L-3 Communications announced this week that the Air Force has awarded it a $20.9 million contract option to deliver a second four-ship F-16 mission training center suite, bringing its total MTC contract value to $109.1 million. For the MTC suite, L-3 will build and deliver four high-definition simulators, for which Boeing provides the instructor/operator stations and brief/debrief systems. Bob Birmingham, president of L-3 Link, said the technologies—integrated with L-3 Link’s HD World—offer a solution that will “maximize pilot operational readiness while reducing training costs.” He continued, “For the first time ever in a simulator, F-16 pilots will be able to detect, judge the orientation of, recognize, and identify targets from the same distance as when flying an actual mission.”
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.