The Danish Navy has taken delivery of a number of simulators from FORCE Technology. The contract included eight workstations and one instructor station, that have been installed at the academy on Holmen. Each trainee has three 20" screens at his disposal. One screen shows an electronic sea-chart. Another shows the view seen from the bridge. The third is able to show the different navigation instruments, e.g. ARPA radar, VHF and GPS.

Each workstation also has a steering console containing rudder, engine-room telegraph, bow and stern thruster handles. The training stations are controlled from the instructor station from which individual scenarios or multi ownship scenarios can be executed.

This is the first order of its kind the Navy has placed with FORCE Technology, which is a merger between FORCE Technology and Danish Maritime Institute. Both companies have previously carried out numerous assignments for the Navy, including model tests in the towing tank facilities in Lyngby.

“Previously the officers were confined to carrying out both the theory and practice onboard the vessels. The simulators offer more flexibility to the education. The new technology is very cost-effective, and the Navy is, of course, interested in savings,” says the sales manager of FORCE Technology, Ernst C. Kristensen.

In 2003 FORCE Technology is scheduled to deliver eight similar workstations, which will be placed onboard selected naval vessels. These simulators will each be furnished with a steering console. Furthermore, the company plans to deliver a full mission bridge simulator. In this facility the conditions will be exactly like on a real bridge, with a horizontal field-of-view of 190º.

“What we are supplying to the Danish Navy is the highest level of navigation simulators at the most competitive pricing in the market. In addition to the simulator systems we are also supplying a number of ready-made training courses that are adding value to the simulators,” says Ernst C. Kristensen.