Cobham’s Special Mission business has won a follow-on contract to provide electronic warfare and threat simulation training to NATO for up to five years. The company will continue using its fleet of 12 modified Dassault Falcons that are based in the UK and that also fly on a separate threat simulation contract for the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).

“Securing this follow on contract, with a customer as prominent as NATO, demonstrates that we have a world-leading, technically advanced operational training capability that is innovative yet affordable,” said Darren Moncrieff, vice president of Cobham Special Mission. The Falcon 20s are equipped with the company’s own electronic warfare pods and can also deploy towed targets. However, NATO may also provide its own equipment to Cobham for the tasks.

Cobham claims to be the world leader in this field, with more than 30 years of experience in both the live and synthetic operational training environments. It has worked for military forces in the Middle East, as well as in Europe and the UK.

Cobham’s UK threat replication contract ends late next year, after the MoD has chosen partners for its expanded Air Support to Defence Operational Training (ASDOT) requirement. Cobham has teamed with American fast jet training services company Draken International to pursue ASDOT, and told AIN that it would be adding additional partners.