CAE USA has been awarded a U.S. Air Force KC-135 aircrew training contract with options worth more than $200 million over 10 years.
The contract announced Monday will enable CAE USA to add about 150 employees, most of whom will be reemployed from the previous contractor on the assignment, FlightSafety International.
FlightSafety performed the ground-based, simulator-related training for nearly two decades before CAE was selected in a competitive bid awarded in August, which FlightSafety unsuccessfully challenged.
"This is the first time CAE USA has won a contract for this type of training as the prime contractor," said John Lenyo, president and general manager of the Tampa-based company that employs about 500 here among nearly 1,000 overall.
The nine-month base contract is worth about $20 million. It provides nine, one-year options for training services at 13 bases with KC-135 training elements, including MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
CAE USA will train more than more than 3,500 pilots, co-pilots and refueling boom operators train each year.
The ageless tanker first flew in the mid-1950s as the forerunner of the Boeing 707 commercial jetliner. More than 400 KC-135s remain the mainstay of the aerial refueling fleet for the Air Force and its reserve forces, as the Defense Department has struggled for years over contract competition problems for a new tanker.
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