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I/ITSEC ISSUE America's Longest Established Simulation & Training Magazine

NAWCTSD

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Maj. Gen. Jonathan Maddux Program Executive Officer PEO STRI

December 2015 Volume 20, Issue 7

Special Feature Map of Major Army Training Sites Command Profile:

Army Combined Arms Center-Training

Gunnery Training Systems O LVC Demonstration Maritime Simulation O Virtual Battlespace Integration

Remotely piloted aircraft Aerial imagery collection Ground-level photography Terrain compilation 3D content modeling Scenario creation Real-time visualization

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MetaVR collects 2 cm per pixel imagery for creating 3D real-time terrain that runs at 60 Hz, for immersive warﬁghter training

Real-time screen capture is from MetaVR’s visualization system. The 3D virtual terrain is of a geospeciﬁc target area at the Fallon Range Training Complex, Nevada, with 2 cm per-pixel imagery collected by the MetaVRC™ platform. This screen capture is unedited except as required for printing. The real-time rendering of the 3D virtual world is generated by MetaVR Virtual Reality Scene Generator™ (VRSG™). The 3D model of the MetaVRC is from MetaVR’s 3D content libraries. © 2015 MetaVR, Inc. All rights reserved. MetaVR, Virtual Reality Scene Generator, VRSG, MetaVRC, the phrase “Geospeciﬁc simulation with game quality graphics,” and the MetaVR logo are trademarks of MetaVR, Inc.

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military Training technology Features

December 2015 Volume 20, Issue 7

Cover / Q&A

Who’s Who in NAWCTSD

Special Feature:

Military Training Technology provides an exclusive review of Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division’s leadership, including the five program directors:

BattleSpace Platform

Map of Major Army Training Sites

The popularity of Virtual Battlespace, a widely used simulation training tool, is spurring development of new features that can be incorporated into its game environment. By Peter Buxbaum

Information and commanders’ photos for key schools and training organizations.

• Research & Development Program • Aviation Programs • Surface & Undersea Programs • International Programs • Cross Warfare Programs

Major General Jonathan Maddux

Program Executive Officer PEO STRI

New Targets for Gunnery Training

Down to the Sea in Simulators

As U.S. military training shifts to homestation exercises using complex scenarios based on intelligence about potential areas of operation, gunnery training systems are changing as well. By Harrison Donnelly

Effective maritime training must not only mimic the real world to provide authentic experiences, but also must incorporate advanced learning features to ensure that critical thinking skills are addressed. By Karen E. Thuermer

Departments

A coordinated demonstration bringing together 32 companies and government organizations at the I/ITSEC conference in Orlando, Fla., highlights the rise of the live-virtualconstructive concept in thinking about the future of military training. By Harrison Donnelly

Even as new modeling and simulation technologies transform many aspects of military training, field exercises remain a mainstay of the military services’ efforts to develop new warfighters, reinforce and update the skills of those with experience, and strengthen the ability to cooperate and communicate.

lVC Showcase

Exercise Training

Industry Interview

2 Editor’s Perspective 4 Program Highlights 22 data packets 44 Command Profile 46 Team Orlando 47 Resource center

CalienteLLC.com info@CalienteLLC.com 260.426.3800

Brad Feldmann

President and CEO Cubic Corporation

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Military Training Technology Volume 20, Issue 7 • December 2015

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EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE The title of a recent AUSA Institute of Land Warfare workshop—“Cyber: The Convergence of the Information and Operational Environment”—aptly describes one of the most important challenges and opportunities facing the U.S. military in the decades ahead. Nowhere is that convergence and challenge more important than in the training and simulation field. Combining cyberspace and training represents a lot more than just offering courses on good cybersecurity practices, protecting training networks against intrusions or disseminating content through the web. Rather, it calls for thoroughly integrating the two domains in every Harrison Donnelly Editor aspect of operations. Some of the interest in this convergence is the result of a vision outlined by General Ray Odierno, former Army chief of staff, who called for using cyber-techniques to accomplish missions through unit training at combat training centers. Odierno’s idea led to the Cyber Support to Corps and Below (CSCB) pilot, which involves the integration of cyber-effects via unit training at home station, at the Army’s combat training centers and in support of real-world missions. The program took a step forward this fall, as the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division took a training rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center ( JRTC), at Fort Polk, La. In the exercise, the brigade defended its systems and networks against the Cyberspace Opposing Force, which will challenge the brigade’s cybersecurity during force-on-force training. The rotation is the second at JRTC that has included CSCB pilot efforts. Earlier this year, the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division completed a rotation for which cyber elements were integrated early into the training cycle. It incorporated cyber effects into training scenarios; trained and educated the brigade on threats, tools, tactics and capabilities at home station; integrated cyberspace operations into planning and targeting; provided cyberspace operations personnel to augment the brigade staff; and trained JRTC operations and opposing force personnel.

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U.S. soldiers act as opposing forces and man a Panzer M113 A3/OSV-MBT while providing security from an operational post during Exercise Combined Resolve V at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany. The soldiers are assigned to 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment. [U.S. Army photo by Specialist John Cress Jr.]

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PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS Training Supports Afghan Strike Force Vehicle Maintenance Textron Systems Marine & Land Systems has been awarded a $17.4 million interim contractor training support contract from the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command to provide next-level training to the Afghan National Army (ANA) for its fourwheeled mobile strike force vehicles (MSFVs). More than 600 MSFVs, based on Textron Systems’ Commando Select armored vehicle line, have been delivered to the ANA since 2012, with over 550 of these vehicles actively engaged in security operations in strategic locations across the country. The contract calls for the Textron Systems in-country team to provide on-the-job training (OJT) and mentorship, enabling ANA personnel to perform detailed maintenance and repair actions to sustain its MSFV inventory. In addition to OJT vehicle repair and maintenance training, Textron Systems will continue mentoring and training the ANA on inventory and supply system activities, as well as developing and delivering program instruction manuals.

Contracts Fund Air Force, Navy Training Services CAE has announced contracts valued at more than $100 million (Canadian) to provide training services and simulation products for global military customers. The U.S. Air Force has exercised the option for the sixth year of aircrew training services provided by CAE USA as the prime contractor on the KC-135 Aircrew Training System (ATS) program. CAE USA will continue to provide classroom and simulator instruction as well as upgrades, maintenance and support for all KC-135 aircrew training devices. In addition, the U.S. Navy has exercised the option for the second full-year of comprehensive T-44C aircrew training services provided at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. CAE USA 4 | MT2 20.7

provides T-44C aircrew training services under a contractor-owned, contractor-operated training program. CAE is providing classroom and simulator training for more than 500 students annually to support the Navy’s T-44C aircraft, which is used for multi-engine intermediate and advanced flight training. Finally, CAE will continue providing a range of maintenance and in-service support services for the German Air Force’s Eurofighter training devices as part of an industry team in Germany. CAE will have specific responsibility for maintaining the Eurofighter visual systems, including CAE Medallion-6000 image generators as well as projector and display systems.

Research Seeks LVC System for Air Combat Training The Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) 711th Human Performance Wing has awarded Cubic Global Defense a multi-year contract to develop and demonstrate a live-virtualconstructive (LVC) system for air combat training. The award is part of a larger program called the Secure LVC Advanced Training Environment (SLATE) Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD). AFRL formed the SLATE ATD team as a government/industry consortium, since each partner leverages unique expertise or key system understanding to support the overall ATD objectives. Cubic is designated the systems integrator working with partners to deliver LVC airborne and ground subsystems. While the overall purpose of blending synthetic environments with live training in an LVC system is to enhance realism and improve the cost-effectiveness of training, the specific intent of the SLATE ATD is to prove technological feasibility and assess operability and productibility of LVC subsystems. Cubic and the SLATE partners plan to develop and demonstrate an LVC system at Technology Readiness Level 7. “We are very proud to be a part of this esteemed consortium in developing what will be one of the most important training technologies of our time,” said Bill Toti, president of Cubic Global Defense. “Cubic invented air combat maneuvering instrumentation (ACMI) back in the early 70’s, and we see LVC as the natural evolution of ACMI. LVC will provide an increased threat density, wider expanse of virtual airspace and an interoperable multi-level secure environment where pilots can ‘train as they fight’ with their advanced sensor and weapons systems in the highest-fidelity environments.” The overall approach in the SLATE ATD will be to employ fourth-generation aircraft with modified ACMI airborne subsystems repurposed for multi-level encrypted LVC in both tethered and untethered training scenarios. The team will also evaluate extensibility of the technical solutions to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. After successful demonstrations, the ATD will deliver specifications, use cases and technologies that can be used to support an LVC acquisition program.

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Army Orders Additional Laser Engagement Systems Cubic Global Defense (CGD) has received new contract orders worth nearly $20 million for its Instrumentable-Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System Individual Weapon Systems (I-MILES IWS) from the Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation. I-MILES IWS is integral to the quality of home-station training, advocates say, because it offers improvements to realism during training.

better use of training time by spending less on setup and calibration, and more on tactics to ensure that they are receiving the most realistic experience before being placed in

I-MILES IWS uses laser emitters that attach to military weapons and on-body sensors to replicate combat and records data for later review. The user-friendly system features small, lightweight components for individual soldiers. It requires less time to attach small-arms transmitters and align a weapon than previous versions, and maintains alignment during an entire exercise. “No one really knows what the future of war fighting will look like; therefore, there’s a need to have a balanced and full range of capabilities to better prepare our soldiers for any condition and environment,” said Bill Toti, president of CGD. “With our adaptive training equipment, soldiers can make

Simulation System Installed at UAS Training Center Aegis Technologies has successfully fielded a Vampire Institutional Training System (VITS) for classroom simulation at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio. Sinclair has incorporated Vampire as part of a stateof-the-art learning lab included in the National UAS Training and Certification Center. The simulation will support both credit and noncredit courses, as well as training and research leveraging live, virtual and constructive technologies and partnerships. Sinclair experts will use the system to teach students emergency procedures, track simulation time versus flight time and provide after-action review capabilities. Instructors will create their own scenarios for training purposes focused on agriculture, search and rescue and infrastructure inspection among other civil UAS applications. The Vampire Unmanned Aircraft System provides a virtual environment allowing operators to train and rehearse operator and mission-level tasks for each system. Closely integrated and correlated with the FalconView flight planning software, which are currently used by www.MT2-kmi.com

UAS operators, Vampire creates a virtual environment for training operator tasks, such as route and mission planning, as well as in-flight tasks, such as target tracking and reaction to emergency procedures. Vampire also provides tactical training scenarios on geo-specific terrain databases built from satellite imagery to produce visual quality that matches live systems, permitting operators to conduct mission rehearsals in remote areas of operation prior to deployment.

an actual war environment.” Earlier, the company announced that it had delivered specialized training systems to the Ukrainian Army worth $1.7 million. The equipment is interoperable with their existing MILES and Joint Multinational Readiness Center training systems, allowing the Ukrainian Army to train at the brigade level.

Agreement Distributes Hyperrealistic Surgical Cut Suit CAE Healthcare has signed an exclusive rights agreement to distribute the Strategic Operations (STOPS) Surgical Cut Suit and other simulation training products outside the United States. Designed for point-of-injury care, the Surgical Cut Suit allows first responders and physicians to practice performing surgical and emergency procedures on patients with simulated traumatic, life-threatening injuries. STOPS simulates medical response field scenarios through the “magic of Hollywood,” with hyper-realistic training environments that include special effects, role players and simulated wounds. STOPS has developed a line of medical products that can be worn by actors or Standardized Patients to allow real-time interaction with a trauma patient. The Surgical Cut Suit and Tactical Combat Casualty Care/EMS Cut Suit vest can also be zipped around a manikin to add realism to a scenario.

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Systems must contend with revisions in war-fighting doctrine based on more Than a decade of field operations. By Harrison Donnelly MT2 Editor As U.S. military training shifts to homestation exercises using complex scenarios based on intelligence about potential areas of operation, gunnery training systems are changing as well. Like other training programs, gunnery training systems, which use a mix of virtual, laser and live-fire techniques, are emphasizing cost-effective simulation technology in the face of budget constraints. At the same time, however, they must contend with revisions in war-fighting doctrine based on more than a decade of field operations. “The Army has learned lessons across 14 years of recent combat and has accordingly revised its doctrine for the future. Any training system, gunnery or not, must reflect that,” said Ernie Audino, senior vice president of military market development for Raydon. Recent priorities have focused on the revitalization of homestation training, as well as the Army’s Decisive Action Training Environment (DATE), which challenges soldiers to solve tactical problems in real-world scenarios derived from actual threats, Adino noted. “Industry must work hard to rapidly develop training capabilities that will address both. In my opinion, DATE will drive a full spectrum of training objectives that virtual training capabilities will have to support. That’s the training effectiveness side of the coin. The revitalization of homestation training, on the other hand, will be more about the logistics of training—that is, how do we make DATE training capabilities affordable and doable at homestation? 6 | MT2 20.7

“Specific to gunnery training, however, is the re-emphasis on the need to conduct combined-arms live-fire exercises much more frequently than we have in the recent past,” Audino continued. “There is no reason why virtual gunnery training capabilities should not respond to that. They can and should, as doing so will not only help improve unit proficiency, but also drive down the risk associated with multiple soldiers, locked and loaded, side by side, conducting a collective live-fire-and-maneuver training event in the dark. That’s a worthwhile challenge to industry.” At Saab Defense and Security USATraining and Simulation, executives see the likely evolutionary path for gunnery training simulators as one of expanded training capability. “Their full potential has

essentially not been fully exploited—they are typically being used for basic gunnery skills using somewhat dated doctrine,” said Pat Wells, director marketing and sales for SAAB AB. “There is an evident need for weapon training standards to be improved to ensure they include all contemporary combat-critical tasks and skills required for operational success. “The major armies are transitioning from an era in which a large percentage of units were deployed and their training programs were almost exclusively focused on counterinsurgency and stability operations, to an era requiring a broader range of operational requirements, in which specifics of the training environment are still emerging. Future virtual gunnery training systems will undoubtedly need to evolve to keep pace with developing training needs

Saab’s system is used for both precision gunnery training and combat/maneuver training in fighting vehicles, helicopters and vessels. [Photo courtesy of Saab AB]

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against a backdrop of limited live-fire opportunities,” Wells continued. “Modern forces are increasingly operating under global round-the-clock media coverage in highly complex terrains, both human and geographic,” observed Chuck Morant, vice president, global strategy and business development for CAE. “Information is being provided from numerous sensors operating throughout the air, land and littoral environments, making command, control, decision-making and the integration of these assets principal factors to incorporate into training. Effective and flexible gunnery training solutions will remain critical to acquiring and developing the skills that effectively integrate intelligence, firepower and maneuver, thereby enabling individuals, crews and formations to act instinctively, intuitively and legally in highly complex environments.” These training systems must also continue to take into account the unique needs of operators, observed Sébastien Lozé, senior marketing director for D-Box.

