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Despite tighter military budgets, spending on simulation is alive and well, at least if the Canadian modeling and simulation company CAE is any indicator. CAE reported combined military orders worth 959.7 million Canadian dollars ($922 million) for fiscal 2012, including orders worth 419.7 million Canadian dollars in the fourth quarter.
That’s up 2.2 percent over the previous fiscal year, when CAE received military orders for simulation and training equipment worth 938.8 million Canadian dollars, but down from the 969.1 million Canadian dollars spent in 2010.
“We remain encouraged by the continued investment in simulation-based training by our defense customers as they seek ways to maintain readiness,” said Martin Gagné, CAE’s group president of military simulation products, training and services.
Orders for CAE technology came from around the world. Boeing and the U.S. Navy bought six additional operational flight trainers for the P-8A Poseidon, a long-range anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare aircraft that will replace the P-3C Orion aircraft. Boeing will outfit the P-8A trainer with aircraft-specific software and deliver it to the Navy for training.
The German Air Force contracted with CAE for upgrades and services for its Tornado and Eurofighter training systems, including new radar warning system simulators and CAE Medallion-6000 image generators with weather simulation.
CAE also recently announced that it will open training centers in Barcelona, Spain; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Brunei Darussalam. Barcelona marks CAE’s third training location in Spain and ninth in Europe.
