L-3 Link Awarded Contract to Integrate SimuSphere HD-9™ Visual Displays Onto U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F and EA-18G Tactical Operational Flight Trainers

L-3 Link Simulation & Training (L-3 Link) announced today that it has been awarded a contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division to integrate SimuSphere HD-9™ high-definition visual displays onto 13 F/A-18E/F and four EA-18G Tactical Operational Flight Trainers (TOFTs). This award follows L-3 Link’s successful fielding of SimuSphere HD-9 systems on four existing F/A-18C TOFTs at Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana in April of this year.

SimuSphere HD-9™ High-definition Visual Displays

Initially, the SimuSphere HD-9-equipped F/A-18E/F TOFTs are scheduled for delivery to U.S. Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan. This will be followed by upgrades to existing F/A-18E/F TOFTs at NAS Lemoore, Calif., and NAS Oceana, Va., in addition to EA-18G TOFTs at NAS Whidbey Island, Wash.

“Today, F/A-18C TOFTs integrated with SimuSphere HD-9 provide eye-limiting visuals, enabling aircrews to conduct a full range of tactical training exercises,” said Frank Casano, L-3 Link’s vice president for Navy and Marine programs. “With this award, a low-cost, common solution for high-definition visuals will be migrated onto the service’s E/F and G model TOFTs to provide all tactical aircrews with a fully immersive and highly realistic training environment.”

L-3 Link’s SimuSphere HD-9 visual system solution is built on its HD World® simulation product line, which combines high-definition databases, image generation systems, physics-based processing and visual system display technologies to produce highly realistic and relevant fighter training environments. The upgraded F/A-18E/F and EA-18G TOFTs will support a full range of tactical training capabilities, including enabling aircrews to identify targets with unprecedented realism. Aircrews are also able to use their actual flight night vision goggles and experience real-world performance over a 360-degree field-of-regard.

For those TOFTs being retrofitted, SimuSphere HD-9 will replace currently fielded SimuSphere® visual system displays, maintaining the same physical footprint and image generator interface. This commonality enables visual display upgrades to be achieved at low cost and low risk with minimal simulator downtime. A common visual database is used that is based on refined source data from the Navy Portable Source Initiative (NPSI), U.S. Air Force programs and newly acquired imagery. Collectively, this source data minimizes cost and maximizes commonality across platforms.

L-3 Link Simulation & Training is a world leader in providing total training solutions for operators and maintainers across a wide range of military and civil aircraft platforms. L-3 Link’s innovative solutions provide a full spectrum of state-of-the-art training technologies, including high-fidelity immersive simulations, as well as distributed academic and interactive courseware. The company has delivered military and civil training systems to customer locations throughout North America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific Rim. L-3 Link is headquartered in Arlington, Texas, with key bases of operation in Binghamton, N.Y.; Orlando, Fla.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Broken Arrow, Okla.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Crawley, U.K. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.link.com.
Headquartered in New York City, L-3 Communications employs approximately 51,000 people worldwide and is a prime contractor in C3ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) systems, aircraft modernization and maintenance, and national security solutions. L-3 is also a leading provider of a broad range of electronic systems used on military and commercial platforms.