8 | MT2 20.7

Users of D-Box’s motion systems can add special effects to anything generated by the simulator. [Photo courtesy of D-Box]

“Gunners are very special people,” he said. “”Their field of operation, compared to others, is always tactical. That’s the big difference between them and other trainees. If they are in an operation, the operation is tactical, by virtue of their role. They are never in an environment that is very clear. There is a lot of noise,

smoke and other things happening, and it is a complex environment to understand. When you are aboard a vehicle as a gunner, you need to rely on different cues to understand if things are going as planned or if there is an emergency situation or threat that you need to respond to precisely and very fast.”

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Unique Capabilities In responding to changing military needs, each major player in this market is highlighting unique capabilities that enable it to fulfill market needs. CAE, for example, provides a fully managed service that enables military personnel to focus on the training delivered, according to Morant. “This includes the provision of software, hardware, support services and military subject matter expertise where appropriate. Our aim is to provide a worldclass training service that enables our customers to benefit from the integration of modern technology with military expertise. “Technologically, CAE’s gunnery trainers are designed to produce crews capable of operating their vehicles effectively within a collective environment,” Morant said. “CAE’s solutions meet the training needs at the individual and collective level, enabling the gunner, commander and driver to operate their vehicles proficiently. CAE’s gunnery trainers can be integrated and networked with other state-of-the-art simulation training devices to enhance the overall mission training capabilities in a virtual environment.” CAE’s virtual training solutions are designed to be comprehensive systems “where the focus remains firmly on the student/instructor interface, and is supported by precision metrics and scoring capabilities that measure success and enable efficient student throughput,” Morant added, pointing to the ability of the company’s classroom-based gunnery trainers to accommodate up to six students working with a single instructor. Saab’s live simulation gunnery system is based on the company’s BT46 scanning laser technology, which can accurately simulate the true ballistic characteristics and missile dynamics of any type of ammunition, while also correctly simulating visual cues for tracer, burst on target and obscuration. “The high-fidelity simulation of the system ensures that the crew carries out the correct engagement procedures without introducing negative drills,” Wells explained. “The use of laser-based simulation on ranges greatly reduces the financial and environmental burden of live firing.” In addition, Saab’s virtual crew trainer allows an instructor to train and assess individuals or the crew as a whole. This includes the interaction required between gunner, commander and driver during the

acquisition, engagement, correction and destruction of a target and measures the key performance indicators as required for any particular training event. A key part of Raydon’s strategy is to pay as much attention to the logistics of delivering training as it does to the achievement of the training objective itself. Every system is conceived and designed to drive down the hourly cost of training a soldier. “That’s easier said than done, of course, but a key factor is our inclusion of multifunction capabilities into every system. That means each of our systems can be used for more than one purpose, and when that happens, systems don’t sit idle. It naturally

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boosts utilization rates. When a unit has completed its gunnery ramp-up and no longer has a priority need for virtual gunnery trainers, for example, it can continue to train to support maneuver training objectives on the same Raydon system. The end result—more soldiers train to standard, more frequently, on the same investment,” said Audino. At Lockheed Martin, “Our gunnery training systems are known for their immersive realism, delivering the maximum training experience,” said Jim Weitzel, vice president of training solutions. “Through our familyof-systems approach, we also deliver rapidly reconfigurable technologies that deliver the

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Advanced Gunnery Training Systems from Lockheed Martin are available for several configurations, including Stryker vehicles. [Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin]

same training capability, but through different means, such as desktop trainers, part-task trainers or full simulators, so that they can be deployable as needed to meet customer requirements. For example, each of the five Advanced Gunnery Training System (AGTS) configurations includes the same full-fidelity AGTS software, databases and exercises, reducing overall device costs while meeting specific training needs.” AGTS has been used for more than 20 years to prepare forces to transition from simulation to live fire, Weitzel noted, pointing to a recent Marine Corps study showing that the system improves proficiency while curbing costs. “AGTS uses the Lockheed Martin-grown Scalable Advanced Graphics Engine, which leverages commercial gaming graphics to deliver incredible realism for warfighter training,” he added. Another critical issue concerns the mobility and accessibility of gunnery simulation systems, which must be flexible to meet changing needs. “Time is the biggest factor,” said Bert Ges, account executive for ground training for Cubic. “That’s the biggest thing is that the customer now needs. The Reserve component, for example, only trains 39 days a year. You don’t have time to drive the soldiers to the range, and spend a half hour on each round. With technology, we can do all that preliminary training in the armory.” Cubic offers the Engagement Skills Trainers (EST), an easy-to-install system focused on marksmanship, collective action and judgmental use of force. “What we’re doing with live-virtualconstructive training is to put it at the point of need. Before, you had to go to a 10 | MT2 20.7

training center, but now you can do it at your home station or elsewhere. With the EST, instead of having a building, now we can put it in two cases and take it wherever you are. If you want to maintain your skills, or teach them to others, you can set up the trainer within 20 minutes, with the same capabilities. We want to push this to the point of need and get technology out there,” Ges said.

Motion Simulation As a maker of motion systems for defense simulators, D-Box’s focus in the weapons training area is on the idea that the sense of touch is the simplest and most straightforward of the senses, and thus a key to preparing gunnery system operators for the real-world demands of a weapons platform in action. “The closest truth you can rely on is what you feel with your entire body—the attitude of the vehicle and the acceleration that the driver is inducing in the vehicle are giving you as much information as a vocal statement from someone else,” Lozé explained. “If the vibration of the vehicle or platform is giving you cues that your acceleration is happening, your body gets used to it and allows you to aim correctly. That’s why being very tactical and operational, and adding other cues to rely on than the classical visual and audio cues is important.” The D-Box system consists of two main domains—hardware and software. “The logic of our integration with different systems is that the actuators are animated and balanced by the D-Box firmware, which is driven by a

motion code. A motion code is a gateway that can be created by anyone based on our application programming interface. Any user of a simulation application can generate a motion code that will directly connect anything happening in their application in real time to our firmware,” he said. “Due to the flexibility of our API, DBOX Motion Systems users can also add special effects to anything generated by the simulator,” Lozé continued. “For example, you may have a very-high-fidelity vehicle simulator that can duplicate all the vibrations for the pilot and gunner. But what if the vehicle is under attack, and there is a denotation near you—how do you feel that?” Although such cues are traditionally not generated by a simulator’s host software, D-Box systems reproduce the vibrations and motions generated by flares, smoke and objects hitting the vehicle, and reproduce how a nearby explosion would influence the suspension of the vehicle. “What you would feel from those can be replicated in the simulator,” said Lozé. “If you want to experience and learn how it would really feel like, you have to get the cue. You need to be used to feeling these tactical environment special effects on your vehicle. It will build your reflexes and get you ready for the field so you can concentrate on your aim, target and your objective, and not be disturbed or surprised by your vehicle’s movements.” O For more information, contact MT2 Editor Hank Donnelly at hankd@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mt2-kmi.com.

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Effective maritime training must incorporate advanced learning features to ensure that critical thinking skills are addressed. By Karen E. Thuermer MT2 Correspondent Having the right experience is no guarantee that a maritime pilot will be ready for a job that requires him or her to board unfamiliar vessels while theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in motion, quickly take stock of the situation and start making decisions almost immediately. The job is by its nature unpredictable. So while on-the-job experience is by far the best preparation for a maritime pilot, a number of other critical skills are important, such as communication, composure and the ability to think quickly on oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s feet.

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inexpensively be created to evaluate a maritime piEffective training must not only mimic the real lot’s response in a manner that does not expose the world to provide authentic experiences, but also inpilot to harm or expose critical expensive and operacorporate advanced learning features to ensure that tional equipment to damage,” Rebarick remarked. critical thinking skills are addressed. The company offers the Learning Immersive Vir“Command experience and certification is the tual Environment (LIVE), which is Cubic’s solution gold standard for making great pilots,” remarked to bridging the gap between on-the-job and computBill Rebarick, senior director of business developer-based training. ment for advanced programs, Cubic Global Defense. “It all begins with a sophisticated set of tools, “Pilotage is a tough job, and it’s not getting easier by which allows us to quickly and efficiently convert the conditions in the industry. There are fewer pilots user inputs, background data and interview results available, and those that are left are exhausted and Bill Rebarick from subject-matter experts into usable training have very little time in a position to learn.” deliverables in an immersive, engaging environment,” Rebarick The difficulty of maintaining an adequate numbers of certisaid. “Imagine playing a video game where the game environment fied pilots is creating a need for new training courses that can is dutifully replicated to the pilot’s environment. Further imagine augment actual experience on the job, Rebarick suggested. Givbeing able to teach a pilot by using an avatar that can show them en the high levels of skill and knowledge required to do the job the gold-standard way to do their job, and watch over the pilot as certified, he sees a series of realistic seagoing experiences as the they practice (play) in their environment.” best methodology. This training methodology incorporates human factors and reThe challenges facing maritime pilots and aircrew today are quires usability experts who continually design, test and iterate a similar to those faced by pilots and aircrew from all services, obmaritime pilot design to ensure success for customers. served Bill Johnson, L-3 Link’s director of Navy business develop“We integrate experienced instructional designers, cognitive ment. “As it relates to simulation, this focuses on the training chalpsychologists, engineers, programmers, artists and storytellers lenge of providing a maximum amount of high-fidelity immersion into our vibrant team,” Rebarick said. for aircrews so that a larger percentage of missions can be trained Cubic team members bring knowledge and expertise to the in the simulator without sacrificing training quality,” Johnson said. collaborative game-based training design and development proGiven the flat and declining budgets facing the services today, cess, he explained. Sophisticated tools are utilized to streamline he continued, it is imperative that ground-based training continthe realistic game-based training environment to ensure educaues to work toward providing the most immersive environment tional theory is blended with high-fidelity artwork and immerpossible so that training received in the simulator transfers seamsive and interactive gaming environments to craft successful lessly to the aircraft. learning solutions. “This is especially important for maritime aircrews,” Johnson Typical learning games are created as unique “one-offs,” with said. “If there is one aspect that separates the maritime mission non-repeatable processes that do not scale, or as “gamified” verfrom its land-based counterparts, it is the extremely unforgiving sions of standard training modes, where game features such as environment in which maritime aircrews operate. Getting the leaderboards and accomplishment badges are added as minor enmaritime environment just right, such as inclement weather and ticements, Rebarick explained. But Cubic has created a produca pitching carrier deck, is challenging yet an absolute requiretion process that enables rapid specification of lesson content and ment for immersive training.” game design. Kevin Williams, vice president, Maritime Training Solutions “Cubic complements the fun and engagement of video games Division, Buffalo Computer Graphics, concurred. “The biggest with the latest advances in educational theory and the time-tested challenge that we have heard of from our customers is the everaspects of traditional learning methods,” he said. decreasing budgets of the training commands and Currently, Cubic is developing a comprehenother support entities charged with ensuring the sive training solution for the Navy that will provide readiness of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines training capabilities for all watch stations that will and Coast Guardsmen.” serve on board Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) combat Williams pointed out that in a reduced military vessels. “This training will be offered for both the budget environment, training and other activities Freedom and Independence variants that the Navy geared for readiness are often the first to be put operates and deploys, and is especially critical due to on the shelf. “If the downward spiral continues for the small crew complement that serves aboard these too long, it will be harder to properly man systems ships,” Rebarick revealed. which are continuing to increase in complexity,” Under the LCS contract, Cubic is designing, he warned. Kevin Williams developing and delivering an integrated training storyline of interactive multimedia instruction (IMI) to provide Replicating Emergencies train-to-qualify (individual, self-paced) and train-to-certify (team, group-paced) capability for watch stations. Cubic’s approach to the issue is to provide pilots with high“This courseware solution combines the immersion and enfidelity simulated experiences to augment actual experience and gagement of video games with the latest advances in educational accelerate the path to mastery of the task. theory and the time-tested aspects of traditional learning meth“Cubic provides a training methodology that can replicate realods,” Rebarick said. “This contract focuses on development and world emergencies and abnormal conditions that can safely and 12 | MT2 20.7

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delivery of the Immersive Virtual Ship Environment representing the LCS variants and an integrated set of Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM)-conformant IMI courseware products training operations and maintenance tasks for all watch stations.” The initial order is for LCS engineering plant technicians and readiness control officers. Cubic will deliver more than 500 lessons in an integrated training story line using IMI Levels I-IV. The training program provides comprehensive, immersive training for LCS watch-standers and maintainers. “The uniqueness of this delivery lies in the ability to present an entirely new environment through implementing revolutionary control methods which improves training time and familiarity within the space they are required to complete tasks,” Rebarick explained. “The program combines the best features of computerbased training and on-the-job training, while removing limitations and instructional shortcomings.” L-3 Link, meanwhile, is currently deploying immersion fidelity upgrades to the F/A-18 community. “These upgrades include a dramatically improved display system through integration of L-3 Link’s HD-9 solution, G-seat motion cueing, G awareness, and aural cueing fidelity,” Johnson said. These systems provide two major benefits, he indicated. First, they open up training tasks to simulation that previously was reserved for actual flights. This is accomplished by providing sensory cueing in the simulator that was not previously available. Second, they offer total immersion on all simulation tasks.

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“The result is a training experience that more closely replicates the actual environment and leads to more ownership of training objectives and elimination of negative training cueing, such as altered scan pattern due to sensory limitations,” Johnson said. Tactical examples of immersion fidelity benefits include realistic detection ranges, ability to maintain airspeed and altitude control without instrumentation reliance, more accurate power settings based on sounds, and the ability to make micro-control inputs “outside the cockpit.” The additional emphasis on immersion is paying off across many mission sets, with Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18 air combat training representing a perfect case study, Johnson added.

