RAF Brize Norton to get £226m training facility (From Witney Gazette)

RAF Brize Norton to get £226m training facility

9:30am Wednesday 6th March 2013 in News

A NEW multi-million-pound training facility at RAF Brize Norton will create 300 jobs and train hundreds of service personnel.

The Ministry of Defence has announced it will invest £226m at the Carterton airbase to build the state-of-the-art training school.

It will train RAF pilots and ground crew to operate the 22 A400M Atlas aircraft when they come in to replace the C-130 Hercules fleet from 2014.

The school will feature two flight simulators to train pilots, a specialist workstation to train loading crew and a cockpit simulator to train engineers.

It will also create 200 jobs in its construction and 100 jobs for the duration of the 18-year contract, principally at RAF Brize Norton. Philip Dunne, minister for defence equipment, support and technology, said: “Our air and ground crews have always been some of the best trained in the world and the facility at RAF Brize Norton cements that position for the RAF’s latest transport aircraft fleet.

“The blend of real and synthetic training will ensure crews can be ‘hands on’ with the aircraft throughout their training.”

A400M Atlases are able to carry 32 tonnes of cargo – twice as much as the Hercules – over a distance of 4,500km.