Cobham and CAE Australia partner for AIR 5428 bid

CAE Australia and Cobham have teamed up to propose a training solution for the Royal Australian Air Force under Phase 3 of AIR 5428.

The Phase 3 Aviation Mission Training System (AMTS) will be utilised to train the RAAF’s mission aviators, including electronic warfare officers, maritime patrol and response officers, air battle managers, air traffic controllers and other mission specialists.

The AMTS will ultimately be deployed at the Air Academy, located at RAAF Base East Sale in Victoria, and will feature a comprehensive training solution, including ground-based and airborne training and a digitally enabled integrated learning environment.

Together, CAE and Cobham will form Team AUStringer, to pursue the development of an integrated and comprehensive AMTS, led by CAE Australia.

According to a statement, Team AUStringer will “combine best-in-class training, leading-edge training technology and proven operational expertise” to present a proposal under AIR 5428 for a “sovereign, transformative and enduring mission training system”.

Team AUStringer’s AMTS solution will provide the knowledge, skills, ground-based training and live airborne training necessary to develop proficiency to operate in a fifth-generation mission environment, the parties said.

Graduates will proceed to operational conversion training at RAAF frontline units for assignments on a variety of aircraft types, including the P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, F/A-18 Super Hornet multi-role fighter, E/A-18 Growler electronic warfare aircraft, E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft and others.

The AMTS will also deliver the necessary instruction for air traffic controllers and operations officers to develop a “fundamental aviation knowledge required to support RAAF missions”.

The name Team AUStringer is reportedly drawn from the French word Austringer, a falconry term relating to training birds of prey to hunt.

As the prime contractor leading Team AUStringer, CAE said it will leverage its vast global experience training military aircrews, including United States naval flight officers (NFOs).

“We look forward to leading Team AUStringer and leveraging our collective experience to develop a modern, integrated mission training system that leverages the latest digital technologies to optimise the blend of live and synthetic training capabilities to produce RAAF mission aviators,” said Matthew Sibree, managing director – Indo-Pacific, CAE Australia.

“As the world’s leading platform agnostic simulation and training pure play company, CAE is ideally suited to lead this pursuit by leveraging our training systems integration capabilities and the significant investments made in our digitally immersive training technologies capable of producing high-quality, mission-ready aviators more efficiently and effectively.”

Meanwhile, John Boag, Cobham Aviation Services CEO said, “Cobham, as the largest employer of mission aircrew in Australia outside the Australian Defence Force, is well-positioned to provide deep airborne operational capability and mission expertise as part of Team AUStringer.

“Cobham has more than 25 years’ experience in delivering aviation services to the Australian government. We recruit, train and deploy our own mission aviators to conduct a range of special operations in complex environments.

“We are thrilled to be teaming with CAE Australia to build Australia’s sovereign industry capability.”

Start your very own aviation journey with Australian Aviation. Sign up today for as little as $49.95 and you’ll enjoy access to:

Aviation podcasts where we delve deeper into the stories that matter

Our insightful monthly current affairs report

You can always rely on us to keep you in the know.

Join now and start enjoying all these benefits today.

Source: https://australianaviation.com.au/2021/11/cobham-and-cae-australia-partner-for-air-5428-bid/