Boeing

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing [NYSE: BA] a $285 million contract to establish and operate four F-15E Mission Training Centers. The long-term services contract will run from August 2003 through 2016.

Establishment of the F-15E Mission Training Centers is the next step in the Air Force's Distributed Mission Training program, which will allow Air Force pilots in flight simulators at one location to train with pilots at other locations hundreds, even thousands of miles away. This innovative training concept gives the Air Force enhanced simulator training as a realistic supplement to flight training.

Under the contract, training centers will be established at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C. and the Royal Air Force (RAF) Lakenheath in England. Each center will be equipped with two systems with the exception of the North Carolina base, which will have four systems installed. There is also an option for two additional systems at RAF Lakenheath. The first system to be delivered under the contract will be to Mountain Home in early 2006.

"This is great victory for the Boeing training systems team, " said Keith Hertzenberg, vice president and general manager of Training Systems and Services, Aerospace Support, for Boeing. "The Air Force's visionary approach to Distributed Mission Training has proven itself during recent world events. The training process mirrors the way our nation's warfighters fly actual combat missions and has allowed the Air Force to enhance pilot capabilities through realistic, integrated training."

As the prime contractor for the program, Boeing is responsible for design, development, construction and integration of the Mission Training Centers. Boeing will be responsible for providing the simulators, the manned combat station, an advanced visual system, the network system and all interfaces. Subcontractor Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics Systems and Services will provide the instructor operating station, databases and synthetic environment augmentation, while Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) will provided the briefing and debriefing stations as well as contributing to the synthetic environment augmentation.

The total Distributed Mission Training program will eventually incorporate most Air Force weapons systems including the F-16, A-10 and F-15C. Future growth could include C-5, C-17, Navy, Marine Corps and Army weapons systems.