The Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on December 3 that Black Hawk S-70i helicopter pilots from the Philippine Air Force (PAF) have begun flight simulator training at CAE Brunei Multi-Function Training Center (MPTC).
The training was conducted after PAF and the Royal Brunei Air Force (RBAF) signed an agreement as part of the continuation of the bilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) on defense cooperation signed in 2001.
The Chargé d’Affaires of the Philippines, Pete Delphin, said: “The Philippine government expresses its deepest gratitude to His Majesty the Sultan and the Ministry of Defense of Brunei Darussalam for their continued active participation and valuable contributions to the Philippine Armed Forces.”
“This is a milestone in our bilateral defense relationship with Brunei. Despite the strong and vibrant defense cooperation between our two countries, this program represents a practical option for S-70i Black Hawk training because PAF pilots do not need to travel to ASEAN Outside the region,” Delphin added, noting that RBAF also provides instructor pilots to supervise PAF students. “It opens up more opportunities for PAF pilots and allows more interaction and exchanges between our armed forces.”
PAF pilot students arrived on November 8 and received training in six batches from November 16 to December 27. According to a multi-year contract, subsequent batches of PAF pilots will also participate in the training program in the next few years.
Located in Limba, MPTC has a fully certified synthetic training system, complete flight and mission simulators, representing Sikorsky S-70i and S-92 medium transport helicopters-they are based on the CAE 3000 series system for training local and International pilots-and Pilatus PC-7 Mk 2 flight training device (FTD) for pilot screening, initial and advanced flight instruction, and qualified flight instructor (QFI) flight training.
The 3000 series is designed around CAE’s latest Medallion 6000 image generator, which provides high-resolution physics-based sky modeling, particle-based weather simulation, and special effects including tracer/missile trajectories and explosions. The Medallion 6000 generator can also simulate sensor devices such as forward-looking infrared, night-vision goggles, and photoelectric daytime and low-light TV cameras.
MPTC is a joint venture between CAE and the Ministry of Finance of Brunei, CAE holds 60% of the shares.
As part of the Philippine Armed Forces modernization plan, PAF purchased 16 S-70i Black Hawk helicopters from the Polish company PZL Mielec. Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana announced on December 7 that the government has allocated 62 billion pesos to purchase another 32 S-70i helicopters and 6 offshore patrol ships, but the deal has not yet been finalized.
Xiao Wu
