L-3 Communications announced this week that the Air Force has awarded it a $20.9 million contract option to deliver a second four-ship F-16 mission training center suite, bringing its total MTC contract value to $109.1 million. For the MTC suite, L-3 will build and deliver four high-definition simulators, for which Boeing provides the instructor/operator stations and brief/debrief systems. Bob Birmingham, president of L-3 Link, said the technologies—integrated with L-3 Link’s HD World—offer a solution that will “maximize pilot operational readiness while reducing training costs.” He continued, “For the first time ever in a simulator, F-16 pilots will be able to detect, judge the orientation of, recognize, and identify targets from the same distance as when flying an actual mission.”
The Air Force has selected Collins Aerospace and Shield AI to develop the software Collaborative Combat Aircraft will use to fly missions alongside manned fighters, the service revealed Feb. 12—and drone-maker General Atomics was quick to announce it has already flown its YFQ-42A aircraft with Collins’ system.
