Link Simulation & Training's P-3C Tactical Aircrew Coordination Trainer (TACT) program has achieved major delivery, update and award milestones throughout the year.

First came Link's early delivery of two U.S. Navy P-3C TACT systems this year. These P-3C TACT systems were installed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island, Wash. and NAS Brunswick, Maine.

These successful deliveries were followed by the completion of an update to the P-3C TACT system at NAS Jacksonville, Fla. three months ahead of schedule. The NAS Jacksonville P-3C TACT system, previously installed by Link in 2000, has been upgraded to include the latest advancements made to the trainers at NAS Whidbey Island and NAS Brunswick.

Momentum on the P-3C TACT program continued into late September when Link announced it had received a $6.6 million contract from the Navy to build a fourth training system. Plans call for this P-3C TACT to be delivered and installed within 19 months at NAS Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. P-3C crews that are part of the Commander Patrol Reconnaissance Forces Pacific operation that patrols the western Pacific Ocean will use the training system.

Link-built P-3C TACT systems, in support of the P-3 Aircraft Improvement Program, are playing an important role in teaching system operation and crew coordination skills in acquiring information from the aircraft's sensor systems and communicating the technical data to other aircraft or command centers.

The P-3C flight crew operates tactical coordinator, navigation/communications, non-acoustic sensor, electro-optical system sensor and flight stations. The P-3C TACT simulates the aircraft's physical arrangement, computer and display systems, sensor system and navigation and communications systems.