The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has opened a new F-15E Mission Training Center (MTC) at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, United Kingdom. The center, Boeing's third, will provide F-15E aircrews with high-fidelity, simulator-based training without the material, personnel and environmental costs associated with training on operational aircraft.

"Opening the third F-15E MTC broadens the base of the advanced training capabilities these centers deliver," said Tony Jones, vice president of Training Systems and Services, a division of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems Support Systems. "The U.S. Air Force's 48th Fighter Wing will use the system to achieve operational training and readiness for all F-15E squadrons."

The training center provides two high-fidelity, dual-cockpit F-15E simulators with a 360-degree visual system, a robust synthetic environment and instructor/operator and brief/debrief stations. The simulators, enhanced with a head-tracked area-of-interest visual display system, can be operated individually or linked to provide two- or four-ship training within the MTC. They also can be linked locally with two medium-fidelity F-15E Manned Combat Stations to allow local four-ship training. The MTC will join the Air Force's Distributed Mission Operations (DMO) training network next year.

As with the MTCs at Mountain Home Air Force Base (AFB) in Idaho and Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina, Boeing supports this training capability with several key products, including the Visual Integrated Display System, Manned Combat Stations and the Big Tac Combat Environment Server. Boeing also provides the key network elements to enable local and long-haul networked training. Lockheed Martin provides the instructor/operator station, the noncombatant natural environment system and electro-optical/infrared imaging system, along with the geographic databases. Science Applications International Corp. provides the brief/debrief station.

Under the F-15E MTC contract, Mountain Home and Seymour Johnson each will receive a second F-15E MTC in 2008.

Boeing has delivered and currently operates six Air Force F-15C MTCs around the world and is the prime contractor for the F-15E and F-16 MTC contracts. Boeing also is integrating the F-22 Raptor into the DMO training network.