CAE Inaugurates New Aerospace And Defense Complex

Business
Neelam Mathews
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Feb 18 , 2011 , p. 11
NEW DELHI – Having already launched an independent aviation training center in India, Canada’s CAE has officially inaugurated its new aerospace and defense center close to Bengaluru International Airport. In the 116,000-sq.-ft. complex, CAE designs and develops defense training systems and operates an engineering center of excellence where visual databases and other software components for CAE’s simulators are developed. The facility also houses CAE’s aviation training center, which features Airbus A320 and Boeing B737 pilot training on three CAE-built full-flight simulators. More than 1,500 pilots have trained here. CAE and the Indian government jointly own the National Flying Training Institute in Gondia, a newly established ab initio (from the beginning) flight school that is one of 11 CAE Global Academy campuses worldwide. It is the managing partner of the government’s Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi flight school in Rae Bareli, also part of the CAE Global Academy network. CAE and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. also jointly own the Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying, known as Hatsoff. “The Indian commercial aircraft fleet has nearly doubled since 2005 to about 450 aircraft in 2010, and Indian carriers have more than 500 commercial aircraft on order. That translates into a need for approximately 7,000 new pilots in India over the next seven years,” says Jeff Roberts, CAE’s group president for civil simulation products, training and services. CAE says it has delivered about 80% of the installed base of civil full-flight simulators in India.