Thales boosts Australian Tiger helicopter simulator

Thales Australia has successfully delivered a significant upgrade to the Australian Tiger helicopter simulator.

The improvements to the Full Flight Mission Simulator’s (FFMS) Visual Display System (VDS) mean the Australian Tiger simulator now has the highest levels of ‘out of the window’ realism of any Tiger FFMS in the world.

Working closely with prime contractor Airbus Group Australia Pacific and Australian Army Aviation, Thales successfully completed the complex upgrade of the dual-dome simulator ahead of schedule in order to minimise simulator downtime.

Thales Australia CEO Chris Jenkins said: “Thales is committed to ensuring that Army Aviation crews receive the highest standards of training, and we will continue to keep these simulators at the forefront of technological performance.”

The upgrade included the addition of the latest generation BARCO F35 projectors.

The Image Generators (IG) were also replaced with a PC-based IG designed by Thales Australia, using XENON computer hardware.

Both the new projectors and IGs were seamlessly integrated with the existing host computers and visual display platform, providing the crews with 240-degrees vertical by 85-degrees horizontal field of view.

In the final stage of the upgrade, the FFMS passed its Recurrent Fidelity Check, which is required to maintain CASA FSD-1 Level 5 (Level D equivalent) accreditation.

This is the highest achievable level, and allows the Australian Army to conduct cost-effective training in the safety of the simulator, which is located at Oakey Army Base in Queensland.