Radar Operators In addressing these needs, Buffalo Computer Graphics (BCG) has added to its line of radar emulations for training radar operators. “BCG’s PCVM is an emulation of the Navy’s NEXGEN radar, and we are looking forward to being able to train sailors and radar navigation students on the use of this newer radar,” commented Kevin Williams, vice president of BCG’s Maritime Training Solutions Division. BCG has partnered with Computer Sciences Corp. to offer a smaller, lower-cost ship navigation simulator that operates at a student’s desktop. This system provides radar, Electronic Chart Display and Information System, ship controls and out-the-window visual displays in a desktop package. “We have recently introduced our PCS-300 Radar Simulator as our latest custom hardware/software system that drives real radar systems with a higher level of fidelity,” Williams added. “Lastly, we have updated our Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), which has been updated to include a Fleet77 satellite phone and e-mail system.” An example of BCG’s newer emulation products being used for training is at the Army Transportation School in Fort Eustis, Va. There, the company has a 15-seat training classroom used for ship navigation, GMDSS and C4ISR training. This multi-use trainer allows the Army to utilize a single classroom for three different types of training. Since the simulation is all based on Windows applications, a single computer at each station can be configured by the instructor to run virtual trainers for navigation training using radar, ECDIS and simulated ship controls; GMDSS operations training using a required set of communication devices; and C4ISR training with various military radios operating in both encrypted and un-encrypted modes. The classroom has two instructor stations: one in the front of the classroom integrated with a smartboard for lecturing and demonstration, and a second instructor position in the rear of the classroom used for student testing.

Modular Platform Another provider of military maritime simulation technology, Kongsberg Maritime, is now introducing the K-Sim line of maritime simulators. Unlike previous generations of product, K-Sim uses the same core system architecture, software platform and user interface for all of its simulation systems. www.MT2-kmi.com

VBS Blue A New World for Simulation

Your Support Means the World to Us Bohemia Interactive Simulations first entered the global MS&T market 10 years ago at I/ITSEC. Working closely with military customers the world over, we’ve developed and refined new features and capabilities for our software, extending Virtual Battlespace for a broad range of simulation and training uses. Today, VBS is a standard in game-based simulation software. We continue to push the boundaries of game-based simulation with new products. At I/ITSEC 2015, we’re introducing VBS Blue, our ambitious project to render the entire earth in VBS. Come celebrate the future of game-based simulation technology at I/ITSEC with BISim.

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“The result is a completely modular platform with an extremely robust physics engine that can easily support the simulation of the full scope of maritime operations,” remarked Terje Heierstad, global product manager, Kongsberg Maritime, Simulation. “K-Sim is scenario-centric and object-oriented, which means that the simulator and its various components, such as its engine, bridge, cargo or crane, can be added or removed as needed to create a training system that supports the full range of operational training, mission rehearsal and crew resource management,” Heierstad said. The technology was first applied to offshore and anchor handling operations due to the heavy demands of these operations for precise physical modelling of such objects as various anchor types, wires and connection shackles. Subsequently, the same platform is being used to simulate vessel Cubic is developing a comprehensive training solution for the Navy that will provide training capabilities for all watch maneuvers and positioning of surface and sub- stations that will serve on board Littoral Combat Ship combat vessels. [Image courtesy of Cubic Corporation] sea equipment for marine well containment and other complex “Transas has a worldwide reputation and comprehensive knowprocedures. how for implementing the latest generation of full bridge simu“In the next several years, the scope of K-Sim scenarios and lators and engine room trainers,” van den Berg explained. “Since training will be expanded to include all aspects of complex navy both partners plan to integrate their already widely proven product operations including traditional major combatant maneuvering, portfolio, a first-generation configuration of the FWST is expected aircraft launch and recovery, as well as amphibious operations, into be available to the market within the next two years.” cluding the loading/offloading of cargo and landing craft launch The system will enable individual teams to train various sceand recovery,” Heierstad revealed. narios, for instance as part of navigation training on the bridge, All naval clients use the simulators for training in ship hanor a classic skirmish from an operations center. But as part of the dling, navigation and tactical skills. For naval engineers, the K-Sim final deployment preparation, all individual teams of a ship’s crew, Engine simulator is used for process understanding and engine such as the bridge, operations center and engine room, as well as room and engine control room operational training. “Navy clients deployed units, operate as a complex unit to develop the demanding also use the simulators for pre-mission planning and research, interactive and information-exchange skills needed to get a crew such as fatigue studies,” Heierstad added. “Our impression is that and ship fully ready for operations. there is a trend moving towards more and more simulator training “The FWST approach provides the option to train classic docsince the realism and training possibilities are increasing with new trines and maritime scenarios, as well as expected future scenarios and more accurate simulation technology.” as part of mission preparation. In addition to playing the role of a training device, FWST can also assume an important function for the development of deployment principles and procedures, and Warship Training also as part of future procurement projects. Its overall modular approach also enables customers to flexibly expand individual trainTransas Marine, a major international provider of high-tech ing elements, thus customizing their individual training center to equipment, software applications, integrated solutions and sertheir own needs,” van den Berg said. vices for the maritime industry, is also active in the market for military maritime training. Building on its strength in commercial maritime operations, the company has joined with Thales to create Course for the Future the Full Warship Trainer concept (FWST). “This modular simulation solution, which will be offered in The irregular work hours of a maritime pilot make routine various configurations, is the first of its kind to create a virtual training difficult. With real-time and on-ship training increasingsimulation of an entire warship for training purposes. This enly more difficult, the need to train in an immersive environment compasses the ship’s control from the bridge, the work in the where a pilot can receive a master-pilot certificate is growing. As the engine room, combat management system training and realistic International Maritime Pilots Association has recognized, “practitraining in use of sensors and weapons and organic units such cal minimum training standards, certification requirements and as helicopters, inflatable boats and boarding teams,” according to operational procedures to provide effective coordination between Frans van den Berg, a retired rear admiral who serves as busipilots and ship personnel, taking due account of ship bridge proness development executive for naval simulation and training for cedures and ship equipment, would contribute to maritime safety.” Transas Marine. Consequently, Rebarick sees immersive game-based learning as Thales Germany is contributing its experience in developing providing an excellent way to meet the standards that are recoggeneric and type-specific operational and tactical trainers, such nized as a sound method for training. “Over the next three to five as Action Speed Tactical Trainers and weapon control simulators, years, Cubic expects to see the demand for training in an off-hull he added. environment growing substantially,” he said. 16 | MT2 20.7

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In a broad sense going forward, Rebarick suggested, the future holds a significant growth in digital content for training, a demand for less training time to achieve proficiency, and more “anywhere, anytime” training. “As the piloting of maritime craft also evolves with the adaption of new technologies, training requirements will need to adapt,” he said. “Changes in the operating environments, with the onset of new technologies such as remotely piloted watercraft, along with increasing complex maritime environments and operating in crowded ports, mean that on-going training will need to adapt quickly.” Another important aspect of successful maritime simulation is the projectors for day and nighttime training used in everything from single-person rib trainer simulators up to ships’ full-scale bridge simulators requiring a large field of view. High-quality, accurate and stable images are important in order to feel immersed and train effectively for complex and risky operations. Completely immersed synthetic environments put requirements to the simulator’s system resolution and system brightness, and it is important that the simulator’s visual meets the specified criteria for detection, orientation, recognition and identification of an object. Depending on the type of simulator and type of training given, there are different requirements to resolution, brightness, and black levels of the visual. One company in this field is Barco, which offers a variety of specifically designed high-resolution projectors with different technologies for the different types of requirements needed.

The high resolution is important for reducing the number of channels needed in a system and thereby decreases maintenance costs while maintaining high total system resolution. Over the next three to five years, Johnson predicted, immersion fidelity technology combined with other rapidly developing technologies such as live-virtual-constructive will ensure that aircrews are training in a secure, high-fidelity environment. “This environment will test aircrews to their limit, while driving down costs to the services at the same time,” Johnson said. He also sees advances in training technology corresponding to advances in the understanding of the science of learning. “Learning centered on individual achievement will replace training focused on very specific functionality,” Johnson said. “Some of the most encouraging advances in technology in this regard include performance assessment tools and adaptive learning protocols. These solutions continuously monitor student performance and present scenarios to the student based on decisions made during the training event.” With government funds getting continually smaller, Williams foresees a need to have smaller, more portable training systems that would allow the simulator to be deployed aboard ship or at a central location for training without the need for bridge teams or individual sailors to travel to a larger training center. O For more information, contact MT2 Editor Hank Donnelly at hankd@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mt2-kmi.com.

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I/ITSEC demonstration highlights the growing importance of live-virtual-constructive training.

By Harrison Donnelly, MT2 Editor

A coordinated demonstration bringing together 32 companies and government organizations at the I/ITSEC conference in Orlando, Fla., highlighted the rise of the live-virtual-constructive (LVC) concept to a central role in thinking about the future of military training. The conference, held November 30-December 4, featured Operation Blended Warrior (OBW), a hypothetical exercise in which a humanitarian crisis in a notional U.S. ally develops into the full range of conventional military operations involving nearby countries, from emergency rescue to air strikes and an amphibious landing. The demonstration, for which the National Training and Simulation Association (NTSA) provided logistic and administrative support, featured 15 “vignettes,” or aspects of the unfolding crisis. Participants showed how their capabilities can work together to achieve desired outcomes and help prepare personnel for real-world operations. The 15 vignettes were divided into five blocks or stages: “disaster strikes,” “immediate response,” “countering exploitation,” “securing the skies” and “forward from the sea.” Preparation of the project, which was initially suggested by Captain Wes Naylor, commanding officer of the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD), stretched over much of 2015. Government and industry experts met on a regular basis to develop the scenario—in which the nation of Balboa contends with a disaster and hostile actions by unfriendly neighbors—and integrated the complex systems involved. Participants also underscored the importance of those integration efforts as critical to the success of LVC initiatives. “True LVC integration is a problem that has been worked on for many years,” noted Marcus Boyd, L-3 Link’s senior manager for Air Force business development. “Unfortunately, the multitude of proprietary methods/standards has exacerbated Marcus Boyd the complexity of this problem. Having events such as OBW provides an opportunity to work through this problem in a collaborative setting. This is primarily done by capturing lessons learned to be used by all for integrating an LVC event and determining the best-of-breed capabilities for a particular event.” Along with Rockwell Collins, Cubic and CAE, L-3 Link was a sponsor of the event, for which Cisco provided essential networking equipment. 18 | MT2 20.7

Stepping back from the event itself, executives involved agreed that the LVC concept is becoming a dominant one in the field, especially at a time of limited resources. “For a variety of solid reasons, LVC training will play an increasingly important role in the future. It has the potential to improve both training effectiveness and training efficiency. LVC will also allow training involving systems and situations that are nearly impossible to create in live training alone, yet will provide nearly the same level of realism and fidelity,” said Aptima Fellow Webb Stacy, Ph.D. “LVC training is very important to the readiness of our service-members,” added Bob Kleinhample, director of simulation and training systems for SAIC. “With the greater emphasis on home station training, our services require LVC training that is costeffective, more available and able to replicate the complexities of the warfBob Kleinhample ighter. The LVC demonstration will provide examples of what is possible and how industry can help enable this realistic training.” Following are reports from a few of the 24 corporate participants. NAWCTSD, NTSA and six other military commands were also involved.

Aptima Aptima demonstrated its during-and-after-action review products, as well as PM Engine, a performance measurement engine. “We will show how a training event is far more than just an exercise; it’s something that can be measured and have training value derived from the measurement in future years,” said Principal Software Engineer Michael Knapp. “We also plan to participate in events with multiple human actors alongside virtual and constructive entities. We want to showcase our interoperability with many different hardware simulators from multiple manufacturers, as well as our focus on the human.”

CAE CAE showcased two solutions as part of OBW. The MQ-9 Reaper UAS mission trainer was used to provide ISR and strike capabilities www.MT2-kmi.com

during the OBW mission. This UAS simulator includes an immersive synthetic environment that provides an ideal platform for ab-initio training, pilot training and sensor operator training. The MQ-9 Reaper UAS mission trainer features aircraft-specific operational scenarios tailored to customers’ training needs; high-fidelity, accurate sensor simulation; Common Database; physics-based computer generated forces; and support for distributed mission operations and training. The Aeromedical Evacuation Training System was featured during the OBW aeromedical evacuation scenario. CAE’s demonstration included a C-130 fuselage trainer measuring approximately 28 feet in length and outfitted for the aeromedical evacuation mission. This particular C-130 fuselage trainer was delivered to the Air Force and used at Dobbins Air Force Reserve Command, Ga., immediately following I/ ITSEC. Inside the C-130 fuselage trainer were human patient simulators developed by CAE Healthcare.

Cubic In the air domain, Cubic integrated its P5 pod with the Cubic Miniaturized Encryptor, and the Individual Combat Aircrew Debrief System into Strike assets. The air domain integrated with ground systems that included the Engagement Skills Trainer 3000, Reconfigurable Vehicle Simulator and Dynamic Social Media Environment. “Cubic’s role in Operation Blended Warrior is a substantial and tangible demonstration of our commitment to products and solutions in the LVC arena, including interoperability among our own products,”

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a company executive explained. “Our holistic systems integration approach to the C4ISR environment allows Cubic to remain agnostic in a blended training environment. This is specifically demonstrated by our integration of Cubic products with those of our L-3 partners in our booth on the show floor, as well as the overall integration within the OBW exercise.”

FlightSafety FlightSafety showcased the EC135 Demonstrator and Vital 1100 IG in the command/control, convoy, medevac, and cyber vignettes. The EC 135 helicopter Matrix system, representing a civilian helicopter with EMS and freight carrying capability, engaged in “free flying” in the scenarios in response to various scripted events, in coordination with other free flying elements as well. The goal was to demonstrate the ability to participate in an interoperability event, according to the company, which planned to utilize environmental database build tools to convert an NPSI terrain/ imagery dataset into a Vital runtime database with quick turn-around capability, including model development/integration.

