South African company Denel Aviation signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with one of the world's top simulation and training companies, Canada's CAE, and its local partner, Elisa, on Thursday, at the African Aerospace and Defence exhibition at Air Force Base Waterkloof, just south of Pretoria. The aim of the MoU is to establish a National Training and Simulator Centre (NTSC).

The planned NTSC will be located at the Denel Training Academy, which falls under Denel Aviation. It is scheduled to be fully operational by 2020, although it is likely to be functional somewhat earlier, in 2018 or 2019. It will include a six-axis full flight simulator, other flying training devices with lesser degrees of fidelity and a number of technical training systems.

"We are delighted to join forces with CAE, which is a global leader in training and simulation," affirmed Denel Aviation executive manager for business development Hugh Petersen to the media. "We're absolutely delighted with the confidence Denel has shown in choosing CAE as its partner.

"It [the NTSC] will be a full training suite, not just [flying] training but also mission training," CAE VP and GM Europe Ian Bell told Engineering News Online. "It will be a Centre of Excellence for the whole African continent."

The launch customers for the new centre will be the South Africa Air Force and regional airline South African Express. But it is aimed at serving not only the wider South African aviation industry but also the wider African aviation industry.