Page 14 - AVALON 2023 - Day 3 | DAILY NEWS

CAE CONFIRMED AS ADF’S

TRAINING PARTNER OF CHOICE

On 1 March, the second day of Avalon training materials, and management and handing its training requirements to CAE.
Airshow 2023, CAE announced that it had delivery of aircrew training.’ The Canadian-based company widely
received a contract extension from the employs reservists, who make up about
ADF that covers comprehensive training CAE Australia stated, ‘The ASIST contract 30% of the Australian workforce. These are
and sustainment support services for all provides a flexible framework under which often reservists too. OF CAE Australia’s 230
three services. CAE Australia delivers aircrew training, or so employees, some 90 are engineers
specialised engineering support, sustain- and 45 are instructors.
This programme is known as the Aerospace ment and maintenance services, as well as
Simulator Integrated Support and Training
(ASIST), and it builds on an initial contract
placed in 2021. CAE Australia has been
training the ADF for two decades already,
but rolling extensions under this latest
ASIST contract will see this work continue
through till 20.

CAE Australia supports many different
platforms with its flight training, including
MH-60R, MRH90 and Tiger helicopters,
KC-30A, C-27J, Hawk 127 and C-130J
aircraft. The company also provides main-
tenance and engineering support for the
RAAF’s AP-3C Orions, CH-47F Chinook and
MRH90.

Matthew Sibree, Managing Director, Indo-
Pacific, CAE Australia, said: ‘This contract
signifies an enduring partnership between
the Commonwealth and CAE Australia on
training and support services across a
range of platforms and training systems.’

Sibree added: ‘There is no better time to
invest further in our ADF’s safety and mis-
sion readiness, and our highly skilled teams,
many of whom are veterans, are honoured
to contribute their training and engineering
expertise to guide and shape our nation’s
sovereign air combat capability. Our service
personnel are our greatest asset, and their
training is critical.’
© Gordon Arthur

Under the initial contract, CAE has achieved training system upgrades across multiple For the Royal Australian Navy, CAE runs
levels of more than 98% availability for its ADF aerospace platforms.’ simulators for its destroyers, amphibious
training devices. ships, minehunters and replenishment ves-
sels. As the ADF enhances its personnel
The contract is flexible as it allows plat- numbers and new platforms, it becomes
Air Commodore Steven Pesce, Defence forms to be added and dropped. For imperative that it also improve its training
Director General Airlift and Tanker Systems instance, the C-27J Spartan was added in programmes to prevent any squeezes.
Branch, commented: ‘This agreement today the past twelve months, while the MRH90
will ensure our emerging ADF pilots have Taipan and Tiger helicopters will eventu- Sibree said he was hopeful that New
access to the best equipment through ally be elided once they are replaced by the Zealand might choose CAE for its C-130J
the availability and development of flight UH-60M and AH-64E respectively. and P-8A training, but the country has not
and mission simulators, management of The ADF can achieve efficiencies by decided on its training programmes yet.

14 | MARCH-02-2023 WWW.GBP.COM.SG/DAILY NEWS