L-3 Link L-3 Link Simulation & Training provided two SimuStrike Part Task Trainers—a virtual and “live” surrogate F-16 for air-to-air and airto-ground operations. The company also provided a virtual adversary

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“When you look at the range of capabilities we at fighter aircraft using a high-fidelity and reconfigurable Rockwell Collins bring to bear on the LVC domain, desktop trainer. both for training and test and evaluation applications, “The live surrogate is a unique use of one of our you see that we are perhaps the only company that can simulators to replicate a live (real person/real equipbring everything from aircraft and vehicle simulators ment) participant,” Boyd explained. “A live-range teto training range infrastructure, multilevel secure lemetry pod commonly carried by Air Force and Navy communications and cockpit enhancements to fully fighters is directly connected to the SimuStrike like it realize the potential of the LVC paradigm. In particuwould be connected to the actual aircraft. This pod is lar, as LVC begins to embrace full integration of live then connected to a live-range ground station. entities, we are uniquely poised to address those chal“The only way to get information from and to the lenges,” said Chip Gilkison, director, strategy, LVC for SimuStrike is via the pod/ground station. This effecChip Gilkison Rockwell Collins. tively simulates the information path between a live flyer and virtual players/constructive entities that would be used in a real LVC event. The live surrogate will then be paired with its virtual SAIC wingman (the other SimuStrike) in a different booth to fly missions highlighting a distributed capability,” he continued. SAIC demonstrated the high-fidelity cloud network component of the SAIC Integrated Training Edge solution. “This capability delivers highly engaging applications via the cloud Rockwell Collins to lower-end and typically available user devices and platforms,” Kleinhample explained. “It is a significant breakthrough because previous Products showcased by Rockwell Collins, which was involved in efforts to deliver engaging applications via the cloud failed because 10 of the 15 vignettes, include Realfires, a targeting training solution graphic processing units (GPUs) did not virtualize well. SAIC and VMthat uses both real and virtual environments, and the EP-8100 image ware partnered together on delivering an innovative solution where generation system. It also highlighted several LVC innovations, such simulation applications requiring the GPUs are now able to have the as LVC-enabled avionics developed for the Office of Naval Research and entire solution delivered via the cloud. prototypes of LVC-enabled range equipment, which will provide new, “SAIC will demonstrate this during OBW by using several of VT flexible training for 4th and 5th generation aircraft. MAK’s simulation applications to be fully accessed via the cloud and operated on low-end computing devices such as zero clients, laptops and tablets,” he added

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VT MÄK led the Maritime Threat vignette and supported many others. The company’s VR-Forces Computer Generated Forces platform provides naval vessels, civilian shipping, pirate boats and a rotary-wing UAV search and destroy mission, along with ground and unmanned vehicle threats. The DI-Guy Scenario and ECOSim tools, meanwhile, provide tactical simulation of ground forces defending a power plant, civilian populations in distress during the convoy missions, and targets for CAS missions. VR-Forces also provides situational awareness and demonstration support. MÄK is helping the preparation phases of the exercise by providing VR-Exchange gateways and the MÄK Data Logger for scenarios recording and playback. Throughout planning and preparation and during the exercise, VR-Exchange has been used as a gateway between participants’ booth LANs and the exercise LAN, helping protect the network from unwanted traffic. “This demonstrates that VT MÄK is a leader in simulation interoperability and a key provider of LVC simulation tools, and also that MÄK tools are critical components of a successful distributed simulation event,” said Brian Spaulding, director of contract research and development and trainer development. Even as they have worked to bring the OBW demonstration together, participants have also been looking ahead to future projects. O

For more information, contact MT2 Editor Hank Donnelly at hankd@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mt2-kmi.com.

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DATA PACKETS Study Examines Role, Training of Combat Medics As the Army draws down its presence in overseas conflicts, Army combat medics need to expand their clinical skills as they transition from the battlefield to other duty assignments across the military medical community. In response, ECS has undertaken a research project designed to identify future training requirements for Army medics. While their primary mission is still to provide emergency medicine on the battlefield, their role also encompasses

providing varying levels of support at medical treatment facilities such as battalion aid stations, clinics, and hospitals. In this capacity, the combat medic works under the supervision of physicians and alongside other medical professionals. The research project will identify required clinical skills and associated training requirements to develop a proof-of-concept application that delivers simulated scenarios to teach and enable the practice of key skills,

such as patient interviews; data collection and synthesis; diagnosis; and development of a management plan. The proof of concept developed through this effort will demonstrate the feasibility of delivering simulation content across mobile platforms and operating systems to allow combat medics to become proficient in a variety of clinical settings. An effectiveness evaluation will use the proof of concept to assess the impact these capabilities have on learning.

Site Offers High-Fidelity Military Models

3-D System Trains for Emergency Anesthesia The Virtual Heroes Division of Applied Research Associates has released HumanSim: Sedation and Airway, a 3-D virtual trainer for administering emergency anesthesia and managing breathing. This marks the first time the software, which Virtual Heroes developed for the Army’s Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, is available to the public. The trainer couples an immersive 3-D training environment with an advanced physiology engine. The software allows physicians, nurses, medics and other emergency personnel to practice rapid sequence induction and moderate sedation, techniques for quickly sedating and intubating critically injured patients. Trainees are challenged by 10 separate scenarios, with patient complications such as airway trauma and multiple drug interactions, covering a very wide variety of patient situations.

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Aegis Technologies has launched a new Aegis Elements website offering customers hundreds of high-fidelity models, a free model “download of the month” plus online requests for custom 2-D and 3-D model quotes. The new Aegis Elements site is loaded with high-fidelity, real-time, military 3-D models that have been custom built and compiled over the last two decades by leading 3-D artists, designers and developers for use in simulators, gaming applications, demos, STEMbased education programs and more. Users can search Aegis Elements for hundreds of 3-D models, including articulated ground vehicles, maritime vessels, aircraft, missiles and weaponry. A customer’s search criteria can be filtered by level of detail, country code, damage

states and national markings. Aegis Elements 3-D models can be designed for real-time simulations featuring low polygon counts and highresolution textures. Models can be integrated with numerous Geospatial datasets and 2-D/3-D viewing applications.

Gunnery Trainer Enables Training With Live Crew The Armory-Based Unstabilized Crew Gunnery Trainer (UGT-C) from Raydon is the latest member of the UGT family and capitalizes on the 590 Unstabilized Gunnery TrainerIndividual (UGT-I) trainers currently being fielded by the Army National Guard to all states and territories. While the UGT-I allows the individual gunner to bring his own gunnery skills to an expert level using a synthetic driver, commander and instructor in a self-paced

training environment, the UGT-C allows the now-proficient gunner to train with a live crew, bringing proficiency to their live-fire events. UGT-C’s addition of driver, commander and I/O provides invaluable crew training at a fraction of the cost of traditional non-modular systems and was specifically designed for space-efficient armory deployment. UGT-C brings the power of the Virtual Combat Operations Trainer into the armory.

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Compiled by KMI Media Group staff

Simulation Environment Supports Team-based Scenarios Aptima has contributed DDD, a simulation environment designed for team-based scenarios such as military and first-responder exercises, to the open-source software community, where it’s now available for free on GitHub. Aptima developed DDD, which stands for the “distributed dynamic decision-making” environment, as a platform to research the effectiveness of multiparticipant teams, particularly the communications and collaboration in scenarios such as air battle operations, joint task force commands and disaster response. Using DDD, researchers can simulate an earthquake scenario, for example, in order to test different emergency management protocols, first-responder team structures, and communication channels. To create scenarios that represent the physical world with a birds-eye top-down view, DDD’s Visual Scenario Generator lets users flexibly set up scenarios without programming. Global users can script scenarios as varied as military conflicts to industrial accidents to natural disasters, specifying the environment or terrain, human roles, communications networks, and command chains, and the types of vehicles or aircraft involved. DDD supports voice and chat between players, as well as whiteboarding. Game assets can be assigned with attributes and capabilities.

Weapons Trainer Offers Automatic Coaching Meggitt Training Systems has introduced the FATS100e, an extension of the FATS M100 and a major expansion in weapons training capability, introducing new features such as Crytek-based 3-D lanes, automatic coaching and VBS3-based collective training. The 3-D lanes provide visually realistic and highly detailed terrains and targets, including weather, and striking visual effects including wind-blown environments, birds in flight, dirt splashes and explosions. Automatic coaching has never been available in the small-arms training market, and collective training is new

to the VBS3 system. The new system provides an array of functionality for both instructor and trainee, delivering weapon handling and shot placement analytics, coaching tools that automatically highlight trainee results for reinforcement or correction, and enhanced graphic capabilities for an all-encompassing immersive training platform. With the new features and expansions, FATS100e will offer training advancements delivered per Army and Marine Corps instructional requirements, including the latest technological developments to meet the needs of combat forces worldwide.

Interactive Air Environment Enhances Air Force Trainers UFA has enhanced Air Force T-1A Operational Flight Trainers with the company’s ATWorld Interactive Air Traffic Environment solution. Working with L-3 Link Simulation & Training, the prime contractor, UFA integrated ATWorld on T-1A Ground-Based Training System simulators and the program’s pilot instructor training syllabus. During crew training sessions, ATWorld dynamically and autonomously simulates an air traffic control environment, including background air and ground traffic, contextually

correct multi-frequency radio communications and a virtual air traffic controller. The crew interacts with the virtual air traffic controller using UFA’s ATVoice voice recognition and response product. T-1A crew training sessions can now focus on increasing situational awareness, standard and effective communications with ATC, and operating in a congested air traffic environment. ATWorld replicates the real-world environment for specific locations so that crews are able to train on and around airports.

Visual System Upgrades F-22 Raptor Training Boeing has completed its upgrade of all Air Force F-22 Raptor Mission Training Centers with its high-fidelity Constant Resolution Visual System (CRVS). The system trains pilots in a more realistic visual environment than current simulators and allows them to experience extreme maneuvers that typically are only practiced in a simulator. The final CRVS installations were recently done by Boeing and the Air Force at Tyndall AFB, Fla. Simulators at Hickam AFB, Hawaii; Elmendorf AFB, Alaska; and Langley AFB, Va., also have the system. Boeing’s patented CRVS display is the centerpiece of the training suite and provides highresolution imagery for pilots with nearly 20/20 acuity in an immersive, 360-degree visual environment. By using off-the-shelf projectors, the system takes advantage of the rapidly emerging commercial technology. CRVS, first delivered in 2010, is found in a variety of other aircraft simulators, including the F-15 Eagle, AH-64 Apache, M-346 Master, BAE Hawk and F-16 Fighting Falcon. A member of the F-22 Raptor team with Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney, Boeing develops, integrates and delivers F-22 aircrew and maintenance training systems to the Air Force, along with logistics and sustainment services.

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Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. Yakima Training Center Lt. Col. Jason Evers www.lewis-mcchord.army.mil/Yakima Lt. Col. Jason Evers

Fort Irwin, Calif. National Training Center Brig. Gen. Joseph M. Martin Commanding General www.irwin.army.mil Brig. Gen. Joseph M. Martin

Fort Huachuca, Ariz. Intelligence Center Maj. Gen. Scott D. Berrier Commanding General http://huachuca-www.army.mil Maj. Gen. Scott D. Berrier

Fort Bliss, Texas Army Sergeant Majors Academy Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Defreese Commandant http://usasma.armylive.dodlive.mil

Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Defreese

Fort Sam Houston, Texas Army Medical Department Center and School

Maj. Gen. Stephen L. Jones

Maj. Gen. Stephen L. Jones Commanding General www.cs.amedd.army.mil/

Fort Wainwright, Alaska Northern Warfare Training Center Lt. Col. Mick Braun Commandant www.wainwright.army.mil/nwtc Lt. Col. Mick Braun

Maj. Gen. Austin S. Miller

Col. Andrew C. Hilmes

Brig. Gen. Scott McKean

Brig. Gen. Peter L. Jones

Fort Benning, Ga.

Brig. Gen. Kent D. Savre

Brig. Gen. Maria R. Gervais

Brig. Gen. James H. Raymer

Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

Maj. Gen. Austin S. Miller Commanding General Maneuver Center of Excellence

Armor Center

Col. Andrew C. Hilmes Garrison Commander Basic training. Also provides infantry and cavalry scout One Station Unit Training (OSUT). www.benning.army.mil

Infantry School

Maj. Gen. Kent D. Savre Commanding General Basic training. Also provides engineering, chemical warfare and military police OSUT. www.wood.army.mil

Brig. Gen. Peter L. Jones www.benning.army.mil/infantry/infantry.htm

CBRN School

Brig. Gen. Scott McKean www.benning.army.mil/armor

Fort Lee, Va.

Ordnance Corps and School

Brig. Gen. Maria R. Gervais www.wood.army.mil/newweb/chemical

Engineer School Brig. Gen. James H. Raymer www.wood.army.mil/USAES

Military Police School Brig. Gen. Keven Vereen www.wood.army.mil/usamps

Fort Jackson, S.C.

Maj. Gen. Roger L. Cloutier Jr. Garrison Commander Largest basic training location. http://jackson.armylive.dodlive.mil

Brig. Gen. Kurt J. Ryan www.goordnance.army.mil

Quartermaster School Brig. Gen. Kurt J. Ryan

Brig. Gen. Keven Vereen

Brig. Gen. Ronald Kirklin

Brig. Gen. Michel M. Russell

Brig. Gen. Ronald Kirklin www.quartermaster.army.mil

Transportation Corps and School Brig. Gen. Michel M. Russell www.transportation.army.mil

Maj. Gen. Roger L. Cloutier Jr.

Col. Richard J. Nieberding Jr.

Soldier Support Institute Col. Richard J. Nieberding Jr. Includes Adjutant General School, Financial Management School, Army School of Music, Non Commissioned Officer Academy www.ssi.army.mil/

Military Training Technology

West Point, N.Y. U.S. Military Academy Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr. Superintendent www.westpoint.edu Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr.

Fort Knox, Ky. Maj. Gen. Peggy Combs Commanding General Cadet Command www.knox.army.mil Maj. Gen. Peggy Combs

Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va. 2

Army Training and Doctrine Command Gen. David G. Perkins Commanding General www.tradoc.army.mil

Gen. David G. Perkins

Fort Bragg, N.C. 4

Army Special Operations Center of Excellence Maj. Gen. James B. Linder Commanding General www.soc.mil/swcs Maj. Gen. James B. Linder

Fort Gordon, Ga. Army Signal School Brig. Gen. Thomas A. Pugh www.signal.army.mil

Brig. Gen. Thomas A. Pugh

Fort Polk, La. Joint Readiness Training Center Brig. Gen. Timothy P. McGuire Commanding General www.jrtc-polk.army.mil Brig. Gen. Timothy P. McGuire

Orlando, Fla.

Maj. Gen. John G. Rossi

Brig. Gen. Christopher L. Spillman

Fort Sill, Okla.

