CAE wins contract for Canadian C295W training

CAE has received a contract from Airbus Defence and Space to provide C295W aircrew and maintenance training to support the Royal Canadian Air Force's Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue (FWSAR) programme, the company announced on 13 February.

The contract is worth CAD$200 million over the next 11 years and includes options to extend by an additional 15 years.

Canada selected the Airbus C295W aircraft for its FWSAR programme, modified for search and rescue, in December 2016. Sixteen aircraft are on order for the programme.

Over the next three years CAE will lead the design and building of a new training centre facility at 19 Wing in Comox, British Columbia. The facility will house CAE-built training devices, including a C295W full-flight simulator (FFS); a C295W cockpit procedures trainer (CPT); a C295W sensor station simulator used for rear-crew training; a C295W operational mission simulator to support networking of the sensor station simulator with FFS or CPT to provide full-crew mission training; eight C295W mission procedures trainers; a C295W aircraft maintenance trainer; a C295W cockpit systems part-task trainer; and ten classrooms featuring CAE Simfinity C295W virtual maintenance trainer stations.

Following the facility's delivery in 2019, CAE will lead a three-year in-service support (ISS) transition period for the C295W aircrew and maintenance training programme. This will be followed with the 20-year in-service support phase, which is divided into a base five-year ISS contract with three additional five-year options.

During the ISS phases, CAE will be responsible for providing a range of training services, including training device upgrades and maintenance, hardware and software engineering, courseware updates, technology insertion and obsolescence management. The company will also be responsible for providing academic and simulator instructors to deliver aircrew and maintenance training.