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Boeing gets F-16 training deal

The Air Force has awarded Boeing a $19 million contract to provide F-16 training services to pilots at a trio of bases around the world, a deal that could stretch to five years.

The award is intended to act as an interim contract until the Air Force can secure a follow-on award for the F-16, which the service is in the early stages of pursuing. Under the award to Boeing, which succeeds Lockheed Martin as lead contractor, the company will provide Mission Training Center services to pilots at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.; Misawa Air Base, Japan; and Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany.

Each MTC for the F-16 will comprise four high-fidelity simulators with a 360-degree visual system, a synthetic environment, instructor/operator stations and brief/debrief stations. The simulators will be able to be operated individually or linked as part of four-ship training, both within the MTC and linked to the Distributed Missions Operations network. Boeing currently is prime contractor for the F-15E MTC contract.

In the F-16 award, Boeing will support training with the Visual Integrated Display System and the Big Tac Combat Environment Server. Lockheed Martin’s role will include providing the instructor/operator stations, crew station hardware, simulation software, image generation system and databases and contractor logistics support.

BGI LLC of Dallas will provide F-16 subject matter expertise.

Tony Jones, vice president of Boeing Training Systems and Services, said the contract award would expand the company’s reach on distributed missions operations.

“We bring years of experience in providing the war fighter a distributed mission operations capability for the F-15C MTCs and anticipate similar success with F-16 MTC operations,” he said.