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PARTNERING FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION                                 in both cases the ability to create an

                                            Centre (JMSC) for one of the GCC   twin promises to deliver game-chang-
                                            countries.  This will enable command-  ing capabilities for the whole of a
                                            ers and operators from the Army, Air   government.   CAE in the Middle East is
                                            Force, Navy and Staff Colleges to use   a local company with a global reach to
                                            constructive simulation capabilities to   help bring the most leading-edge tech-
                                            conduct military training from the tac-  nologies to help our military customers
                                            tical to strategic level of operations.  In   achieve mission readiness.
                                            Oman, we are supporting the creation
                                            and establishment of the Oman Aviation   CAE has been focusing pri-
                                            Academy to train and supply pilots for   marily on training and is now
                                                                               transforming to leverage digital
                                            both the civil and military sectors in   technologies for training as well
                                                                               interconnected and high-fidelity digital  [ IDEX  SHOW PREVIEW ]
                                            Oman and the surrounding region.  As   as for operational support. How
                                            well, we are developing a comprehen-  is this beneficial to the countries
                                            sive NH90 helicopter training solution   in the Middle East?
                                            for the Qatar Emiri Air Force, and under   CAE is investing over C$1 billion in R&D
                                            subcontract to BAE Systems, we will be   as part of a program called Project
                                            providing our new state-of-the-art CAE   Digital  Intelligence  that  will  revolu-
                                            Medallion MR e-Series visual solution   tionize training and mission support
        CAE Middle East oversees a substan-  for Qatar’s Eurofighter Typhoon sim-  in defence and security, civil aviation,
        tial amount of defence and security   ulators.                         and healthcare with digital innovations.
        activities  for  the  firm  in  the  Middle                            Middle East countries, while preparing
        East. The company is striving towards  What are some of the most       for the post-oil era, are now leading in
        establishing key partnerships with  recent innovations?                the adoption of artificial intelligence and
        several local companies in the UAE to  Through our digital transformation,   overall digitalisation through proactive
        pursue training sustainment services  CAE has launched several new inno-  investment strategies. CAE’s strategy is
        and offset opportunities in the Middle  vations in the past two years. As part   not only to cooperate with its custom-
        East. "My vision is to invest and grow  of the CAE Trax Academy, we intro-  ers and partners in the Middle East, but
        our business in this region by 2025 to  duced CAE Rise (Real-time Insights   most importantly, to co-innovate and
        better support our customers,” Thibaut  and Standardized Evaluations), which   co-invest with its Middle Eastern part-
        Trancart,  Managing  Director,  CAE  is a data-driven training system for pilot   ners. Such innovation will be fostered
        Middle East told Atul Chandra ahead  training. This tool uses big data to ana-  around three Centres of Excellence
        of the IDEX and NAVDEX 2021. “With  lyze student performance objectively   in the region: naval training, remotely
        our headquarters in the UAE, we will  and help instructors improve training.   piloted vehicles and mission and oper-
        soon expand by establishing compa-  Also, part of the CAE Trax Academy   ations support.
        nies in Saudi Arabia and Qatar to give  is the CAE Sprint Virtual Reality (VR)
        us a local presence,” he says.      trainer. It includes a virtual reality head-  It  is  also  fair  to  say  that  COVID-19
                                            set, haptics, physical flight controls and   has accelerated the need for digital
        Edited Excerpts from the Interview.
                                            the CAE Medallion image generator to   transformation. In just the last two
        What are some of the key            deliver a high-fidelity and realistic vir-  years, we have seen the emergence
        programs in the UAE and             tual environment. The CAE Sprint VR   of recent innovations that were born
        throughout the Middle East?         trainer is available at our office in Abu   out of our Project Digital Intelligence
        CAE is designing and delivering the  Dhabi as a customer demonstrator and   R&D initiatives. One of these new inno-
        UAE Naval Training Centre (NTC) for  will be featured at our stand (Hall 1 #01-  vations is the CAE Trax Academy; a
        the UAE Navy. As we approach comple-  A21) during IDEX.                pilot training continuum that delivers
        tion, the training centre will be equipped                             faster, better and more efficient pilot
        with a range of integrated ship sim-  Another digitally immersive solution we   throughput. With advancements in
        ulation-based training suites, as well  introduced is the CAE MAVRC (Mission   artificial  intelligence,  data  analytics,
        as maritime aircraft sensor stations  Augmented Virtual Reality/Rear Crew)   cloud-computing, virtual/augmented/
        enabling individual, team, whole-ship  trainer which leverages mixed reality   mixed reality, and cybersecurity, CAE
        and collective/joint mission training.  to create an incredibly immersive rear   is leveraging these technologies to
        The UAE NTC will be one of the world’s  crew training solution. Finally, we are   improve training delivery and mission
        most advanced naval training facilities  involved in developing some trans-  support. Our own transformation into
        and a real showcase for the UAE Navy.  formative operational solutions that   the digital space is aligned with the
        For the UAE Air Force, we are delivering  leverage synthetic environments for   region’s aim for innovation and digital
        comprehensive training on the RQ-1E  planning, analysis and decision sup-  transformation. These technologies are
        remotely piloted aircraft (RPA).  We are  port.  We are doing this currently for   game changers to help train military
        also nearing completion of helicopter  customers such as the UK Strategic   forces more efficiently and effectively
        simulators for the UAE Joint Aviation  Command under a program called the   and provide decision-makers the tools
        Command.  We are under contract to  Single Synthetic Environment and US   they need to make timely and better-in-
        develop a Joint Multinational Simulation  Special Operations Command, where   formed decisions.

        ASIAN DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY                                                            February/March 2021 | 21
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