April 8, 2021 URBANA, IL. – FRASCA International, Inc. (FRASCA) has been named as a subcontractor for the US Navy TH-73A Aircrew Training Services (ATS) Contract. The prime contract was awarded to FlightSafety Defense, a FlightSafety International Company that will provide Contractor Instructional Services (CIS) and availability on 18 FRASCA-designed and manufactured Level 6 and Level 7 Flight Training Devices (FTDs).
Image generators and visual databases will be supplied by FlightSafety Defense Corporations subcontractor Aechelon Technologies. The devices will be used to support all aspects of initial entry rotary wing training, including hover, formation flight, night vision device, and shipboard operations training, as well as course rules familiarity and instrument flying.
FRASCA will provide and install 8 new TH-73 FTDs and modify the 10 existing TH-57B/C FTDs to reflect the new Navy aircraft. FlightSafety Defense will operate and maintain the training devices and provide aircrew training support.
The TH-73A Advanced Helicopter Training System (AHTS) will replace the TH-57B/TH-57C program. The flight training devices will be used during the transition to the TH-73A for curriculum design, subsequent validation and verification, and for Student Naval Aviator training.
The ATS contract is a key component to the AHTS because it provides contract instructors and state-of-the-art FTDs for the new Leonardo TH-73A helicopters, which will be used to train rotary student naval aviators. The new helicopters will ensure the Navy has the capacity to train several hundred aviation students per year at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field in Milton, Florida.
The contract commenced on February 2021. Delivery of the training devices and related equipment is scheduled to begin in 2021 and will continue through 2024.