Brig. Gen. William A. Turner

PEO Simulation, Training & Instrumentation Maj. Gen. Jon Maddux Program Executive Officer www.peostri.army.mil Maj. Gen. Jon Maddux

Field Artillery School

Maj. Gen. John G. Rossi Commanding General Basic training. Also provides artillery OSUT. http://sill-www.army.mil

Brig. Gen. William A. Turner http://sill-www.army.mil/USAFAS

Air Defense Artillery School Brig. Gen. Christopher L. Spillman http://sill-www.army.mil/ADASchool

Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Mission Command Training Program Col. Edward T. Bohnemann Commander http://usacac.army.mil/organizations/cact/mctp Col. Edward T. Bohnemann

Brig. Gen. Mark J. O’Neil

Combined Arms Center-Training Brig. Gen. Mark J. O’Neil Deputy Commanding General http://usacac.army.mil/organizations/cact

Grafenwoehr, Germany 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command Brig. Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli www.eur.army.mil/JMTC Brig. Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli

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Major General Jonathan A. Maddux Program Executive Officer for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation U.S. Army Major General Jonathan A. Maddux is the Program Executive Officer for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI). A native of Michigan, Maddux entered the Army as an enlisted soldier in 1976. After a three-year enlisted tour with the 82nd Airborne Division, he earned a Bachelor of Science in English Language and Literature and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Operations Research Analysis from Eastern Michigan University and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Army. His postgraduate education includes: a Master’s degree in Administration from Central Michigan University, a Master’s degree in Telecommunications from University of Colorado (Boulder) and a MSST in Strategy from the United States Army War College. His military education includes the Signal Officer Basic and Advance Courses, Project Management Course, Defense Systems Management College, Army Command and General Staff College and the Army War College. Maddux has held key staff positions at the tactical, operational/joint and strategic levels. His prior assignments include: Assistant to the Principal Military Deputy, Assistant Secretary of the Army Acquisition, Logistics and Technology [ASA(ALT)]; deputy commanding general, Support, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom; Program Executive Officer Ammunition/commanding general, Picatinny Arsenal; Chief of Staff, Office of the ASA(ALT), Pentagon, Washington, D.C.; director for Army Evaluation Task Force Integration, Directorate for Program Manager for Future Combat Systems (Brigade Combat Team); project manager for Future Combat Systems Network Systems Integration; executive officer, Aviation and Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Systems Directorate, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Research, Development and Acquisition); Staff Officer, Aviation and Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Systems Directorate, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Research, Development and Acquisition); and commander, Signal Detachment, 75th Ranger Regiment, after a successful company command of B Company, 38th Signal Battalion. Maddux also served as an enlisted military police in the 82nd Airborne Division MP Company and 301st POW Military Police Brigade. Maddux’s awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit with four oak leaf clusters, the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, Army Commendation www.MT2-kmi.com

Medal with five oak leaf clusters, Army Achievement Medal with oak leaf cluster, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal with two service stars, Southwest Asia Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with service star, Global War on Terrorism Medal, NATO Medal, Kuwait Liberation Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Master Parachutist Badge, Korean and French Parachutist Badges, Air Assault Badge, Department of the Army Staff Identification Badge and the coveted Black and Gold Ranger Tab. Q: The 2016 “strategy map” for PEO STRI lists its first goal to “align portfolio to support Force 2025 and testing priorities.” What will PEO STRI be like when this goal is achieved? How do you plan to get there, and how will you know if you are making progress as you go along? A: Beginning in May 2014, and continuing to this day, we reorganized to more closely align to other U.S. Army organizations. We implemented a G staff structure and realigned our project management offices into more functionally-oriented organizations to meet both current Army needs and posture ourselves to meet future Army simulation, training, testing and cyber requirements. Our inaugural Long Range Investment Requirements Analysis (LIRA) charters our course for the future by leveraging legacy and new project planning. LIRA’s intent is to inform and shape our future funding (program objective memorandum (POM)) submissions. In addition to evaluating our current projects, LIRA addresses emerging requirements including cyber MT2 20.7 | 27

threat and cyber collective training programs, the Integrated Live, Virtual and Constructive Test Environment (ILTE), the Army Tactical Engagement Simulation System (ATESS) and the Training Instrumentation System (TIS), a single-instrumentation solution for the future live training environment. As an integral part of our annual LIRA, we are also establishing a sustainable science and technology (S&T) insertion strategy. This includes identifying technology needs and gaps, defining and establishing S&T governance and driving S&T investments in the Army and our industry counterparts. Finally, in conjunction with our partner, the Combined Arms Center (CAC), we are introducing new programs, specifically the Synthetic Training Environment (STE), through the use of a Collaborative Environment as the “technology incubation center” for STE development and maturation. Our ultimate goal is to enhance realistic training in complex environments to help build cohesive teams who not just survive, but thrive in conditions of chaos and ambiguity. Q: PEO STRI recently held a Synthetic Training Environment Technology/Industry Day to provide industry and academia the opportunity to hear the details of the forthcoming STE innovation. What goals does the Army have for STE innovation? A: The STE is a collaborative environment that will explore and use technologies from industry, academia, and the government’s

science and technology labs to harness new technologies to prepare units and develop leaders at home stations to fight and win our nation’s wars. It combines action from live, virtual, constructive and gamebased training to populate mission command systems with data, allowing for a more realistic common operating picture for the commander. The STE will employ “leap ahead” and “disruptive” technologies currently not available in the current the Live, Virtual, and Constructive Integrating Architecture (LVC-IA) program to facilitate the creation of the complex conditions found in any operational environment—conditions the Army can ill afford to replicate solely in live training environments. The STE will enable commanders to develop agile, adaptive leaders and versatile units, capable of operating in any complex situation. There are several strategic objectives with respect to the STE. They include the requirement to reduce operational complexity, improve soldier and unit readiness, provide more realistic training environments, reduce development and operations and sustainment costs, increase agility to provide customized training on demand, leverage Army Enterprise Networks and prevailing industry standards, and be Army Common Operating Environment compliant. We are in the early stages of formulating the STE, and we are looking to industry and academia to help shape the foundation of the future architectural framework to make sure the STE keeps

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pace with technology developments over time, as well as evolving industry standards. Q: What is the framework of the STE innovation process? A: The STE innovation process will include rapid prototyping events in a collaborative environment, a collaborative web-based design portal for interactive software design with industry/academia and integration of emerging S&T capabilities throughout the development lifecycle. The architecture conceptual framework, as currently envisioned, calls for a core infrastructure and external services. The core infrastructure will provide core support services, resources and the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) backbone. A major strength of a SOA implementation is a messaging backbone that can reliably transport data across an integrated enterprise to get the right information to the right person at the right time for better decision making. The external services are envisioned to leverage existing enterprise solutions such as VMware virtualization infrastructure solutions and public key infrastructure solutions. Q: What science and technology challenges does it face? A: The hurdles include architecture challenges, architecture support challenges, single synthetic environment challenges, one-world

30 | MT2 20.7

terrain challenges, point-of-need challenges, artificial intelligence challenges, intelligent tutoring systems challenges and big data challenges. Architecture. The architecture challenges include providing a cloud-enabled training as a service capability that makes training resources available to end-users without tech support. The architecture must provide point-of-need delivery across operational networks that is flexible enough to support distributed processing in a data center or on local nodes. The architecture must also maintain concurrency with prevailing industry standards and a common operating environment to comply with requirements and limitations. We are looking to industry and academia to help us shape the foundation of the future architecture framework. Architecture Support. From an architecture support challenge perspective, we must provide seamless scalability from immersive collective company and below (gaming) though echelons above corps requirements. This requires convergence of virtual, constructive, gaming environments while providing concurrent support for divergent levels of modeling detail. The architecture must also support varying user interfaces, cyber models, human dimension modeling, advanced modeling of culture and infrastructure, intelligent tutoring systems and artificial intelligence capabilities. Here again, we need industry and academia to help us develop scalable cloud-enabled training components. Single Synthetic Environment. We are also presented with single synthetic environment challenges that include converging the virtual, gaming and constructive training domains into one environment. The single environment must address the physical, cognitive and social dimensions of human performance, while ensuring that the simulation engine supports high entity counts. The single environment must ensure automatic horizontal and vertical scalability on demand, replicating the operational environment with variable threat environments (including political, military, economic, social, infrastructure, information, physical environment and time operational variables). The single environment must also provide multi-resolution aggregate and entity/ unit and platform fidelity, while addressing the â&#x20AC;&#x153;fair fightâ&#x20AC;? issues of timing, live/synthetic interoperability, distribution and joint and coalition interoperability. One-World Terrain. A common terrain platform has always been an issue when integrating disparate simulator and simulation systems into a collaborative synthetic environment. We must develop a one-world terrain service based on open, common terrain standards and formats. This includes standardizing the collection, processing, storage, distribution and utilization of geospatial data. The terrain must provide that geospatial data for the entire world at multiple resolutions, with automated procedures for terrain production and rapid terrain generation. The terrain must also provide first-person, interactive runtime rendering. The terrain must include terrain effects such as weather and geological occurrences, dynamically synchronizing live and synthetic terrain, and accurately reflecting real-world terrain physics. Training at the Point of Need (PoN). The STE must provide the ability to stream high-fidelity training content which is optimized for operational and tactical networks. It must render high entity counts on end-user devices, deliver and maintain STE capabilities from cloud locations, and synchronize game state between geographically distributed STE suites on a persistent 24/7 availability basis. The STE must operate on disconnected, www.MT2-kmi.com

partner CAE has developed a comprehensive Aeromedical Evacuation Training System specifically designed to train both aircrews and medical personnel for critical aeromedical evacuation missions. CAE’s Aeromedical Evacuation Training System is an off-the-shelf, cost-effective solution that features a high-fidelity fuselage trainer that can be developed to represent a range of air mobility platforms. The fuselage trainer is fully equipped for the aeromedical mission with real aircraft components, medical supplies, and human patient simulators from CAE Healthcare. The turnkey training solution also comes with a full curriculum and courseware designed for aeromedical training and a tablet instructor station to provide full control and customization of a variety of scenarios. CAE will soon deliver to the U.S. Air Force at Dobbins Air Force Reserve Base an Aeromedical Evacuation Training System featuring a C-130 fuselage trainer equipped with CAE Healthcare iStan human patient simulators, which are also certified for inflight use aboard military aircraft. This training solution is one example of CAE’s unique capability to leverage its extensive air mobility training experience with world-class healthcare simulators to develop and deliver integrated training solutions that enhance patient safety and mission readiness. Please visit CAE’s booth at I/ITSEC (Booth #1734) in Orlando, Florida from November 30-December 3 to see a demonstration of our Aeromedical Evacuation Training System.

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intermittent and limited networks, employing bandwidth compression and data optimization algorithms, to ensure quality of service at the point of need. The STE must also conform to information assurance and cybersecurity requirements without impacting the training experience. Artificial Intelligence. The STE requires establishing a modelbased Artificial Intelligence (AI) standard capable of collecting behavior data to notify AI models. It must be an expert system that interprets results to prioritize resources. The end result is a capability that replicates free-thinking, adaptive, autonomous, synthetic opposing forces, accurately modeling intelligent agents and complex human and unit behaviors. The AI models should also be capable of machine understanding of human intent through voice and non-verbal communication (facial and gesture recognition), natural language recognition and interpretation, leveraging culturally aware virtual humans and replicating world cultural patterns. Intelligent Tutoring. We will look to use commercial technologies to aid in intelligent tutoring. The intelligent tutoring system will collect performance data for commanders to assess unit and soldier readiness. The IT will also collect physical, social and cognitive data while accurately aggregating individual performance data to higher-level units. The IT must understand natural language and non-verbal input, develop human dimension metrics for physical, social and cognitive performance, and provide a contextual tutoring curriculum at the point of need. Big Data. One of the keys to the success of STE will be the ability to easily develop and share content while leveraging large amounts of structured and unstructured data in training aids, devices, simulators and simulations scenario generation. The STE will support a variety of user types and roles, and we have to be able to aggregate data while maintaining accurate unit behaviors to ensure semantic interoperability sharing data between computers with unambiguous meaning. By leveraging nonproprietary data authoring tools and reliable, crowdsourced data, we intend to efficiently and reliably transmit data over wide area networks. Of course, there is always the challenge associated with securing big data. Q: In support of STE, how can PEO STRI contribute to developing a collaborative environment between industry, academia and government? A: Working in a collaborative environment with industry and academia is not something new to the organizations dedicated to delivering the best training aids and devices to our soldiers in the field. I am confident that in our collective efforts to bring STE to full operating capability, we will continue our long and trusted collaborative relationships with both industry and academia. The STE will include a physical collaborative environment where industry, academia and government can develop software together in one facility. The STE will also provide a web-based collaborative design portal for immersive, real-time software development. The STE may yield several new contracting vehicles to facilitate collaborative development between stakeholders during rapid prototyping events. The STE team will continue to host technology days and one-on-one sessions with industry. Q: What role does the PEO STRI play in development of the Army’s Future Holistic Training Environment/Live Synthetic program? 32 | MT2 20.7

A: PEO STRI takes our customers’ requirements and makes them a reality. In the case of the Army’s Future Holistic Training Environment/Live Synthetic (FHTE-LS) program, we will work closely with our partners at the Combined Arms Center for Training during the requirements development process to create a materiel solution for the FHTE-LS capability and ultimately deliver the technology to the soldiers. The STE is the interim step to achieve the Army’s future vision of FHTE-LS. Q: What is the current status of your live-virtual-constructive (LVC) initiatives, including the LVC Integrating Architecture? A: The LVC-IA is an ongoing formal acquisition program of record at post Milestone C of the JCIDS process. Version 2 of the LVC-IA is scheduled for release in fiscal year 2016, with version 3 planned for fiscal year 2018. Additionally, the Live-Synthetic Integrated Training Environment will take Army training to the next level by incorporating human factors with synthetic environments. Q: What steps are you taking to improve PEO STRI’s contract administration and acquisition execution? A: Based on the recommendation of the Army Contracting Study released in October 2013, the Honorable Heidi Shyu, assistant secretary of the army for acquisition, logistics and technology, directed the official transition of PEO STRI’s Contracting Center to the Army Contracting Command (ACC), effective February 9, 2015. In the memorandum directing the change, the Head of Contracting Activity for PEO STRI was transferred from me to General Dennis Via, commander of the Army Materiel Command, in which ACC is a subordinate organization. The former PEO STRI Contracting Center is now officially operating as the Army Contracting Command-Orlando (ACC-Orlando) with Joe Giunta serving as the executive director/Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting (PARC). The new ACC-Orlando will retain its current workforce, remain in its current location and continue to provide world-class procurement solutions for PEO STRI as its major supported customer. Q: How has the organizational structure of PEO STRI changed this year, and what impact have the changes had? A: In addition to the reorganization described earlier, it’s important to note that the charters of both PM CATT and PM ConSim were retired in late May of this year and the Project Manager Integrated Training Environment (PM ITE) was stood up. The impact has better aligned us with our requirement generators at CAC-T, enabling us to better achieve training system modernization and soldier readiness. Q: What changes do you see ahead for the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System, for which your command recently awarded $20 million in new contract orders? A: The modernization of the MILES live training system will continue to evolve as we reduce the number of MILES variants by replacing legacy systems with new hardware. The integration of Live Training Engagement Composition (LTEC) will be implemented www.MT2-kmi.com

