L-3 Link Simulation & Training (L-3 Link) announced today that it has been awarded a $68.2 million multiple year contract to develop the US Air Force’s F-16 mission training center (MTC) program. L-3 Link received the contract award from the Aeronautical Systems Center’s Simulator Systems Group at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
The program includes options for the production, delivery and sustainment of up to 20 four-ship F-16 MTCs at air force installations in the US, Europe and Pacific region. High fidelity F-16 MTC simulators, which will accurately model all of the fighter aircraft’s weapon systems and ordnance, will be delivered in block 40/42 and 50/52 configurations to support basic and advanced pilot mission training, tactics validation and mission rehearsal.
“The F-16 mission training center program will be integrated with L-3 Link’s next generation visual and display simulation technologies designed to greatly enhance fighter pilot training realism,” said Bob Birmingham, president of Link Simulation and Training. “The strong, best-in-class F-16 MTC program team L-3 Link has formed with The Boeing Company will provide the US Air Force with a solution that will maximize warfighters’ operational readiness.”
Each F-16 MTC installation will consist of four high-fidelity training devices that are integrated with a 360° visual display, robust synthetic environment, instructor/operator station and brief/debrief station. The simulators can be operated individually or linked together to provide four-ship training, within both the MTC and the service’s distributed missions operations (DMO) network environment.
F-16 MTC simulators will be delivered with L-3 Link’s HD World® integrated simulation product line designed for high performance platforms, which combines high definition databases, image generation systems, physics-based processing technology and visual system displays to create highly realistic and relevant training environments. HD World’s visual display component, SimuSphere® HD, will provide each F-16 MTC training device with an immersive field-of-view that can display out-the-window imagery at 20/40 visual acuity.
The US Air Force has selected Link to supply the majority of its F-16 pilot training devices since the 1970s, when the systems were first developed.