MEDIA RELEASE

SHORTLIST FOR AIR COMBAT TRAINING SYSTEM

Two companies have been short-listed to supply a new multi-million dollar Air Combat Training System (ACTS) to the Australian Defence Force.

Cubic Defense Systems and Raytheon Systems are the finalists from five bids received in response to the Request for Tender issued in June 1997. The preferred tenderer will be decided in the next few months.

The ACTS is designed to provide aircrews with a more realistic combat training environment and a variety of simulated scenarios including a wide range of air and ground based threats they could encounter. They have to defeat the threats to succeed in their missions.

The ACTS will also provide a test and evaluation capability for existing and new electronic warfare equipment.

The system will use global positioning system (GPS) based Air Combat Manoeuvring Instrumentation (ACMI) technology to accurately plot aircraft positions and a series of fixed and mobile threat emitters on the ground that will simulate the radars of an opponent’s surface-to-air missiles and guns.

Post-mission replays will replace pilot memory to reconstruct events during debriefing sessions; and ACTS will also provide valuable lessons for future missions.

The system will be installed in the Delamere Air Weapons Range and RAAF Base Tindal in the Northern Territory and a deployable element will be based at RAAF Williamtown (NSW).

Further information . . .

Squadron Leader Chris Huet : (02) 6266 6762
                             (02) 6241 4665