Battle Ground Simulations

In an ordinary office building here, the Air Force Distributed Mission Operations Center runs sorties with all the realism of combat, but without burning one drop of jet fuel.

Instead of taking to the air, pilots and aircrew strap themselves into simulators, located about a mile from the Albuquerque International Sunport airport, and fly in cyberspace with all the realism of actual flight, say, an F-16 fighter, “except for the shake, rattle and roll,” said Lt. Col. Troy Molendyke, commander of the 705th Combat Training Wing, which operates the center.

The center serves as the hub of a distributed simulation network that ties into other air and ground systems that can replicate a variety of aircraft and as many as 40,000 ground vehicles, said Maj. d’Artagnan de Anda, the self described geek who oversees distributed warfare missions.

The center, which was built in 2000 for $14 million and has expanded since then, functions with about 1,000 networked PCs, some with quad processors, running on either Linux or Windows operating systems, and taps into network connections that range in speed from T-1 circuits (1.544 megabytes per second) to OC-3 circuits (155 mbps) to runs simulations, DeAnda added.

The basement of the building houses simulators of command-and-control aircraft such as the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System and the E-8 Airborne Warning and Control System. In what DeAnda described as a “virtual live” exercise, the crew operating the simulators can direct real aircraft conducting exercises at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

The Air Force has placed greater emphasis on unmanned aerial vehicles such as the Predator and this week the center completed installation of the Predator simulator, said Tech. Sgt. Darrell DeMotta during a tour of the facility.

He served three tours of duty in Iraq and one in Afghanistan as a joint terminal attack controller, overseeing air support for the Army and Special Forces ground troops. DeMotta helped spearhead the development of the simulators to replicate the JTAC mission.

The systems include the basic tools of the JTAC’s trade such as a designator to control a laser-guided bomb and a range finder to determine, with the aid of GPS receivers, location and position. The information is then transmitted over a satellite radio, to a simulated Air Support Operations Center, providing JTACs with the full range of simulated systems they would use in actual combat.

DeMotta said the JTAC simulation systems help him and fellow controllers keep their skills current at a time when tight budgets have limited live training. He said he must run 12 missions a year to remain qualified as a JTAC. “Air Force budget cuts mean less flying hours . . . and the simulators provide cheaper training,” he said.

In September the center will conduct its first operations with allies from Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom in an operation named Coalition Virtual Flag, said Maj. Michele Boyko, the exercise director who also serves as assistant director for operations for the 705th.

In that operation, a global network will allow the Royal Air Force to fly simulated Typhoon fighters and Tornado fighter bombers alongside simulated Royal Australian Air Force F-18 fighters, Canadian Forces CF-18 fighters and a variety of U.S. aircraft, including B1 and B2 bombers and F-15 and F-16 fighters, said Boyko, a B1 bomber weapons systems officer.

The United States now operates in a coalition environment, and Boyko said the global simulation will enable all these forces to train as they fight.

A $1.1 million simulator will help soldiers assigned to the three Stryker combat brigades based here make the most of their time before they deploy to combat by this fall.
To train on the Mobile Gun System – the behemoth of the 10 variants of the armored, eight-wheeled vehicles – gunners and vehicle commanders trekked over to the Yakima Training Center, an area both large and isolated enough to fire off the system’s 105 mm cannon. Now they can step inside a trailer parked behind the Battle Command Training Center, the post’s center for virtual training, saving them time, money and ammunition.

As equipment ships out ahead of the soldiers, the simulators allow new gunners to get acquainted with the system and veterans to retain their proficiency on it until they board a plane for the Middle East.

“With their equipment shipped, there’s no other way for them to come over and do the things they need to do,” said Sgt. Maj. Howard Briel, a senior noncommissioned officer for the Battle Command Training Center.

Fort Lewis is the first military installation to use the simulator, known as the Advanced Gunnery Training System, receiving it a year earlier than expected because of the approaching mass exodus.

The 3rd and 4th Stryker brigade combat teams are headed to Iraq for their third and second deployments, respectively.

The 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team is headed to Afghanistan. The three brigades, all assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division, total about 12,000 soldiers, more than one-third of the post’s active-duty force.

Fort Lewis is scheduled to receive two more simulators next year. It already has received simulators for driving and maintaining Stryker vehicles.

On the newest simulator, the sights and firing controls are identical to those within the actual vehicle, but soldiers view a high-resolution virtual environment to identify, engage and destroy targets.

The system includes 211 training scenarios.

“We’re trying to replicate what the crew is going to face in the various environments,” said Donald Bing, an instructional engineer for Lockheed Martin, the system’s designer. The simulator also can be used to train Abrams tank and Bradley Fighting Vehicle crew members.

Soldiers said they were impressed with what they’ve seen.

