Boeing

ST. LOUIS, Sept. 05, 2008 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] announced today that it has been awarded a $33 million U.S. Air Force Foreign Military Sales contract to provide a C-17 Aircrew Training System (ATS) to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The contract marks the first international sale of the system. The ATS, which will be located at the RAAF's Amberley base, consists of a Weapons Systems Trainer, a loadmaster station and a learning center.

Boeing subcontractor Flight Safety International of Tulsa, Okla., is providing the hardware for the program. Boeing Support Systems is responsible for software development and integration as well as program management. The contract also includes logistics support, to be provided by Boeing Australia Limited.

The RAAF operates four C-17 Globemaster III airlifters, all delivered between November 2006 and January 2008 and based in Amberley.

"The commissioning of C-17 training devices in Australia will provide greater independence and flexibility in the ongoing training of RAAF C-17 crews," said RAAF Group Captain Andrew Doyle, Heavy Air Lift Director. "To this point we have relied on the magnificent cooperation and support of the U.S. Air Force in making C-17 training places available for our crews and have deliberately reduced the frequency of simulator training to minimize the requirement for our crews to travel to the United States. In-country C-17 training capability will greatly enhance the effectiveness of our small fleet and increase the operational contribution of our C-17s to national and coalition tasks."

"We have been successfully delivering the C-17 ATS to our U.S. Air Force customer since 1992 and are excited about launching our program into the international market," said Mark McGraw, vice president of Training Systems and Services for Boeing Support Systems.

The system will include Boeing's newly developed Virtual Cargo Load Model, a new training device that allows loadmaster students to practice configuring a variety of cargo loads on a laptop computer.

The C-17 ATS provides guaranteed students, meaning that Boeing provides remedial training if aircrews don't pass their flight evaluations. With 10 Boeing-developed, -operated and -supported sites currently active, the system provides student instruction to more than 1,500 new pilot, co-pilot and loadmaster students each year while maintaining follow-up training for more than 8,000 active, reserve and Air National Guard aircrew.