Ryan Aerospace has won a $28-million contract to supply the US Navy with state-of-the-art extended reality (XR) flight simulators.
The Australian aerospace firm announced the agreement on Wednesday, confirming the arrangement is part of a US Navy effort to update its approach to producing higher-quality pilots.
Work for the contract will be completed within a year.
Immersive Training Devices
Also known as Immersive Training Devices, the 50 planned XR flight simulators will be retrofitted into nearly 300 training units Ryan Aerospace previously handed over to the US.
Delivered through contractor Vertex Solutions, the simulators support the country’s Pilot Training Transformation (PTT) Program, which aims to supply the military with “commercially-available virtual reality and augmented reality systems.”
Ryan Aerospace Managing Director Chris Ryan explained that the devices were explicitly designed with potential updates in mind.
The company said that the newly-acquired XR simulators will transform the training units into mixed-reality simulators.
Ryan’s Impact on the US Program
In 2021, the company won a “major” contract to supply the US Air Force with fighter and helicopter training simulators, signaling the start of the PTT Program’s push to advanced and immersive training technology.
The last simulators were delivered and installed in December of the same year.
