with the service's currently fielded simulators supporting ground-based mechanized armor unit training.

This contract award follows separate contracts that Link received in late 999 and mid-2001 to build the first two suites for the AVCATT-A program. Suites one an two will be delivered to the Army during e second quarter of 2002, with installations...