German Navy's Modernized Sea King helicopter Simulator Ready For Training

German Navy’s Sea King Mk41 helicopter simulator that has been modernized with latest-generation Medallion-6000 image generator is ready-for-training at Nordholz Naval Airbase.

As part of the upgrade, the company performed a range of updates, including the addition of the latest-generation CAE Medallion-6000 image generator with common database (CDB) architecture, CAE announced Tuesday.

Further, it was even modernized with avionics for concurrency with the current helicopter, enhanced synthetic and tactical environment simulation software, new vibration system, an improved instructor operator station and a new brief/debrief station.

Prior to the upgrade, Sea King training was conducted on a basic instrument flight rules (IFR) training device that was originally built by CAE in the mid-1970s.

The company was brought under contract for the upgrade by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency in December 2015.

The major driving factor behind the upgrade was that the German Navy wanted to move more training into the virtual environment to save operating hours on the ageing Sea King airframes.

The German Navy is now able to conduct a number of training tasks in the Sea King FMS that were previously not possible in the older training device. These include ship deck landings, SAR search patterns and night vision goggle training.

One major aspect of the programme was the inclusion of a CDB compliant database. The German armed forces have supported CDB for a number of years and its inclusion provides the opportunity to integrate the Sea King FMS into armed forces-wide networked exercises.