CAE, a Montreal-based simulation technology company, has received a contract from the New Zealand Defence Force to provide management, engineering, and maintenance services to the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s C-130J weapon systems trainer. The training activities under the Simulator Through Life Support contract will occur at the RNZAF No. 40 Squadron facilities in Auckland, CAE said Monday.
New Zealand is replacing its C-130H planes with the C-130Js. In August, it received the first of its five C-130J Super Hercules tactical airlifters ordered from Lockheed Martin through a Foreign Military Sales agreement with the U.S. Air Force.
CAE said the C-130J systems trainer will provide a safe virtual setting for complex training exercises. The contract builds on the company’s many years of training service experience in the Indo-Pacific region and ensures the local availability of aircrew training in New Zealand.
Andrew Niles, CAE New Zealand defense and security general manager, described the contract award as strengthening the company’s long-term ties with NZDF.
“CAE innately understands the requirements for maintaining a high-fidelity training device, ensuring the New Zealand Defence Force benefits from a training partner who can deliver bespoke visual content development, increased device availability, and scalable training operations that enable pilots to develop best practices and advanced skills that are essential for live missions,” he said.
The company’s website traces the start of the CAE-NZDF partnership in the early 2000s when CAE provided C-130 aircrew training to the RNZAF at its C-130 Tampa Training Center in the United States. Other previous CAE contracts on RNZAF services include the SH-2G(I) Super Seasprite full-mission flight simulator and CAE 700MR Series NH90 flight training device, along with long-term maintenance and support services.