Boeing

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has opened its first F-15E Mission Training Center (MTC) for the U.S. Air Force's 366^th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. The center will provide aircrews with high-fidelity, simulator-based training without the material and personnel costs associated with training on operational aircraft.

"The F-15E MTC provides a huge leap in technology and capability for our Air Force customer," said Tony Jones, vice president, Training Systems and Services, a division of IDS Support Systems. "Because of the added capabilities provided by the visual systems and other advanced features of the MTC, F-15E aircrews now will be able to experience more realistic scenarios to match today's demanding missions."

The training center provides two high-fidelity, dual-cockpit F-15E simulators with a 360-degree visual system, a robust synthetic environment as well as instructor/operator and brief/debrief stations. The simulators, enhanced with a head-tracked area-of-interest display visual system, can be operated individually or linked to provide two- or four-ship training within the MTC. They also can be linked locally with two medium-fidelity F-15E Manned Combat Stations to allow local four-ship training. After a few months of operation, the MTC will join the Air Force's Distributed Mission Operations (DMO) training network.

Boeing supports this training capability with several key products, including the Visual Integrated Display System, Manned Combat Stations and the Big Tac™ Combat Environment Server. Boeing also provides the key network elements to enable local networked and long-haul networked training. Lockheed Martin provides the instructor/operator station, the non-combatant natural environment system and electro optical/infrared imaging system along with the geographic databases. SAIC provides the brief/debrief station.

Under the F-15E MTC contract, Boeing will open two additional F-15E MTC sites in the near future, at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., and at Royal Air Force Lakenheath in the United Kingdom. Mountain Home and Seymour Johnson each will receive a second F-15E MTC in 2008.

Boeing has delivered and currently operates five Air Force F-15C Mission Training Centers around the globe and is the prime contractor for the F-15E and F-16 Mission Training Center contracts. Boeing also is integrating the F-22 Raptor into the DMO training network.