CAE is setting its sights on continued success in the Middle East, with the training specialist looking to draw on its long experience there.
“We have been in the region for about 20 years, with an established presence in many different countries, both on the civil and defence side of the business,” says David Bancroft, the company’s vice-president, strategy and growth, defence and security – international. “We have a number of centres where we’re providing flight simulators and training devices,” he notes.
“We continue to see the Middle East as a growth market,” he told FlightGlobal during the Dubai air show. “There are a number of important investments that the countries here are making in their training enterprise and getting their armed forces mission ready – like aircrew training.
“We have a joint venture set up in the UAE, we have programmes here and we continue to see investments, and we also have a presence in Saudi Arabia,” Bancroft says. The company’s current footprint includes at the UAE’s Naval Doctrine and Combat Training Centre.
“We see some customers that are looking at ‘how do I replicate an aircrew training programme’ – like we are doing in Canada – while others have pieces of their training [system] that already exist and are looking to recapitalise this part which is now 20 years old.”
The CAE/KF Aerospace SkyAlyne joint venture is tasked with replacing almost all of Canada’s current military pilot instruction system via the Future Aircrew Training programme, including via the provision of 71 new aircraft across five different types.
“CAE is strong around those common simulation and connectivity elements which transcend one specific platform, to allow broader use in a common training environment,” Bancroft says.
Asked how the company is looking to support air forces’ future use of systems like collaborative combat aircraft and launched effects, he notes: “The way people learn today is different to 20, 30 or 40 years ago, so we are evolving with the latest technologies and approaches. But you still need to train the mission operator and how you deliver the effect into the battlespace.”