to support appended, embedded and hybrid vehicle applications. LTEC provides government-owned software using a service-oriented architecture that can be embedded on a vehicle or integrated with external hardware and appended to the vehicle to provide a live training capability. The Vehicle Tactical Engagement Simulation System (VTESS) will be awarded in fiscal year 2016 and will provide one design/ architecture that supports both tactical and combat vehicle platform requirements. It will be the first use of wireless technology with the LTEC software architecture, which provides the Army a nonproprietary solution with component agreements for both hardware and software. Q: What are you doing to develop and implement a strategy for Army cybersecurity training? A: To meet sophisticated and expanding cyber threats, PEO STRI is working in coordina- In its science and technology effort, PEO STRI’s hurdles include: architecture challenges, architecture support challenges, single tion with a consortium of cyber stakeholders synthetic environment challenges, one-world terrain challenges, point-of-need challenges, artificial intelligence challenges, intelligent tutoring systems challenges and big data challenges. [Photo courtesy of DoD] to understand the requirements and identify Joint Program Office for Medical Modeling and Simulation (JPO the science and technology needs for cyber collective training, cyMM&S). The JPO MM&S, a multi-service organization, will link ber threat representation and support for cyber test and evaluation. medical simulation and science and technology to fielded medical We currently manage and perform red team activities, and we training systems to optimize education, reduce cost and ultimatemay soon assume an oversight role and institutionalize acquisition ly improve Department of Defense health beneficiary clinical care. for blue team activities. Furthermore, we are developing a medically-validated anthroAdditionally, we manage cyber ranges used for test and evaluapomorphic test device with scientifically validated musculoskeltion, and may potentially do the same for cyber training ranges in etal injury assessment capability for ground vehicles under body the near future. blast testing. The program is called the Warrior Injury Assessment Furthermore, we are modernizing current systems to support Manikin, or WIAMan. cyberspace operations and operational cyber support to corps and Additionally, we’re diligently working on the Squad Overmatch below. We are working with the Army Cyber Command and Army Tactical Combat Casualty Care Study. The study is a Defense Cyber Center of Excellence to identify emerging requirements for Health program-funded, PEO STRI-led effort to study simulation current and future capabilities. modalities to improve squad performance and resilience during Finally, we are working with the Army Cyber Center of Exceltactical medical events. Primary elements include the creation lence and Combined Arms Center to perform forward analysis of of a casualty assessment and treatment capability in the Virtual unit and collective cyber training tasks. We are coordinating with Battle Space 3 environment and advancing the development of an the Army Cyber Command to incorporate lessons learned from opelectronic MILES casualty card capable of interacting with instruerational support to Army corps and below. mented medical devices. When fully developed, these technologies have the potential to significantly impact how medical skills and Q: What are some of the most exciting new technologies from unit casualty response systems are observed and validated at the the gaming/commercial markets that you see benefiting military combat training centers and home station. training and simulation in the years ahead? Lastly, we continue to support the Veterans Health Administration’s program for clinical simulation training, education and A: In addition to the STE and cyber test and training initiatives we research called Simulation, Learning, Education and Research have already discussed, we are excited about medical modeling and Network (SimLEARN). We have also partnered with the VHA on simulation. the Resuscitation Education Initiative, a program to standardCombat medical training conducted in realistic and stressful ize, document, track and monitor the provision of advanced simulated battlefield environments has proven to save thousands cardiac life support, basic life support and advanced trauma life of lives. The training performed under this program, the Medical support training. Simulation Training Center, is the Army’s only program of record Many new and emerging opportunities lie ahead for PEO for combat trauma training. STRI to help ensure our Army remains the best-prepared force in To meet the future training needs in this critical area, PEO the world. O STRI will collaborate with the Defense Health Agency on the www.MT2-kmi.com

MT2 20.7 | 33

NAWCTSD

2015 Senior LeaderShip

Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division

Capt. Wes Naylor Commanding Officer

John Meyers (SES) Technical Director Director for the Naval Air Systems Command Human Systems Department

Rob Matthews Deputy Technical Director Director of Program Management

Capt. Jiancarlo Villa Chief of Staff Military Deputy for Program Management

cOMPETENCY LEADERSHIp

Timothy Cichon Director of Contracts

Maynard Zettler Director of Research and Engineering

Carl Lee Director of Test and Evaluation

Capt. Erik Etz Executive Officer

PROGRAM DIRECTORS

Bradley Ehrhardt Director of Logistics

John Daly Director of Corporate Operations

Suzanne CormierLivesay Comptroller

Lisa Daniel Wentz Counsel

Maureen BergondyWilhelm Director of Research and Technology Programs

Brian Hicks Director of Aviation Programs

Aida Matta Director of International Programs

Michael Merritt Director of CrossWarfare Programs

Paul Honold Director of Surface and Undersea Programs

Recent demonstrations highlight the wide array of training and experiential opportunities available during military field exercises. (Editor’s Note: Even as new modeling and simulation technologies transform many aspects of military training, field exercises remain a mainstay of the military services’ efforts to develop new warfighters, reinforce and update the skills of those with experience, and strengthen the ability to cooperate, communicate and stay cool under pressure. Following are snapshots of a few of the field exercises regularly held around the world by the U.S. military and its partners.)

Battlefield Cyber-Warfare By Captain Meredith Mathis Five soldiers camouflaged under thick vegetation crawled on their bellies through the woods, dragging weapons and heavy backpacks with them until they were within sight of a small compound of buildings. They paused near the wood line and began pulling hightech computers and surveillance equipment from their bags, which they quickly set up and covered with vegetation to avoid detection. The soldiers are a mix of infantry, intelligence and offensive cyber specialties coming together for an integrative cyber validation exercise on Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), Wash., this fall. The exercise, which brings together soldiers from the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry (2-2 ID), 201st Expeditionary Military Intelligence Brigade (EMIB) and 780th Military Intelligence Brigade, is the first of its kind for 2-2 ID as they prepare to face a new cyber-enemy at the National Training Center (NTC), Fort Irwin, Calif., early next year. Colonel William J. Hartman, commander of the 780th Military Intelligence Brigade, spearheaded the cyber-training initiative for the Army and provided integrated cyber-assets for the brigade as they trained in preparation for NTC. “We’re here working with 2-2 Stryker Brigade and the 201st EMIB here on a cyber-pilot that we’ve been working on for about a year now,” Hartman said. “The goal of the pilot is to analyze how we integrate a cyberspace operational capability at the corps level and below. For this particular iteration, we’re focusing on how we integrate a capability with a brigade combat team at the National Training Center.” But the need for integrated cyber-capabilities extends far beyond the training environment and into the modern battlefield. “If we look at what’s going on in the world, whether it’s what’s going on in Southwest Asia with ISIL or what’s going on in EUCOM with the crisis in Ukraine, we’ve seen that our peer competitors or adversaries are very aggressively using cyberspace to support their operations,” Hartman said. “As an Army, we have to understand that environment.” The integrated training at JBLM is a major launching point for ground units beginning to integrate cyber-capabilities into their training and operations. It is also a way for soldiers to understand the importance of the cyber-domain and how it can augment their missions. For the training exercise, 1st Lieutenant Kenneth Medina commanded ground troops whose mission was to isolate and capture a known enemy combatant somewhere in a multi-building www.MT2-kmi.com

Marines from Alpha Company, Marine Barracks Washington, D.C., engage in a military operations in urban terrain exercise at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, Oct. 15, 2015. [Photo courtesy of U.S. Marine Corps/by Corporal Christian Varney]

compound filled with people. Ordinarily, he would rely on pre-gathered intelligence information, which varies in reliability and accuracy from mission to mission, to locate his target. However, during this mission, Medina had a new weapon providing him real-time intelligence—offensive cyber-teams. “The cyber-element was able to provide intelligence to myself on the ground that enhanced information that made the picture of the battlefield much clearer,” Medina said. “When you incorporate cyber into that, you gain a much higher degree of accuracy on the target and you can paint a much clearer picture of the objective area.” While patrolling through the village, cyber and intelligence teams hidden in the wood line across from the compound and teams within the patrol provided up-to-the-minute information, enabling the men to quickly isolate the enemy target and remove him from the village. “The cyber-element was able to monitor some of the digital traffic that was moving through the village and the compound. They were able to relay that information to me via radio, and I was able to take action on that intelligence that they gave me in the village in real time,” Medina said.

Marine MOUT Training By Corporal Christian Varney In an exercise intended to increase fire team and squad-level proficiency, Alpha Company, Marine Barracks Washington, D.C., conducted a military operations in urban terrain (MOUT) at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., this fall. The training comprised four different drills: immediate action drills in response to sniper fire, exterior movement, interior movement and room clearing, and operation of a vehicle control point. “We hope this helps the Marines be confident in their ability to conduct combat operations in a MOUT environment and build on the knowledge level of the individual Marine,” said Gunnery Sergeant Justin Bradley, company gunnery sergeant, A Company. The interior drills focused on clearing rooms and communicating as a fire team. The Marines first breached the door by kicking MT2 20.7 | 35

it and used different techniques such as crossing over and button hooks to move through the entrance. The fire team then worked together to clear the house in an efficient manner, always covering doorways and unsecured areas. The exterior drills focused on moving from building to building with the use of RIGS, which stands for reconnoiter, isolate, gain foothold and secure. The three elements of the squad—assault fire team, support fire team and security fire team—advanced in subsequent order and secured the designated structure. During the immediate action drills, the Marines patrolled through the MOUT Town while receiving simulated sniper fire. The Marines under fire took covered positions to suppress the enemy, while another element of their squad maneuvered to the sniper’s position. “The sniper drills were a new addition to the MOUT training we usually do,” said Corporal David Worrell. “We were building on the fundamentals of being a rifleman by closing with the enemy in a new way.” The last training scenario was the vehicle control checkpoint. The Marines set up defensive positions and barricades to prevent the vehicle from advancing, and the squad leader then shouted commands to the driver. Meanwhile, the Marines moved the occupants away from the vehicle so it could be searched for weapons or any other type of munitions, and then restrained the occupants and searched them.

A recent cyber-training exercise on Joint Base Lewis McChord, Wash., integrated infantry ground units with cyber, signal and human intelligence collection capabilities, giving units on the modern battlefield a broader capacity to search out and isolate their enemies in real time. [Photo courtesy of U.S. Army/by Captain Meredith Mathis]

Bilateral Search and Rescue A bilateral exercise involving combat search and rescue (CSAR) drills stretched over nearly two weeks of constant training this fall between U.S. and South Korean forces. Exercise Pacific Thunder 15-02 brought together units from the Air Force, Marines and South Korean air force to practice air combat and CSAR by focusing on enhancing in- Members of the 33rd Rescue Squadron prepare for takeoff inside their HH-60G Pave Hawk Oct. 16, 2015, at Osan Air Base, teroperability and combat readiness of the military South Korea. The 33rd RQS members are from Kadena Air Base, Japan, and are participating in exercise Pacific Thunder 15-02. [Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force/by Staff Sgt. Benjamin Sutton] alliance across the Korean Peninsula. unique in that it’s primarily planned and executed on a squadron or “This exercise helps us bring together assets who would be intactical level,” Dillon said. “What we do locally during these missions volved and integrated into a real-world CSAR mission,” said Captain directly impacts the big Air Force mission. The knowledge and expeJerrod Dillon, the 25th Fighter Squadron flight safety officer. “It also rience gained while participating in this exercise is spread throughgives U.S. forces a chance to integrate and execute with our Repubout the rest of the Air Force as people move on from Korea, carrying lic of Korea Air Force counterparts, further building the combined that knowledge with them.” force proficiency and readiness, while simultaneously improving reWorking closely with all players on a biannual basis builds indilations between our two militaries.” vidual proficiency and increases the total-force capability of all parPacific Thunder is a total-process exercise, encompassing nearly ticipants, he added. all aspects of communication, coordination, command and control, “It’s all about the CSAR,” Dillon said. “Aircraft can be replaced, mission planning and execution. “By taking a look at current tactics but it’s much harder to replace a pilot who could have many years of and procedures, practicing and refining those, and then exercising training and experience. This exercise ensures we are ready to carry the system as realistically as possible, we are able to provide a worldout the CSAR mission whenever called upon.” O class training opportunity to everyone involved,” Dillon said. “We are getting realistic training that’s in line with how we would fight.” For more information, contact MT2 Editor Hank Donnelly More than 10 different organizations and squadrons came toat hankd@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives gether to participate in the most recent exercise. “In size and scope, for related stories at www.mt2-kmi.com. it’s rapidly approaching large-force-exercise levels, but I think it’s 36 | MT2 20.7

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A BOHEMIA INTERACTIVE SIMULATIONS COMPANY

Widely used simulation training tool spurs development of new features that can be incorporated into its game environment.

By Peter Buxbaum MT2 Correspondent In the early 2000s, the U.S. military committed to adapting gaming technology to its training efforts. The commitment was hailed as forward-looking by analysts, who cited the Pentagon’s assessment both that the advances in gaming would appeal to a new generation of recruits, and that the realism afforded by game-based training technologies could achieve some of the military’s training goals while cutting training costs. Along came Bohemia Interactive Simulations, then a Czech Republic-based company and now a multinational corporation owned by the private equity group Riverside Company. It adapted its existing commercial game, Operation Flashpoint, to a training tool under the name Virtual Battlespace (VBS), providing a simulator for warfighters to train collectively in a high-fidelity, first-person virtual environment. The first iteration of VBS came onto the market in 2004 when game-based training was still in its infancy, but military organizations around the world quickly realized its potential. VBS was soon adopted by the U.S. Marine Corps and the Australian Defence Force and later by NATO militaries and others with similar training needs. The Marine Corps funded further improvements, the capability of the software quickly grew, and organizations developed well over 100 use cases for the platform. Today, VBS is used in more than 30 countries, and tens of thousands of NATO personnel are trained with VBS every year. In 2009, the U.S. Army committed $17 million to acquire 3,500 copies of the second version of Virtual Battle Space, VBS2. “The underlying reason VBS has become such a standard is our total dedication to military customers and the military simulation industry,” said Peter Morrison, co-CEO of Bohemia Interactive Simulations. “Our strong video game technology heritage means our technology advances quickly, cost-effectively and based on robust middleware, and we have the substantial capabilities of our excellent programmer and designer team. But beyond that, it is the privileged position and trust we have been afforded by our awesome military customers that has been behind the advancement of VBS.” VBS3 has since been introduced, and it broadens and deepens the platform’s capabilities. Advances in VBS3 include support of greater number of training use cases and the ability to portray terPeter Morrison rains much larger than previous 38 | MT2 20.7

versions, allowing VBS3, unlike its competitors, to be used for flight simulations, among other things. Bohemia has more recently been working on the maritime domain to simulate realistic sea states, vessel physics and coastal effects.

