L-3 lands Navy F/A-18 flight training deal

L-3 Communications Inc. will support the Navy and Marine Corp with F/A-18 training at a handful of military bases in the United States and Japan through a five-year contract.

The contract has a one-year base value of $4.8 million and includes four one-year options, the company said.

Under the contract, L-3's Link Simulation and Training will provide support for a wide array of training devices and systems related to flight training and weapons use that will help make pilots proficient in cockpit and emergency procedures, takeoffs and landings, air-to-air and air-to-ground combat and electronic countermeasures.

The Naval Air Warfare Center Training System Division, which is part of the Naval Air Systems Command, awarded the deal to L-3.

Among the devices L-3 Link will support are weapons tactics trainers, distributed mission trainer suites, tactical operational flight trainers, aircrew flight trainers, operational flight trainers, computer-based training suites and a range of audio-visual and related training aids. The devices support training for the Hornet's C/D and Super Hornet E/F aircraft.

In the area of technician training for aircraft maintenance, L-3 Link will support F/A-18 maintenance trainer suites, classroom hardware and local area networks that link students' computers.

L-3 Link's program team will provide the services to F/A-18 squadron training facilities at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif.; NAS Oceana, Va.; Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar, Calif.; MCAS Beaufort, S.C.; and Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan.

L-3 Link is a unit of L-3 Communications Corp. of New York. The parent company ranks No. 7 on Washington Technology's 2006 Top 100 list of the largest federal IT contractors.