NATO countries that fly the Boeing [BA] C-17 Globemaster will begin training aircrews at the company’s international training center (ITC) in the United Kingdom rather than sending them to the United States.
Under the recently awarded $8 million contract, 10 NATO member nations and two Partnership for Peace countries that participate in the strategic airlift capability (SAC) program will begin training multi-national aircrews this year, according to Boeing.
“Boeing met the customer need to have access to affordable, high-quality training for aircrews from smaller countries with limited resources,” Larry Sisco, C-17 training program manager, said in a prepared statement. “Having regional training is a big cost and time savings for the SAC Program.”
As part of the contract, the U.S. Air Force inspected and recognized Boeing’s C-17 training simulators at the ITC as being fully able to train C-17 aircrews. The ITC houses a weapons systems trainer, loadmaster station and an integrated maintenance procedure trainer.
“The U.S. Air Force gave us their stamp of approval,” Sisco said. “They were thrilled with our simulator capability and how concurrent the simulators are with the C-17 aircraft.”
NATO’s Airlift Management (NAM) Program Office requested this capability to meet the requirements of nations that make up the multinational program. In addition, the NAM has ownership and is responsible for acquiring, managing and supporting NATO’s SAC aircraft fleet, which includes three Boeing C-17 Globemaster III airlifters that member nations can call upon to fulfill national operational needs.
“This contract to deliver training to NATO forces demonstrates Boeing’s commitment to the C-17 fleet and a truly global approach to our training service,” said Joanne Finch, head of Boeing Defense United Kingdom Training Systems and Government Services.