Battle Ground Simulations

Soldiers have a time-honored way of figuring out what happened after a firefight. They sit down together and hash it out, endlessly going over every moment of the battle as they try to determine who shot first, who hit their target, who missed, etc.

Because of the limits of memory and perspective, some of those questions could never be answered. Today, however, a high-tech device called the Engagement Skills Trainer is giving Soldiers new insights into the anatomy of a firefight.

The EST is an interactive combat simulator. Using the EST, Soldiers encounter virtual combat engagements and receive instant feedback from the computer on every shot fired, without the costs or safety risks of firing real ammunition, said Michael Graziano, EST facility instructor.

“It tells you everything. The computer calculates time, space and distance to the second. On every shot fired, there’s feedback. And all it costs is electricity,” Graziano said.

One of only six EST facilities in the Army, Fort Bragg’s EST has been open for five years, said Graziano. Each setup can accommodate up to 10 Soldiers, who employ computer-connected weapons.

The difference between EST and video game: realism

As real-life combat scenarios play a screen before them, the Soldiers’ reactions are collected and analyzed by the computer for review. Depending on what the Soldiers do or don’t do, the computer adjusts the scenario.

What separates the EST from first-person shooter video games is its realism, said Graziano. Every weapon used in the EST is a real weapon that has been modified, rather than a replica. The action, recoil and feel of the weapons are no different than they would be on the range, he said.

Soldiers using the EST are not limited to firing only M-4s or M-16s. The facility has versions of virtually every weapon system used by the Army, Graziano said.

“If they’ve got it in the arms room, we’ve got it here,” he said.

Each “round” that the weapons fire at the screen is actually a laser beam that is tracked and analyzed by the EST computer. If the round hits one of the enemy fighters on the screen, the computer adjusts the scenario to show that he has been wounded or killed.

Paratroopers from 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, trained on the EST April 19.

Inside one of the dark rooms, Sgt. 1st Class Donel Hagelin monitored the computer while five Paratroopers got into position on the firing lanes. Hagelin commanded them to lock and load.

On screen, a white van came to a halt at the end of a sandy, desert road. Two unarmed men dismounted and began yelling in Arabic. Then, from the back of the van, two additional men ran out with AK-47s. Instantly, the Paratroopers unleashed a hail of simulated bullets at the screen. In seconds, it was all over.

During the replay, it became clear that one of the Paratroopers had shot at the unarmed men running away. Hagelin corrected him on the spot.

“Situational awareness, men – I can’t stress that enough. That’s something you’re going to have to live with if you kill someone who is just caught in the crossfire,” he said.

After running through several more scenarios, Hagelin was enthusiastic about the value of the EST. The simulator allowed him to give precise feedback to his Paratroopers, and gave them a chance to work on their techniques without having to waste rounds at the range, he said.

“It’s the fastest way to train troops and the easiest way to save money,” he said.

The Army is shelling out nearly $18 million for a new training simulator game that will allow soldiers to drive virtual vehicles, fire virtual weapons and pilot virtual unmanned aerial vehicles in combat situations.

The contract for “Game After Ambush” was awarded late last month to software developers Laser Shot, of Texas, Bohemia Interactive, of the Czech Republic, and Australia-based Calytrix Technologies.

The new simulator — a modification of the commercial “Virtual Battle Space 2″ — will replace the Army’s official video game “DARWARS Ambush,” which the service uses to train soldiers for combat.

Since 2006, the Army’s Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation, or PEO STRI, has fielded more than 3,000 copies of “DARWARS Ambush” to the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Homeland Defense Department, according to spokeswoman Kristen Dooley McCullough.

In an e-mail, McCullough said the contract included $10.7 million awarded on Dec. 19, with another $7 million in options.

PEO STRI officials said earlier the new game will replicate what soldiers encounter on today’s battlefield — from fighting in urban terrain and convoy operations to reacting to contact and ambush operations.

The game will be able to interact with the Army’s battle command systems used by soldiers in the real world to track equipment as well as enemy and friendly forces. It also will include tools that will allow the Army to modify terrain, scenarios and missions, officials said.

