Battle Ground Simulations

Science and engineering are advancing rapidly in part due to ever more powerful computer simulations, yet the most advanced supercomputers require programming skills that all too few U.S. researchers possess. At the same time, affordable computers and committed national programs outside the U.S. are eroding American competitiveness in number of simulation-driven fields.

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The Premier Asia-focused Defence Simulation Training & Wargaming Event of the Year!   In order to further simulation, training and wargaming initiatives throughout Asia, IQPC is proud to announce its inaugural event on the subject, focusing on local requirements, as well as international case studies.

Asian Armies, Navies and Air Forces in the region are training on newly purchased platforms, and working together through joint exercises and networked simulations. No other event in Asia provides a forum for true international discussion on strategic and operational level subjects for this community.

http://www.asdevents.com/event.asp?ID=514

Virtusphere was an invited co-exhibitor this past weekend with the traveling Virtual Army Experience at the Greater Binghamton Air Show, NY. Virtusphere was demonstrated by many members of the US Army and staff of the Virtual Army Experience with postive feedback.

Local Fox News affiliate provided coverage of Virtusphere at the air show and includes comments for Sergeant Tommy Rieman, Real Heroes Program Manager and can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/mrfuww .

Virtusphere welcomes any feedback and opportunites from defense industry customers and application developers.

In a large tan tent at the Inlet in Ocean City, the U.S. Army has set up a virtual battlefield in which people can participate in a simulated mission, based off the U.S. Army video game, “America’s Army.”

People who are at least 13-years-old can enter the tent and start with an orientation to a mission, like providing humanitarian aid to civilians in Iraq. Then participants enter a cavernous room with several mock military vehicles and a helicopter.

The simulation begins and the participants face enemy insurgents they must shoot with fake guns. Projection walls surround the vehicles with images of the battle scene.

“You just saw the insurgents around you, and you just made sure you had to get them and not get the civilians,” said 16-year-old Cy Jarrett.

The Army says it’s using the experience to get their own messages out and to get people thinking about joining the military.

“There’s a good chance after high school I’d join the military,” 15-year-old Julian Tyler said after participating in the simulation.

Recruiters and Army personnel were available to guide participants through the event and answer questions after their experience.

“This is a recruitment tool, but it’s also here for educational purposes,” said Sgt. Jason Mike, who was awarded a Silver Star for surviving a gun fight in Iraq and saving the lives of fellow soldiers. ”We’re here to educate people on what the army can offer.”

In the simulation there is no real-life gore or real violence.

“We’re rated ‘T’ for teen. Like I said, we’re here for an educational purpose. That doesn’t need to be shown. I think everyone understands that happens with warfare, so that doesn’t need to be explained,” said Sgt. Mike.

But some parents criticize the army for not showing the actual effects and consequences of war, and for allowing young teens to participate in the simulation.

“The games are there and the kids think nothing is going to happen to them when they get older. I think it has an effect on a lot of those school issues,” said William Bean, who is the parent of several young children visiting Ocean City.

Either way, the lines outside the simulation continue to grow.

Reported by Steve Dorsey

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.

In the late 90’s a video game started making the rounds that changed the way we look at FPS games.  Around Beta 5, CounterStrike, a full conversion modification of Half-Life, was released as a free download.  It was dreamed up, developed and released, for free, by a college student named Minh “Gooseman” Le.

The premise was simple, and that is the real beauty of this game, it was two teams, the Tangos and the Counter Terrorists, running a set of straight-forward scenarios.  The scenarios were; Plant the Bomb, Rescue the Hostage(s) or Executive Protection (VIP).  The rules were self explanatory and the area of play was limited, focusing the teams on the each others annihilation.  It started a whirlwind of other games, and impacted the gaming community like no other since the advent of the 3d-shooter.

Since that time, the shooter genre has undergone many mutations, consoles have come into play, 3rd person view, addition of certain real-time strategies, but the underlying features are the same.
In the Military Simulation department, the US Army’s America’s Army, the Tom Clancy Ghost Recon series and Bohemia Interactive’s Operation FlashPoint, Armed Assault and ArmA 2, all reach for the ten-ring.  Where other games have a immersive story and rich single player features, such as Mass Effect, only these games try to be “tactical.”  Each has problems, each has strengths and weaknesses.  However, it can’t be denied that FPS games have had, will continue to have, a deep impact on both the casual gaming world and the virtual combat trainer world.

Current products:

VBS2Fires. A complete Call-For-Fire desktop training solution for calling artillery, mortar and naval offensive support utilising the VBS2 virtual environment.

VBS2Fusion. The complete API for VBS2, heralding a new era of VBS2 development.

VBS2FastScript. A comprehensive IDE for creating, modifying and managing VBS2 script files.

In development:

VBS2-Kynapse Integration. Combine the power of the industry leading AI middleware and the industry leading virtual simulation environment.

VBS2 FAC. Building upon VBS2 Fires, VBS2 FAC provides a complete forward air controller training solution for VBS2.

Partner products:

Marksman MK1. Train like you fight. A revolutionary marksman training system allowing weapon training for any scoped weapon.

Call-For-Fire Trainer. A complete Call-For-Fire simulator, combining the power of surrogate equipment, a full projection system and the VBS2Fires software system.