Boeing Australia and its subcontractor, Thales Training and Simulation, are providing the Commonwealth of Australia with the Operational Flight Trainer (OFT) for the Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system. The OFT was installed at the AEW&C Support Centre at RAAF Base Williamtown on schedule in July 2005.

The OFT, which is based on a standard Boeing 737 commercial flight simulator, is currently being modified to include Wedgetail-unique software components. These new components will enable RAAF Wedgetail flight crews to be trained in military specific functions such as fuel jettison, aerial refuelling, tactical mission employment and electronic warfare self-protection in addition to qualifying to fly the aircraft itself.

Final testing and certification of the OFT will commence early next year and it is anticipated that the simulator will be operational by mid-2006.

Later in 2006, BAESYSTEMS Australia will deliver the Operational Mission Simulator (OMS) for installation in the AEW&C Support Centre. The OMS will enable RAAF Wedgetail mission crews to be trained in all aspects of the surveillance, air defence, maritime support, land force coordination and civil support operations the Wedgetail system will be required to perform.

In addition to being used to train aircrew, these simulators will play a key part in training the ground crews who will perform maintenance on the aircraft and its mission systems.

The AEW&C Support Centre at RAAF Base Williamtown