The Army plans to field 70 gaming systems in 53 locations in the United States, Germany, Italy and South Korea between February and September 2009, according to Leslie Duvow, project director for gaming at PEO STRI.

“Each system will consist of 52 computers with ancillary equipment including steering wheels, headsets and mice,” she said.

Soldiers will be able to drive virtual vehicles, fire virtual weapons, pilot virtual unmanned aerial vehicles and do “most anything a soldier does” in a virtual battle space as large as 100 kilometers by 100 kilometers, Duvow said.

Laser Shot’s “Tactical Weapon Simulator” and Calytrix’s “LVC Game” will be added to the VBS2 software to tailor the game to the Army’s needs.

The Texas firm is the prime contractor for the production, fielding, training, software updates, technical support, and Web portal, in support of the game, according to a Laser Shot news release.

“Our company has extensive experience in supporting training for the soldiers of the U.S. Army, as do our partners Bohemia Interactive and Calytrix,” said Christopher Chambers, Laser Shot’s president.

The Army already uses VBS2 for convoy training alongside several other games at the Joint Multinational Simulation Center at Grafenwöhr.

The game has a strong reputation as a flexible, interactive, three-dimensional tactical training and mission rehearsal tool, according to Bohemia chief executive Pete Morrison. Bohemia sells a range of military-themed titles such as “Operation Flashpoint” and “ArmA: Armed Assault” for PCs.

“VBS2 is, without a doubt, the best military-grade game-based simulation on the market today,” he said.

The PEO STRI contract provides for fielding and training for “Game After Ambush” and associated tasks for one year, with an option to extend the program for four more years, the Laser Shot press statement said.

By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes

“There’s been a huge change in the way we prepare for war, and the soldiers we’re training now are the children of the digital age who grew up with GameBoys,” says retired Rear Adm. Fred Lewis, a 33-year U.S. Navy veteran

The military simulation and virtual training market has seen dramatic growth in the last decade and it is expected to grow steadily over the next ten years. Increasing concerns over training costs, time and risk of life have forced military forces around the world to adapt technologies such as computer-based simulators and computer wargames in military training. Most importantly, simulation and virtual training have so far proved to be not only cost-effective but also an effective way to train military staff in a wide range of activities. Those functions range from weapons training to flying and even medical training. Both combat and non-combat applications for military simulations and gaming technologies with increase significantly during the period 2008-2018.

This is the video game generation of soldiers. ” ‘Ctrl+Alt+Del,’ ” the U.S. Army noted in a recent study, “is as basic as ‘ABC.’ ” And computer simulations — as military officials prefer to call them — have transformed the way the United States military fights wars, as well as soldiers’ ways of killing.

“The technology in games has facilitated a revolution in the art of warfare,” says David Bartlett, the former chief of operations at the Defense Modeling and Simulation Office, a high-level office within the Defense Department and the focal point for computer-generated training at the Pentagon. “When the time came for him” — meaning Swales — “to fire his weapon, he was ready to do that. And capable of doing that. His experience leading up to that time, through on-the-ground training and playing ‘Halo’ and whatever else, enabled him to execute. His situation awareness was up. He knew what he had to do. He had done it before — or something like it up to that point.”

Virtual Training Technology, largely train soldiers how to coordinate complicated missions. Think of it as a sort of military “EverQuest” that can be played by multiple people in multiple places at the same time.

“Of course, it’s not a game. The feel of the actual weapon was more of an adrenaline rush than the feel of the controller, but you’re practically doing the same thing: trying to kill the other person. The goal is the same. That’s the similarity. The goal is to survive.”  says Trevino, 20, recalling his first shot at a human enemy.

A company called Tactical Language Training LLC (Los Angeles, CA) is marketing an Iraqi Arabic language course to military and civilian personnel operating or soon-to-be operating in Iraq called “Tactical Iraqi“.

According to the company website, the Tactical Iraqi language course utilizes…

artificial intelligence, computer-game-based interactive-animation simulations, speech recognition, and “advanced educational and human factors methodologies” to teach the student quickly. Tactical Iraqi teaches both spoken Iraqi Arabic and certain cultural nuances like gestures that are an important trust-building aspect to communication with Iraqi people. Tactical Iraqi is the second language in the Tactical Language and Culture Training Systems series that the company has produced in collaboration with the University of Southern California (USC).The previous language course in the series was called Tactical Levantine. While DefenseReview doesn’t currently know what that is, we’ll research it.

