Adacel adds $27.3m US Air Force deal

Melbourne-based aviation applications vendor Adacel Technologies has signed a $27.3 million deal to supply 42 air traffic control tower simulation systems to the US Air Force.

The deal is stage two of a US Air Force Tower Simulation Systems program for which Adacel was selected in 2002. Up to 94 simulators and system support until 2011 are expected to be deployed in the $100 million program.

"The latest contract strengthens Adacel's position as a leading supplier of air traffic control simulation systems for North American defence forces and for air traffic control training internationally," said Mike Woodgate, group manager of corporate affairs and strategy support at Adacel.

ASX-listed Adacel develops advanced simulation and software applications and services for the aviation, defence, telecommunications, corporate and government markets. The Australian company develops and provides simulation systems for air traffic control training, research defence training and corporate e-learning.

The company is working on a fixed price contract with the Australian Commonwealth to provide a distributed interactive simulation interface and associated network infrastructure to the Royal Australian Navy's maritime warfare training centre at HMAS Watson in Sydney.

Adacel also has a portfolio of business software applications for electronic data management and commerce. It has strategic alliances with companies such as Intel and Getronics.

The company has operations in Canada, the US, Europe and Australia. Customers include Telstra, Visy, NEC, Lockheed Martin, Silicon Graphics, NASA, state and federal governments, Australian defence agencies, numerous banking and financial institutions and various federal aviation authorities.