Incorporating New Features The ubiquity of the VBS platform has motivated users and developers alike to enhance the utility of the software by taking it in two directions: integrating VBS into broader existing training platforms and developing new features that can be incorporated into VBS. Some companies have an easier time than others accomplishing these integration tasks, with the speed of extraction of data from VBS being a major point of contention. But there is no doubt that integration is doable and that it is encouraged and supported by Bohemia Interactive Simulations. Efforts are underway to make integration easier. Courtney Dean “VBS3 is the training system of record for the U.S. Army and it has become the de facto system for just about every training unit,” said Courtney Dean, a senior scientist at Aptima. “It has largely been adopted by the Marine Corps as well.” Bohemia Interactive’s original market success with VBS was attributable to three factors, according to Fredrik Ullner, a virtual programs engineer at Saab Defense and Security. “It was priced aggresFredrik Ullner sively,” he said. “VBS1 was priced in the tens of thousands of dollars, versus other simulations priced in the millions.” The user interface was “quite good” and the overall package was “good enough,” in Ullner’s view. “It was a desktop system, so users didn’t have to buy any new hardware, and it fulfilled many of the requirements people had at that time.” The third factor was that it was built on existing intellectual property Bohemia Interactive owned in the form of the Operation Flashpoint game. www.MT2-kmi.com

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Aptima is developing performance measurement tools that can be added to VBS. “The intent is to provide enhancement to training outcomes by incorporating these tools within VBS3,” said Dean. Simthetiq produces vehicle models and terrain environments, which are often required to interact with VBS or be available in VBS format. “We have developed conversion tools internally that allow us to work from a common source to output 3-D models in VBS format as well as for other run-time engines,” said Gareth Jones, the company’s director of marketing and sales. Ullner sees VBS as “sufficient for most requirements, but it doesn’t solve all scenarios.” “People use it as a game with training elements,” he added. “It is still not fleshed out as a platform.” Saab’s customers often find VBS meets basic training requirements, but they often want additional features. “If they want something more specialized, VBS doesn’t quite cut it,” said Ullner. “The basic artificial intelligence is rudimentary at best. Certain damage models exist in VBS, but they need to be improved.” Saab has worked on integrating VBS into its customers’ larger training systems and has also developed add-on software such as graphical interfaces for fire control and targeting systems.

Technology Evolution The core features of VBS1 that made it a success, in Morrison’s view, included its high-fidelity first-person virtual environment, an easy-to-use mission editor, its collective training capability and

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the after-action review. “These core features have remained the same through VBS2 and VBS3,” said Morrison. “However, they have been refined in accordance with the evolving needs of VBS users and by inserting many new technologies from the commercial video game industry.” Over the years, and through its three major iterations, VBS has supported many more training use cases. For example, VBS1 supported small terrains of up to 100 kilometers square, while VBS3 can handle terrains of orders of magnitude larger than that. “By the end of 2015, the VBS image generator will provide a representation of the entire planet,” said Morrison. “This means that VBS3 and VBS IG are suitable for use in flight simulation, whereas VBS1 and VBS2 were not.” Bohemia has been focusing on the maritime domain recently, with features that simulate sea states and corresponding ship physics. “We have developed a fully dynamic, 3-D sea-state model that simulates realistic surface conditions,” said Morrison. “Ships and other objects floating in the water are affected by interactions with the waves and ships leave wakes in the water and create bow wakes. Waves can also be affected by wind direction. Our sea states, as well as other aspects of the maritime simulation, such as the opacity and color of the water, can easily be adjusted in the scenario settings. The VBS sea state model also helps produce realistic coastal effects.” Bohemia regards VBS as an open platform, and VBS3 ships with a free interface for creating plug-ins. “We also offer VBS Fusion,” a more full-featured application programming interface (API), said Morrison, “and we are looking to improve from the ground up the ability of VBS to interface with add-on software and to support add-on development. A market has formed around development of VBS3 content and plug-ins, and we encourage this.” Bohemia Interactive primarily seeks development contracts to improve the underlying technology and the company encourages its customers to source VBS content and plug-in development work from the market. “Through modularization and improving our API access,” said Morrison, “we are opening up VBS even further and we’ll be announcing some big news regarding this in the near future.”

Performance Measures The performance measures Aptima has developed for VBS2 and VBS3 allow instructors to tap into the actions of individuals participating in training scenarios to evaluate whether their behaviors are contributing to mission success, both from a tactical and a technical perspective. “We want our measurements to reflect the greater competencies expected of warfighters—21st-century competencies,” said Dean. “Those include adaptability and decision-making confidence.” Aptima’s performance-measurement tools are designed to aid instructors in evaluating trainees, but not to evaluate trainees independently. The tools are able to capture a wealth of data on trainee performance from VBS that human instructors could not possibly keep up with. The tools provide that data to instructors through dashboards and trend analyses that aid the instructor in completing a trainee evaluation. The Aptima tools can be applied to ambush and other attack scenarios to measure, for example, what and how trainees are communicating in those situations. The scenarios are bundled www.MT2-kmi.com

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with performance measures that are specific to the competencies being trained. Instructors can make ratings based on behaviors they are observing and on the data being provided by the tools. “Those performance components can be displayed individually or combined with like measurements in real time and displayed on a dashboard,” said Dean. “These performance measurements always have a human in the loop.” Aptima’s development of performance measures is intended as a demonstration of what the company’s capabilities can perform within VBS. “We intend to continue with the types of demonstrations we have been doing over the last couple of years,” F-16 over VBS3 East Coast Gaming terrain. [Image courtesy of Bohemia Interactive Simulations] said Dean. “What we are intending to do is into their own systems so they can run them in their VBS-based to show the value of performance measurement tools as exemscenarios and training exercises.” plified in a leading simulation used throughout the Department of Defense.” “We have an extensive library of Distributed Interactive SimuAdd-on Integration lation (DIS) and High-Level Architecture (HLA) compliant COTS content that we put to work for our customers,” said Simthetiq’s The relative ease or difficulty of integration of these add-ons Jones. “When a custom fit is required, we develop new content into VBS3 is a matter of some disagreement among developers. using open-source references. The result is highly accurate, runBut the verdict is unanimous that the required integration can time-ready models of vehicles or terrain environments that meet be successfully accomplished and that the process is supported our customers’ needs.” by Bohemia Interactive. DIS and HLA are interoperability standards used in modeling “VBS3 is an excellent platform and produces easily consumed and simulation. data,” said Dean. “Our performance engine tool relies on output Many of Simthetiq’s customers use VBS as their main runfrom the simulation in order to complete the performance meatime environment, or need to interact with VBS in some way. “To sures. VBS is easily programmed, and we used that compatibility meet this demand, we use our own library of models and convert in planning our own technology. We developed our tools to make them to VBS format, or develop custom models that are integratthem easy to modify and apply so that the integration required is ed into VBS,” said Jones. “We will even integrate third-party conrelatively easy to achieve and the integration issue is a low barrier tent for customers if required. When we deliver a VBS-configured to success.” product to our customers, they are quickly able to integrate them The process of integrating 3-D content into VBS isn’t “witchcraft,” said Jones, but it certainly takes experience and know-how to achieve the right results. “When first we started out, it would take us a minimum of two weeks to integrate a model into VBS,” he related. “Now, depending on the complexity of the model, we are able to cut that time in half or more. In order to be able to do this, we have developed a fruitful dialog with both Bohemia Interactive and our customers. By having an open discussion with our customers, we are able to identify their key VBS requirements, provide our expert advice and help speed up what could otherwise be a complex and time-consuming process.” “Bohemia has a baseline of content that comes with everybody’s license,” said Ullner, “but it is understood that military customers at times will want to develop their own body of capabilities that for reasons of U.S. Marine machinegunner model with M1A1 tank [Image courtesy of Bohemia Interactive Simulations] confidentially they don’t want it out there.” 42 | MT2 20.7

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Saab’s customers sometimes want VBS to be integrated with other systems, a task the company can accomplish with its own integration platform, WISE Connectivity. “We can integrate pretty much any system depending on what customers want,” said Ullner. Saab has also built add-on components on behalf of customers for integration within VBS. Among the plug-ins Saab has developed are simulations relating to artillery firing and troop movements.

Plug-in Issues Ullner has found that Bohemia’s Fusion tool has been adequate for many integration plug-ins. For others, however, it has been found wanting. So Saab, for one, Type 45 destroyer with Merlin VBS3 advanced sea states. [Image courtesy of Bohemia Interactive Simulations] had to dive deeper into the VBS engine to make the integration happen. VBS’s APIs make plug-ins “easier to build and manage,” said Ullner, but they have “restrictive interfaces” so that “we can’t do everything we want to do, such as perform advanced maneuvers with vehicles. We have moved away from the existing APIs where we need access to raw data from the system.” This situation presents yet another issue, in that the VBS engine can’t inject and extract data as fast as Saab would prefer. “The VBS APIs don’t refresh the data at the 60-times-per-second rate that we would like,” said Ullner. “Configuration management is always a challenge, and backwards compatibility is often difficult to maintain as new features are rapidly added to VBS,” Morrison acknowledged. “We are committing significant independent research and develVBS3 night vision simulation. [Image courtesy of Bohemia Interactive Simulations] opment toward new technology to solve even broader range of use cases. “This year, we announced VBS these types of issues as well as investing in a more sophisticated Blue, the whole-earth rendering engine behind VBS IG, which support and professional services capability.” allows most modern simulators to leverage VBS3 visuals and conBohemia is also working with various standards to ensure tent,” said Morrison. “We also released VBS Gateway, our new VBS leverages non-proprietary technology and standards wherHLA/DIS/CIGI [common image generator interface] gateway for ever possible, especially for content such as terrain and 3-D modVBS3” to promote interoperability, “and announced VBS Tactics, els. “We have significant experience and expertise in managing a new, easy-to-use multi-platform interface for controlling docadd-ons and plug-ins on behalf of our customers and we believe trinal AI in VBS3.” software integration will be an important part of many future In parallel, Bohemia is improving VBS3 in accordance with simulation projects,” said Morrison. various development contracts, such as the recent $12 million “We also see the development of new, cheap and road-tested post-deployment software support award by the Marine Corps, COTS hardware products such as the [virtual reality system] Ocuand through significant independent research and development lus Rift, motion platforms and new inputs to simulations such as investment. O motion-capture gloves, and the raft of newly forming cloud technology companies being part of this add-on integration process.” As for future VBS developments, Bohemia is rapidly moduFor more information, contact MT2 Editor Hank Donnelly at hankd@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives larizing VBS to allow easier access for systems integrators and for related stories at www.mt2-kmi.com. to better leverage cloud deployment and processing, meeting an www.MT2-kmi.com

MT2 20.7 | 43

COMMAND PROFILE

Combined Arms Center-Training Army command identifies requirements and manages more than 900,000 Army training aids, devices, simulators and simulations.

By Major Michael Stinchfield and Helen Remily

versatile units, develop innovative leaders and help the Army train as it fights. The Army fights with its armor, aviation and other branches working together. Until recently, combined arms training using simulators was difficult. While cooperation between tank and helicopter crews is essential on the battlefield, tank and helicopter simulators were not designed to work • Identifies requirements and manages more with each other. than 900,000 Army training aids, devices, To overcome this problem, CAC-T and other simulators and simulations. Army organizations used hardware and software • Develops and sustains the Integrated Training called the Live Virtual Constructive Integrating ArEnvironment, which combines various live, chitecture (LVC-IA) to link virtual simulators as well virtual, constructive and gaming training as live, constructive and gaming training enablers to enablers. form the Integrated Training Environment (ITE). • Manages the Combat Training Center program. In the ITE, units can conduct multi-echelon • Manages 6 million acres of training ranges. training in the field, simulators and computer simu• Manages, develops and sustains training Brigadier General lations. Data from the training exercise populates management doctrine, processes, products and Mark J. O’Neil mission command information systems, and to systems. commanders, all of the training appears to be live. Since 2012, the • Manages requirements for Army distributed and mobile Army has fielded the LVC-IA to 11 home stations and plans to add it learning. to one more, Fort Wainwright, Alaska, in the coming year. • Integrates science and technology efforts for training and education. • Executes the Mission Command Training Program, which Innovation Facility develops commanders, leaders and units at the brigade level and above. While the ITE represents an important milestone in training, it • Integrates training and education in the agile process and is an initial stage in the evolution of training. Currently, CAC-T and Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System. other Army organizations are working to develop the next evolution• Provides Army and joint air-ground operations education, ary stage, the Synthetic Training Environment (STE). It will link live training, and command and control systems integration. training to one overarching simulation that replaces the multiple simulations of the virtual, constructive and gaming construct. CAC-T supports the Army operating concept for unified land The STE will provide an unprecedented capability for collecoperations, which calls for winning in a complex world. To win tive and multi-echelon training. In addition to existing user interin a complex world, Army training must be tough and realistic, faces such as personal computers and mobile devices, the STE will and must utilize current and emerging technologies. A number use new technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented of CAC-T’s efforts focus on how to harness technology to prepare reality (AR).

The Combined Arms Center-Training (CAC-T) plays a role in Army training wherever and whenever it occurs. Headquartered at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and commanded by Brigadier General Mark J. O’Neil, CAC-T has six subordinate organizations. Through those subordinate organizations, CAC-T:

44 | MT2 20.7

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CAC-T Subordinate Organizations • Army Joint Support Team, Hurlburt Field, Fla., and Nellis AFB, Nev.: Conducts Army and joint air-ground operations education, training and command and control systems integration. • Army Training Support Center, Fort Eustis, Va.: Manages many Army training programs that enable the development, delivery and sustainment of training and education support capabilities worldwide. • Combat Training Center Directorate, Fort Leavenworth, Kan.: Facilitates the validation, administration and integration of the Army’s Combat Training Center (CTC) program, its three maneuver CTCs and the Mission Command Training Program worldwide deployable CTC.

