Hawker Pacific has been named as the prime contractor to develop the Australian Defence Force’s Air Combat Officer (ACO) Training System.

Minister for Defence Christopher Pyne said the contract between the Department of Defence and Hawker Pacific was for the delivery of a “substantially upgraded version of the Air Combat Officer Training System”.

“The next generation system comprises both ground training consoles and airborne mission aircrew training equipment and will enable the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) to train mission aircrew through to December 2024,” Minister Pyne said in a statement.

Hawker Pacific has contracted Cirrus Real Time Processing Systems for the development of the Air Combat Officer Training System and other support services.

The Minister’s statement noted Cirrus Real Time Processing Systems had originally developed a prototype Air Combat Officer Training System, based on Cirrus simulation technology.

This has been extensively upgraded in collaboration between Cirrus and the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) instructors at No.1 Flying Training School.

“The original system came into operational service with the RAAF in 2011 and has been used both within the B300 King Air training aircraft of No 32 Squadron and within ground-based training facilities at No 1 Flying Training School,” Minister Pyne said.

A Cirrus brochure on the Air Combat Officer Training System noted: “The heart of the ACO-TS is a high-fidelity radar simulator which emulates the operation of modern multi-mode radars, and simulates the ground returns of actual terrain from aircraft position and orientation.”