DiSTI Wins Contract from Boeing for Australian F/A-18 Virtual Maintenance Trainer Development

Sept. 17, 2008 - PRLog -- Orlando, FL  – DiSTI, a global leader in Human Machine Interface (HMI) development, announced today it received a contract from The Boeing Company as a result of a contract award from the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division for the first F/A-18E maintenance trainers to be delivered to an international military.  DiSTI’s next generation 3-D virtual maintenance training technology was selected by Boeing for development of the Student Aircraft Interface Trainer Station (SAITS) for the F/A-18E Australian Super Hornet Integrated Visual Environment Maintenance Trainer (IVEMT) to be delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force.  The IVEMT is one element of the complete F/A-18E training system being developed by Boeing’s Training Systems and Services division.   The IVEMT will provide training for maintainers on ground operation, maintenance, and testing procedures for the F/A-18E aircraft including avionics, environmental control, electrical, flight control, fuel, engines, landing gear, and hydraulic systems.

This new contract leverages technology previously used by DiSTI on maintenance trainers for earlier versions of the F/A-18 aircraft, including the F/A-18C Simulated Aircraft Maintenance Trainers produced for the U.S. Navy and Finland Air Force.

DiSTI has been a pioneer in the development of virtual maintenance trainers and training environments since 2001 by leveraging its award winning GL Studio toolkit into a process with other commercial off the shelf tools to yield highly effective 3-D virtual training applications.  The technology is used in the design of a variety of high profile, complex, 3-D virtual maintenance training environments for platforms including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, U.S. Navy landing craft, and diesel engines produced by Caterpillar and Cummins.    DiSTI’s latest software tools and processes streamline the conversion of Computer Aided Design (CAD) data to produce a high-fidelity, interactive virtual maintenance training environment for the F/A-18E application. The application will be driven by Boeing’s realistic F/A-18E aircraft simulation software, yielding a maintenance training solution with high physical and functional fidelity.

“DiSTI’s virtual maintenance training technology, and Boeing’s rich history in the development of innovative training product and service solutions, formed the symbiotic basis for this relationship”, said DiSTI President Joe Swinski. “Our exceptional past performance on numerous high profile programs for the U.S. and foreign militaries has solidified DiSTI’s position as the leader in virtual maintenance training technology”.

DiSTI will be producing the virtual environment in Orlando, Fla., and delivering the content to Boeing’s Training Systems and Services division in St. Louis for final integration and testing.  The training devices will be delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force at RAAF Base Amberley, Australia.

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DiSTI® is a global leader in Human Machine Interface development and the provider of the Simulation Professional Series Training classes. GL Studio is DiSTI's award winning toolkit for the rapid development of Human Machine Interfaces (HMI).