CAE to upgrade British army command and staff trainers

TORONTO, CA, June 25, 2003 - CAE has been awarded a contract, valued at approximately C$11 million, by the Raytheon Company to upgrade the command and staff trainer (CAST) at the British army's Land Warfare Training Centre in Warminster.

Two additional upgrades, one at the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick and the other at the Land Warfare Collective Training Group in Germany, will be contracted over the next year.

The introduction into service of the new digital communication and information system (CIS) called BOWMAN is the next step in the British army's development of network-enabled capability (NEC) for the battlefield. BOWMAN and its associated battle management systems will change fundamentally the delivery of information on the battlefield and provide a new set of decision support tools to commanders and their staffs. Under a program called CIS into CAST, which is being led by Raytheon as the prime contractor, CAE will incorporate the new digital communication and information systems into the existing command and staff trainers.

The CIS into CAST program will provide British army commanders and their staffs with realistic training that includes digitized radio feeds, electronic battle management systems, voice communications, and other information resources used on the battlefield. These systems will all be linked to the British army's principal land-based computer simulation system called ABACUS, developed by Raytheon. The CIS into CAST system will include comprehensive after-action review capabilities so British Army officials can measure training effectiveness and implement corrective actions as necessary.

"The role of commanders and their staffs is clear-to plan and conduct operations that achieve the desired effect on the battlefield," said Bob Ison, managing director, CAE UK plc. "The British army knows the critical importance of information dominance on the battlefield, so they're moving quickly to develop network-enabled capabilities."

CAE is a leading provider of integrated training solutions and advanced simulation and controls technologies to military, civil aviation and marine customers. The company generates annual revenues in excess of C$1 billion and employs more than 6,000 people in Canada, the United States and around the globe.

SOURCE CAE Inc.