Sgt. Thomas Keen, assigned to the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, said a new gunner can learn to load, arm and fire the weapon system in an hour using the simulator.

“We have an ability to rapidly train people with the system,” he said.

by: CHRISTIAN HILL; The Olympian

There are not many jobs where you can play a sophisticated virtual reality video game and get paid for it, but Illinois Soldiers had that opportunity, June 7, during its annual training.

The 232nd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, based in Springfield, trained on the Virtual Convoy Operator Trainer at the Illinois Army National Guard’s Marseilles Training Center. The 232nd includes the 1344th Transportation Company based in East St. Louis and the 1544th Transportation Company based in Paris, as well as maintenance units in North Riverside and Springfield.

The VCOT is a tool that allows up to 10 Soldiers to participate in a simulated convoy mission. The convoy consists of four Humvees and includes drivers, turret gunners and a convoy commander. Soldiers don head monitoring devices that allow them to see 360 degrees in the virtual environment.

“The VCOT has more than 300 adaptable scenarios and operators can change variables each ‘mission,’ making for a unique experience each go-around,” said Ed Voss, the Illinois Guard’s Training Aids, Devices Simulations and Simulators Facilitator.
Gunners are immersed into the experience of a combat convoy mission through a helmet that shows what they would see all around them during a patrol. The stations for drivers include all the truck’s controls. The station for gunners includes any number of weapons a truck gunner might have, including machine guns or automatic grenade launchers.

“It gives you the ability to get into a virtual simulation and trains you to react to a hostile situation,” said Capt. Bradley Roach, of Bloomington, commander of East St. Louis’ 1344th Transportation Company.

Sgt. Joshua Hayes of Edwardsville said the training as very realistic.

“Even though it was a simulated task, I wanted to perform as though I was in country,” said Hayes, also of the 1344th Transportation Company.

“Not only is it excellent training, but the troops get a kick out of it,” said Lt. Col. Drew Dukett, of Roodhouse, the 232nd commander. “The troops get to do something fun and different than the usual training.”

During their two weeks of annual training, May 31 through June 12, the battalion is also slated to do a 12-mile road march, an obstacle course, an Army Physical Fitness Test, convoy training on the roads, and urban warfare training with paintball guns.

Story by Officer Candidate Cale Fulton

In a darkened hangar, two soldiers fire beams of light at computer-generated images of enemy troops on large video screens. Sounds of battle fill the air through a speaker system.

This virtual reality shooting range at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is not just for combat personnel anymore. The government is making it available to military truck drivers, finance officers and others who are increasingly being exposed to hostile fire in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“When they used to be qualified with a weapon, they were pretty sure they were never going to have to use it,” said base commander Col. Bradley Spacy. “They can’t be sure anymore.”

Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., said the Air Force has taken on roles such as base security and truck driving in Iraq and Afghanistan that it didn’t typically do in the past.

Numerous Air Force bases use firearms simulators, according to Air Force spokesman Vincent King at the Pentagon. Law enforcement agencies and other branches of the military also use virtual reality for shooting practice.

The walls of the hangar at Wright-Patterson are hung with camouflage netting. Real guns stripped of their bullets — from M-9 pistols to M-16 rifles — are lined up on the floor facing two home theater-sized video screens.

“You’re hot,” Master Sgt. David Small tells two shooters, warning them he is starting the computer program.

The screens light up. A desert scene is projected. Incoming mortars hit with a thud, sending showers of sand into the air. Shadowy figures and flashes of gunfire are seen in the distance.

The two U.S. shooters fire back. A computer marks and measures the accuracy of the shots.

Between 35 and 45 people are practicing with the system each week, most of them non-security personnel.

“It drives your adrenaline — those things that actually kick in in the real-world environment versus just sitting in a range,” said Small, who has used the system.

Maj. Christopher Duffley, an intelligence officer who has been deployed overseas five times, has practiced on the system between 10 and 20 times.

“Typically for a field like intelligence or other ones, we don’t get to touch firearms very often,” Duffley said. “You become a lot more confident in your own abilities.”
Staff Sgt. Zachary Odonish, a communications specialist, has used the system three times.

“It’s definitely a lot more realistic than just going to the firing range,” he said.

Thompson said virtual reality systems have become an effective training tool for the military.

“If you can capture the visual feeling of the combat experience, it is very, very similar to actually being in that experience,” Thompson said.

The system, which the base bought in January for $400,000, trains airmen how to hit moving targets in combat conditions and how to communicate with each other, reload quickly and fix a jammed weapon.

The simulator at Wright-Patterson is made by Meggitt Training Systems Inc., based in Suwanee, Ga., which has sold about 5,200 virtual systems around the world including about 900 to the U.S. Marines and Army National Guard.