Longbow crews get top-of-the-line trainers: Army will deploy 23 AH-64D simulators to units around the world by 2007.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

The Army recently shipped an advanced crew trainer to its Apache Longbow helicopter unit based in Germany. Aviation program officials boast that this simulator is more realistic than any other trainer used in the Army today.

The service, so far, has fielded 12 Longbow crew trainers to units around the world. The latest went to the 6th Squadron, 6th U.S. Cavalry, in the 11th Aviation Regiment at Storck Barracks in Illesheim, Germany. That unit operates 22 AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters.

Eleven more trainers are under contract and scheduled to be delivered by 2007.

The Longbow crew trainer is a full-mission, deployable simulator that replicates, with high fidelity, aircraft operations and the aircraft system functions.

The entire trainer can be packed in two ISO-type containers, making it deployable via rail, ground, ship or C-5 heavy-lift cargo aircraft. The system includes pilot and co-pilot compartments, an instructor station, two Pentium computers, three image generators and an external power generator.

Maj. Chuck Wittges, the Army's assistant product manager for Longbow training systems, said the LCT is the "most sophisticated trainer in the Army." Among the features that trainees really appreciate is the broad selection of geo-specific databases that simulate various types of terrain and mission scenarios. The databases can be modified to match the performance of allied and enemy vehicles specific to the unit's theater of operation, Wittges said.

"It's one of the few devices that has multiple databases," said Wittges. The training is more realistic than in other simulators, he added, because it runs off the operational flight software program that is used in the actual aircraft.

"When there is a change in the actual aircraft, with the manipulation of the software, it's transferred into the simulator," he said.

The LCT cockpit displays, Wittges noted, replicates the aircraft down to the exact color, tactile feedback, shape, location and function.

Despite its sophistication--or because of it--it took more than a decade for the Army to field this trainer.

Randy Nielson, project manager at the Apache attack helicopter program office, explained that the need for the LCT first came to light during Operation Desert Storm. Commanders in that conflict complained that their aircrews lacked deployable, transportable simulation devices to assist in maintaining critical mission skills and preparing for combat operations.

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