CAE has unveiled a new unmanned aerial system (UAS) Mission Trainer for military UAS operators at the Unmanned Systems Canada Conference, currently underway in Ottawa, Canada.
Combining an open architecture together with commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and simulation software, the new product is designed to offer a complete platform-agnostic training system for the UAS pilots, sensor operators and mission commanders.
CAE Military Products Training and Services Group president Gene Colabatistto said well-trained pilots and sensor operators are required to fully utilise capabilities of the UAS platforms, which are offering new capabilities to defence forces and will also find use in future civil applications.
"Our UAS Mission Trainer was specifically designed as an open, flexible product ideal for individual, crew, or networked training," Colabatistto added.
"By addressing the often difficult integration issues and basing our product on an open architecture and COTS software, we have developed a cost-effective, low-risk UAS Mission Trainer that will help customers train and prepare their UAS mission crews."
Equipped with an instructor operator and mission brief/de-brief station, the UAS Mission Trainer can be easily configured to replicate any customer specific UAS with any sensor payload suite, featuring electro-optical, infrared, as well as synthetic aperture radar (SAR).
The platform-agnostic simulator is provided with an in-built tactical synthetic environment and computer-generated forces representing maritime, ground and air assets, to support user training as well as mission planning and mission rehearsal.
The UAS Mission Trainer is not subjected to any international traffic in arms regulations (ITAR) or restrictions, and is currently undergoing installation at UAS Centre of Excellence in Alma, Quebec, to support CAE and Aeronautics’ joint training programme for the Miskam UAS pilots and sensor operators.
