March 17, 2008 09:45 ET

AMERICAN SYSTEMS Demonstrates New Class of 3D Virtual Reality Maintenance Trainer on Capitol Hill

F/A-18 Simulated Avionics Maintenance Trainer Provides U.S. Navy With Realistic Aircraft Training in a Safe and Secure Virtual Environment

CHANTILLY, VA--(Marketwire - March 17, 2008) - AMERICAN SYSTEMS, a government and commercial IT solutions provider and one of the top 100 employee-owned companies in the U.S., recently demonstrated its F/A-18 Simulated Avionics Maintenance Trainer (SAMT) in front of Congress at the 11th Annual Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO-STRI) Demo on Capitol Hill. More than 700 members of Congress participated in the two-day demonstration of the latest technologies impacting the warfighter, which took place from February 5-7, 2008.

"The F/A-18 SAMT provides a safe, realistic virtual environment for maintenance crews to hone their skills and rehearse tasks at a fast pace, ultimately ensuring soldiers have the tools necessary for the timely and effective execution of mission-critical operations," said William C. Hoover, president and CEO, AMERICAN SYSTEMS. "We are pleased that NAVAIR continues to rely on our training and performance support solutions to develop better qualified jet maintenance crews and shorten repair times, resulting in fewer grounded F/A-18 jets."

The F/A-18 SAMT, developed for the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), is a highly intuitive, physics-based simulator that uses photo-realistic images to digitally replicate every inch, both internally and externally, of a jet fighter. The graphical 3D environment allows students to naturally interact with a virtual F/A-18 aircraft, directly affecting the aircraft system models while performing maintenance tasks and rehearsing mission scenarios. Maintenance trainers like the F/A-18 SAMT allow personnel to train on major aircraft at a fraction of the cost of procuring the original equipment and create safer training environments for potentially dangerous tasks.

AMERICAN SYSTEMS serves as prime contractor on the F/A-18 SAMT team that includes DiSTI and SIMTECH.

About AMERICAN SYSTEMS

Founded in 1975, AMERICAN SYSTEMS is one of the largest employee-owned companies in the United States, with approximately 1,500 employees nationwide. Based in the Washington, DC, suburb of Chantilly, VA, the company provides systems engineering, technical and managed services to government and enterprise customers. AMERICAN SYSTEMS was named "Contractor of the Year" at the Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards in October 2007. For more information, please visit: www.AmericanSystems.com.