News
Aurora training occupies centre stage in new SIMs
Greenwood, N.S. - The recently installed CP-140M Aurora long-range patrol aircraft operational mission simulator (OMS) is now going through rigorous evaluations at 404 Long Range Patrol and Training Squadron’s Thorney Island Simulation Centre at 14 Wing Greenwood, Nova Scotia.
May 14, 2015 By RCAF
This highly immersive crew mission simulator, built and delivered by General Dynamics Canada (GDC) and its sub-contractors, will provide advanced training for the life of the Aurora. The evaluations, and the simulator operator and maintenance training that will follow, are pre-requisites to the acceptance of the OMS, which is expected to occur this summer.
A motivated and highly competent team of Department of National Defence (DND) civilian instructor-operators from 404 Squadron has worked very closely with the project management office and contractors to ensure that the simulator will provide the best training in support of operational readiness.
The new OMS will soon provide training in all facets of CP-140M Aurora mission operations, including search and rescue, undersea surveillance, the monitoring of Canada’s maritime and High Arctic approaches, and overland battlefield surveillance and reconnaissance. To provide this training, the simulation flight instructor-operators at 404 Squadron must remain current with Aurora tactics and with friend and potential foe tactics, techniques and procedures
As noted in the Royal Canadian Air Force’s simulation strategy, in the future the OMS will be capable of connecting to other procedural and mission simulators. During distributed mission training events in the future, Aurora crews will work with simulators of CF-188 Hornet fighter aircraft and CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopters, and exercise with Royal Canadian Navy ship and submarine crews in their simulators and with any other participants joining through the DND network.
The OMS, soon to be available for full Aurora fleet training, is one of the last major milestones of the Aurora Incremental Modernization Plan – Block III. It will ensure that 404 Squadron’s vision of “Best People – Best Training – Best Operational Training Unit” is as true as ever.
The Thorney Island Simulation Centre is named after Thorney Island in England, where 404 Squadron was formed in 1941.
