BAE Systems Australia has teamed with AgustaWestland and CAE for the ADF’s Air 9000 Phase 7 Helicopter Aircraft Training System (HATS) requirement.
The teaming will combine BAE’s large domestic rotary wing support base with CAE’s experience in supplying and operating synthetic training devices, and will be based around a variant of the AgustaWestland AW109 helicopter.
“With this team, we have brought together the world’s foremost rotorcraft capability provider in AgustaWestland, a global leader in simulation-based training with CAE, and one of the world’s most capable through life support partners in BAE Systems,” said Giuseppe Orsi, CEO of AgustaWestland. “We look forward to highlighting the breadth of our combined capabilities in support of Australia’s Air 9000 Phase 7 requirements.”
The team is yet to decide which variant of the AW109 it will offer, with Orsi telling media at the teaming launch that it would depend on the requirements issued by the Phase 7 project documents. Orsi also said he believed the contract would more likely be a direct buy by the Commonwealth as opposed to the option of a Private Finance Initiative (PFI).
BAE Systems CEO Jim McDowell said that the teaming with CAE should in no way infer that the same partners would also team for the Air 5428 fixed wing Pilot Training System as well.
