Landmark Alliance Leads US Army Training

Defence technology specialist Raytheon's technical services company has been selected by the US Government to head up a landmark training alliance which will use the latest in technologies to train US army soldiers around the world.

The ten-year, $11.2bn Warrior Training Alliance (WTA), which also includes CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation and a conglomeration of 64 other members, from small to mid-sized businesses, will be run under the FOCUS program of the US Army's Program Executive Office, Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO-STRI).

It will pull together a range of innovative technologies, according to Raytheon CEO William H Swanson, to create 'virtual and constructive' training exercises and operations.

The alliance will also work to provide curriculum support, systems integration and engineering support for the information-enabled training environment.

Swanson says WTA members are already in place at 93% of the Army's training sites, with more than 3,400 contractors and 150 manned sites worldwide.

The Raytheon Technical Services co-led alliance will replace three training programs currently run by the military – live training, virtual training and constructive training. The new contract starts on 1 November 2007.