The Marine Corps Expeditionary Warfare School at Camp Pendleton and other military groups/organizations in the U.S. and Iraq are already incorporating Tactical Iraqi into their training, and the course is currently under evaluation at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Other languages, like Tactical Pashto, are still under development.

Click here to view video demos of the Tactical Iraqi language course in action.

Click here to learn more about some of the feedback the company has received on Tactical Iraqi.

US Army military training program DARWARS Ambush! is powered by Bohemia Interactive’s technology

DARWARS Ambush! is a commercial military training product developed by Boston-based BBN Technologies as part of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) DARWARS program. DARWARS Ambush! aims to provide a flexible training environment for soldiers to learn important lessons regarding both mounted and dismounted operations in conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

The product is an overlay for the computer game Operation Flashpoint™, developed by Bohemia Interactive (BI) and published by the Codemasters Software Publishing Company. BI has granted BBN a license for the use of BIs game software and tools in connection with DARWARS Ambush!.

BI is proud that the flexible Real Virtuality game engine it developed for Operation Flashpoint is capable of providing the basis for another successful training product and is committed to expanding the engine capabilities in many areas, including possible use as a training tool, in upcoming product releases.

BI reminds all users of Operation Flashpoint and the various BI editing tools that have been released to the gaming community that their end user license agreements prohibit all commercial use of the game and tools.

Military organizations and associated contractors are reminded that BI’s official military program, VBS1 (Virtual Battlespace 1) and VBS2 (Virtual Battlespace 2), are available for their use by license from BI. Regularly updated and enhanced, VBS is specifically tailored for military training use. It provides a range of advanced, inherent features such as after-action review and real time mission editing capability (instructor interface).

(Operation Flashpoint™ is a trademark of Codemasters)

With enlistment down in urban areas, the US Army turns to video game technology as a way to increase recruitment.

At the Franklin Mills mall in Philadelphia, PA, the US Army has built a $13 million arcade at the Army Experience Center, a recruitment station within the mall. The 14,500 square foot video arcade contains three full-scale simulators including an armed Humvee, a Black Hawk helicopter and an AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter. The exhibit also contains various Tom Clancy games such Rainbow Six andGhost Recon along with Madden football.

The facility, which opened up in August, is the military’s way of trying to attract the attention of possible recruits. With weak recruitment numbers in urban areas, the military hopes that the new arcade will help inform individual about service in the Army.

According to The New York Times, First Sgt. Randy Jennings, a supervising officer at the Army Experience Center, said the center’s intent was not just to recruit personnel, but also to inform young people about the Army, in an area where they have little contact with service members. Most recruits live near rural bases.

Since the facility opened, only 35 people have enlisted; results that are disappointing to the Army Experience Center.

“We won’t be measured by the number of people we put in the Army,” Sgt. Jennings said. “We’re basically a learning lab for the military, a way for us to interact with kids and find out what they’re interested in. People are going to join the Army, whether we had this or four or five recruitment stations.”

The Army has a history of building arcade simulators for various uses within the military. For example, during World War II, the military enlisted the help of director and inventor Fred Waller to produce one of the first “virtual reality” simulators for troops. Waller would go on to construct the Waller Gunnery Trainer; a simulation device that trained would be gunners on bombers such as the B-17 and B-24. However the facility in Philadelphia is the first of its kind, using the arcade a way to gain the attention of potential recruits.

If the facility is successful in its goal of informing and recruiting people interested in service in the military, the program may be duplicated in other cities across the country.

Military simulations ArmA 2 and Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising are to go head-to-head in the software chart when they are released later this year.

ArmA 2, developed by Bohemia Interactive Studio, is based around a Communist uprising in the former USSR. The game already has a thriving multiplayer scene awaiting its release.

Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising is being developed and published by Codemasters. The gameplay takes place on a real island off the coast of Japan and is said to capture the high level of detail of its predecessor but with a modern twist.

Both games arrive on the Xbox 360, PC and PS3 in the first half of this year.