Boeing

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 01, 2008 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced the recent delivery of the Kuwait Air Force's first Apache Longbow Crew Trainer (LCT). The LCT is a full-mission, high-fidelity flight simulator that provides training for individuals, crews and maintenance test pilots.

The Kuwait LCT, provided through a U.S. Army Foreign Military Sale, is the first trainer delivered equipped with two of Boeing's newly developed technologies -- the Next Generation Flight Model (NGFM) and the Common Simulation Framework (CSF). These innovative technologies ensure that the devices remain up-to-date and are easily maintained, and increase the trainer's capability.

"By implementing these new technologies, we have raised the fidelity of the LCT to a highly sophisticated level, providing the most realistic training possible for Apache Longbow crews," said Mark McGraw, vice president, Training Systems & Services.

The NGFM software, which ensures that the trainer operates and feels like a real Apache helicopter, was developed and correlated to actual aircraft flight-test data. This improvement increases the fidelity of the trainer. The CSF combines tools for software development, testing and systems integration with reusable software packages, enabling trainer software to be developed more quickly and be more easily maintained.

The NGFM and CSF will be a standard configuration on future LCT deliveries and will be provided through an upgrade package to the U.S. Army's 22 existing devices. Deployed worldwide and used for in-theater training in Afghanistan and Iraq, the LCT supports battalions by allowing pilots ample opportunities to maintain their training hours and to rehearse missions.