Meggitt Training Systems recently received a $15.6 million second delivery order from the US Army Program Executive Office for Simulation and Training (PEO STRI) to deliver the Engagement Skills Trainer (EST) II system to both international and domestic locations – and includes dedicated authoring stations.
“The US Army and National Guard are upgrading their existing EST systems to the highly advanced EST II, and they’ve long recognized Meggitt as the strategic partner to help them with their training goals. The decision was made to modernize the inventory of small-arms trainers to integrate additional training capabilities as future requirements evolve,” said Jeff Murphy, President, Meggitt Training Systems.
Meggitt was originally awarded the $99 million, five-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract in 2014. The program, which covers 1,000-plus new and upgraded systems and simulated weapons for US Army facilities worldwide, will train new and experienced soldiers in marksmanship, collective CGI scenarios and judgmental video scenarios. .
“Meggitt was selected based on ‘Best Value’ and our performance since the award has confirmed the Army’s choice” said Mark Parr, EST Program Manager.
“With the distributed architecture, integration of the EST II with other training systems is more readily adapted. Tablet access by operators and soldiers, coupled with automatic coaching capabilities, provides a force multiplier for trainers. The EST II offers the US Army the means to provide a more consistent and efficient way to train their soldiers for challenges today and in the future,” he added.
Meggitt’s scalable and robust open architecture system allows ready integration of Meggitt and third-party training modules and will accommodate evolutions in fidelity and graphic complexity for greater realism. Current Meggitt modules cover enhanced 3-D marksmanship, and an intelligent coaching application on a wireless tablet enabling trainers to change scenarios quickly within a single training session.
Deliveries connected to this order are expected to begin in August 2016 and continue through 2017.