To help create the STE, the CAC-T Innovation Facility (CACTIF) at Fort Leavenworth’s National Simulation Center is testing user interfaces using off-the-shelf equipment to determine how technology such as VR can reduce costs and enhance training. One example is a Stryker Virtual Collective Trainer. Instead of replicating everything in a real Stryker, the facility is using VR in combination with touchscreens and minimal physical infrastructure. The goal is to demonstrate a better, immersive environment for collective training at a lower cost than a full-size simulator. Another experiment assesses VR for artillery call-for-fire training and close air support. For example, controlling aircraft trainees can look over their shoulders at inbound aircraft in the 360 degree virtual environment. The CAC-TIF team is experimenting with VR, programmable touchscreens, and commercial sticks and grips for aviation applications in collective training. While it would cost tens of millions of dollars to field and network existing high-fidelity cockpit simulators for collective training, this equipment may provide enough fidelity for this purpose at a fraction of the cost. Besides working on training enablers, the team is looking at how VR and other off-the-shelf technologies could benefit commanders for real-world applications. For example, it could help leaders conduct virtual reconnaissance of potential operational areas by using on-line street view photographic data. The CAC-TIF team also is looking at how commercial companies’ VR games could make military training and education more compelling. Imagine learning about Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg from Union Major General George Meade’s vantage point on Cemetery Ridge, and then quickly moving to Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet’s perspective on Seminary Ridge. Besides experimenting with new technologies, the CAC-TIF offers units or the Centers of Excellence the opportunity to suggest developing simulations and simulators to fill training gaps. In doing so, the facility fulfills CAC-T’s missions to facilitate training for the operational and institutional Army. The CAC-TIF’s future efforts will look to AR in the evolution of Army training. AR will allow the warfighter to see and interact with entities such as opposing forces, support aircraft and even adjacent units during live training. Using AR, these simulated entities and battlefield effects will be superimposed on the visual field www.MT2-kmi.com

• Mission Command Training Program, Fort Leavenworth: Supports the collective training of Army units at worldwide locations to train leaders and provide commanders the opportunity to train on Mission Command in Unified Land Operations. • National Simulation Center, Fort Leavenworth and Fort Lee, Va.: Ensures that the Army has the right live, virtual, constructive and gaming training tools to train leaders and soldiers to fight and win in a complex environment. • Training Management Directorate, Fort Leavenworth: Manages, develops and sustains Army training management doctrine, processes, products and systems.

of any trainee using something that appears as simple as today’s eye protection.

Going Mobile CAC-T is bringing training and educational materials to soldiers where they need them, whether in the classroom, on the range or in the motor pool. Until this year, soldiers could only access the Army’s main training information website from a government computer and with a computer access card. The Army chief of staff, General Ray Odierno, wanted to make training information more accessible. He directed the implementation of username/password access to the Army’s single point of entry for all things training—the Army Training Network—to ensure the widest access to authoritative training information. In June, the Army took another step by making doctrinal publications available on e-publications that soldiers can download to computer tablets and smart phones. In addition, some publications became available in enhanced electronic books (e2Books) format. These e2Books are interactive digital publications embedded with audio, video, animation and simulation. This effort brings the written word to life, making the experience more engaging, helping soldiers better understand complex concepts, and improving their retention of the material. To support the growing mobile mission, the Army this year chartered the TRADOC Capability Manager (TCM) Mobile at Fort Eustis, Va. The CAC-T organization develops wireless infrastructure and mobile device requirements, and establishes governance, policy, funding streams, and the mobile apps development process. Working closely with another Fort Eustis organization, TCM Mobile established a TRADOC Apps Gateway (TAG) to host unclassified, not-for-official-use-only apps and interactive digital publications. The TAG provides one place to access proponent-validated and approved content for mobile devices. Whether it is a mobile application or a virtual reality simulation, CAC-T is looking for ways to use technology to create challenging training and develop agile Army leaders. O For more information, contact MT2 Editor Hank Donnelly at hankd@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mt2-kmi.com.

MT2 20.7 | 45

Improving LVC Integration

At I/ITSEC, Operation Blended Warrior will collect data on challenges to live-virtual-constructive training. One of the premier events at I/ITSEC 2015 is the live-virtualconstructive (LVC) special event on the floor, Operation Blended Warrior (OBW). It focuses on developing a virtual environment for LVC simulations for training, but from the perspective of what it takes to put it together. Announced as a multi-year annual LVC event at I/ITSEC, the initiative represents an attempt by the National Training and Simulation Association (NTSA) to showcase industry modeling and simulation capabilities, in conjunction with Department of Defense M&S capabilities. But more importantly, it will use this opportunity to collect data on challenges that arise during the exercise. “We expend such an enormous amount of time and effort to accomplish these exercises, but we rarely take away a list of the lessons learned and what it took to get to that point,” said Kent Gritton, director for Joint Training Integration and Evaluation, Team Orlando’s collaboration center. “If we can couple that with a plan to mitigate the problems, then we can truly achieve a plug-and-play environment. We want to learn how we can improve the process of integrating things.” “Everybody is working on LVC from the perspective of improving the actual event,” Gritton said. “This is about improving what it takes to get to that event, and that’s the uniqueness of Operation Blended Warrior.” The idea and exercise is nothing new. There have been connected simulation events at I/ITSEC since 1992, but the difference will be what follows the exercise. Even though simulation experts have been building these environments for many years, Gritton observed, there really haven’t been any improvements in putting them together. “We are using our expertise to understand what it takes in both time and effort to make these things happen so we can get better at that,” Gritton said. OBW begins on Monday, November 30, when the world is shocked as it watches the hypothetical country of Balboa endure a “black swan” type of natural disaster. Relief organizations and a coalition force led by the United States swarm to the area in support. Throughout the week, this storyline prompts several scenarios that could stem from an event of this magnitude. Attendees are encouraged to follow the story through numerous events, which highlight a wide variety of air, ground, maritime, medical and cyber LVC capabilities constrained to I/ITSEC confines, as well as insights into the number, degree and priority of challenges encountered. For months, leaders from NTSA, Team Orlando and dozens of M&S companies have been working together on OBW, ultimately to find solutions to improve the creation and execution of 46 | MT2 20.7

LVC events. Each year’s event will highlight specific focus areas and collect data to form a baseline on the issues, challenges and effort required to achieve a successful LVC environment corresponding to those areas. This year’s event in Balboa will feature 15 vignettes that are themed on standards, after-action reviews and cyber, and although the overarching story will follow the Balboa natural disaster, throughout the week, the scenarios will magnify a piece of the ongoing story and some type of engagement. There will be ancillary missions that have direct action, but the principal focus will be on the humanitarian mission. “This approach allows us to study whether we’re getting any better or just spinning our wheels,” Gritton said. “The practice we’ll get through these events and the valuable data we can receive at the end can benefit the entire LVC community and will help us understand what it takes to have a consistent, persistent environment. We’ll have real focus and through this exercise, we will document all the questions and issues that crop up as we go through integration. “We don’t know what this information will result in, but at the end of the day, we’ll have identified our challenges, the characteristics of those challenges and what we need to work on in the future to remove those roadblocks. It’s highly beneficial for government and industry to understand [the] real criteria to make this work and build toward those things.” More than 30 entities, including ones from industry and government, involved their subject-matter experts and simulations in building the environment, with the intent to help better understand what the problems are with trying to make the environment happen. “We realize there are about nine different areas for which we would expect challenges for the integration/development of the Blended Warrior environment,” Gritton said. “Because there are so many of them and there are so many simulations we are trying to group together, we needed space within I/ITSEC that spanned all four days—seven and a half hours stretched over 5 blocks of time. We felt this was a good amount of time to be able to tease out all of the different areas that we need and to showcase all the simulations that are coming to play in Blended Warrior.” “Everybody recognizes the value of what we’re doing, so there’s been no pushback,” Gritton said. “We’ll have a much better data range of where potential issues are as we look to integrate LVC into a persistent, consistent environment.” O For more information, contact MT2 Editor Hank Donnelly at hankd@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mt2-kmi.com.

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Learn more about Aptima in this edition of Military Training Technology:

Adacel............................................................................................................1, 20 www.adacel.com AEgis Technologies Group.............................................................................30 www.aegistg.com Aero Simulation..............................................................................................39 www.aerosimulation.com AgustaWestland...............................................................................................17 www.agustawestland.com Aptima...............................................................................................................47 www.aptima.com AUSA Global Force..........................................................................................41 www.ausameetings.org/globalforce Bohemia Interactive Simulations...............................................................15 www.bisimulations.com CAE.....................................................................................................................31 www.cae.com Caliente............................................................................................................... 1 www.calientellc.com Christie.............................................................................................................14 www.christiedigital.com/true120 Cubic Corporation..........................................................................................21 www.cubic.com David Clark Company...................................................................................... 9 www.davidclark.com D-Box.................................................................................................................. 8 www.d-box.com DiSTI.................................................................................................................40 www.disti.com/Easy ITEC...................................................................................................................28 www.itec.co.uk L-3 Link Simulation & Training...................................................................13 www.link.com Lockheed Martin Mission System.................................................................. 7 www.lockheedmartin.com/training Meggitt Training Systems..............................................................................C3 www.meggitttrainingsystems.com MetaVR............................................................................................. C2 Gatefold www.metavr.com Raydon................................................................................................................ 3 www.raydon.com Rockwell Collins.............................................................................................26 www.rockwellcollins.com/simulation Saab...................................................................................................................29 www.saab.com SAIC...................................................................................................................C4 www.saic.com TerraSim...........................................................................................................37 www.terrasim.com Triangraphics..................................................................................................47 www.triangraphics.com Tru Simulation & Training...........................................................................19 www.trusimulation.com

LVC Showcase Page 18

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Human-Centered Engineering

Battlespace Platform Page 38

Boston ▪ DC ▪ Dayton ▪ Orlando | www.aptima.com

I/ITSEC 2015 Booth 964

Calendar January 19-20, 2016 MilSim Asia Singapore http://milsimasia.com

May 17-19, 2016 ITEC 2016 London, U.K. www.itec.co.uk

March 15-17, 2016 Global Force Symposium & Exhibition Huntsville, Ala. www.ausa.org

June 15-16, 2016 Training and Simulation Industry Symposium Orlando, Fla. www.trainingsystems.org/events

April 26-28, 2016 MODSIM World Virginia Beach, Va. www.trainingsystems.org/events

September 19-24, 2016 Air & Space Conference National Harbor, Md. www.ausa.org

May 2-5, 2016 Xponential 2016 New Orleans, La. www.auvsi.org

October 3-5, 2016 AUSA Annual Conference & Exhibition Washington, D.C. www.ausa.org

May 16-18, 2016 Sea, Air, Space National Harbor, Md. www.seaairspace.org

Nov. 28, 2016-Dec. 2, 2016 I/ITSEC Orlando, Fla. www.iitsec.org

MT2 20.7 | 47

INDUSTRY INTERVIEW

Military Training Technology

Brad Feldmann President and CEO Cubic Corporation Q: To start off, please give readers an overview of Cubic Global Defense. A: Cubic Global Defense (CGD) is a leading provider of realistic combat training systems, C4ISR systems, mission training, intelligence, special operations and cyber solutions for the U.S. and allied forces in more than 35 nations. CGD designs, develops, manufactures and fields a diverse range of systems, products and technologies that are critical for combat readiness and national security. Our primary focus for creating these systems, products and technologies is to raise human performance and readiness, both individual and collective, by creating an effective, integrated learning and performance assessment experience. CGD also has an extensive services business, operating many of the world’s best combat training centers, as well as running the largest and most complex simulation exercises on the planet. Q: What types of military training products and services do you offer? A: CGD offers products and solutions in key areas in military training, including: Training systems and services. Cubic brings leading-edge innovation to training fighter aircraft, land forces and maritime requirements. Cubic is the world’s leading provider of air combat maneuvering instrumentation (ACMI). For ground, the company’s products include Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement Systems for dismounted training, armored vehicles, exercise control and after-action review. As for maritime, Cubic develops game-based courseware in support of the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship. Virtual, immersive and game-based training solutions. Cubic combines innovation excellence and operational synergies to provide a full range of integrated virtual and immersive training solutions for military and security forces. Range design solutions. Cubic offers specialized range design solutions for military, law enforcement, special operations and security organizations. Our live-fire solutions include large, turnkey and complex 48 | MT2 20.7

ranges including bullet traps and ballistic fit-out, HVAC systems, electronic targets and simulation as well as range monitoring and safety systems. Secure communications, networking and cyber technologies. Cubic’s communication products provide ISR and command and control capabilities for land, air, maritime and UAV operations. Providing secure wide-band communications and networking solutions for use on manned/unmanned and surface platforms allows us to precisely locate and identify enemy targets in a networkcentric environment. Special operations and national security solutions. Cubic delivers highly specialized tactical training programs to a broad customer base focused in special operations and irregular warfare. Our national security training is critical to prevent, prepare and recover from the effects of terrorism, chemical and biological agents, natural disasters and other crises. Combat training center services; exercise planning and execution; courseware design and development; flight simulator training; operations and maintenance support. Cubic has more than 30 years of experience in supporting frontline troops to meet real-world mission tasks. Q: What unique benefits does your company provide its customers in comparison with other companies in your field? A: Cubic’s proud heritage is anchored in a rich history of the design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of specialized systems and services. Our future as a systems and services technology company builds on our superior background

creating solutions to train and equip those who go into harm’s way to protect our freedom. Cubic’s intellectual capital has become synonymous with reliability, affordability and innovation. As a global defense leader, we have a unique approach to providing situational understanding and training the U.S. military and its allies in their mission to operate successfully anywhere. We bring our innovative technologies to bear in C3I, national intelligence, live-virtual-constructive and game-based training and security. Q: What are some of the most significant programs your company is currently working on with the military? A: Cubic is the leading provider of realistic, mission-centered training systems and services, specializing in the integration of live, virtual and constructive training. On the aviation side of our business we specialize in ACMI for aircrew training, and we design and build some of the world’s best personnel location systems. For ground force training, we are the premier provider of combat training center construction and training services, virtual training and live fire. For naval systems, we are the world leader in shipboard advanced game-based training systems. Q: How do you see your training products and services evolving in the future to meet changing military needs? A: Our customers need cost-effective solutions to elevate force readiness. In order to meet this demand, we will focus on delivering a blend of live, virtual and constructive training with gaming simulations to save customers’ money and ensure customers maintain readiness levels at a time when militaries are facing decreasing training budgets. We are focused on developing capabilities in data links and C4ISR market, which we believe has the potential to improve our long-term profitability for this product line and for defense systems segment as a whole. With Cubic’s acquisition of DTECH Labs, we now have the specialization to offer advanced communications solutions. O www.cubic.com www.MT2-kmi.com

FLEXIBILITY AND ENHANCED FUNCTIONALITY FOR THE FUTURE OF VIRTUAL TRAINING. Innovative. Immersive. Intelligent. If you think product innovation, immersive training and intelligent technology are important to have in a virtual training system, there’s only one company you need to know. Meggitt Training Systems, the provider of simulation systems of record for defense forces around the world, introduces the most advanced virtual training system in the world – FATS® 100e. The FATS® 100e features innovative BlueFire® weapons, immersive graphics incorporating 3D marksmanship lanes and third-party programs and intelligent wireless tablet coaching. The future of small arms virtual training systems has arrived.

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