The VEMT will be used to conduct F/A-18F Super Hornet maintenance training, ahead of the arrival of the first aircraft in 2010.
Australia is currently the only country outside the US with the Boeing-built VEMT technology, which features touchscreens, allowing instructors to bring up a range of teaching points, including highlighting and zooming in on aircraft components, displaying diagrams of components in action, and familiarising students with warning tones.
Training on the VEMT itself, a mock Super Hornet cockpit, allows students to perform diagnostic and system functional checks, with real-time fault-finding and troubleshooting.
Before the arrival of the VEMT at Amberley, F/A-18 training was conducted in the US by 278 Squadron personnel attached to the Air Combat Transition Office.
The VEMT courseware, which Flight Lieutenant Paul Mulcahy said was likely to put 278 Squadron at the forefront of training anywhere in the RAAF, was developed by RAAF personnel, who took the original US Navy courseware and amended it to match the RAAF trade structure.
The RAAF will receive two more trainers in the second half of 2010.
These will be Integrated Visual Environment Maintenance Trainers (IVEMTs), which are being developed by Boeing purely for Australian needs.