A Chinook helicopter aircrew training contract has been awarded to CAE by the Canadian Government.

The C$250m (US$244m) contract, under the operational training systems provider (OTSP) programme, is to support Canada’s new fleet of 15 CH147F Chinook medium-to-heavy lift helicopters.

In the first phase of the contract, CAE will lead the design and development of a CH147F training suite.

The suite will include one weapon system trainer (WST), one tactical flight training device (TFTD), one deployable TFTD, one integrated gunnery trainer, laptop and desktop-based CAE Simfinity virtual simulators (VSIM), and courseware.

CAE will use training management information system, tactical control centre and common databases across both the C-130J and CH147F aircrew training programmes, during the initial phase.

In phase two, which will begin with the delivery of the CH147F training suite at the beginning of 2014, CAE will lead the in-service support for the CH147F aircrew training programme.

The 20-year in-service support phase will include services such as training device upgrades and maintenance, hardware and software engineering, courseware updates, technology insertion and obsolescence management, and database modelling and generation.