Battle Ground Simulations

The Combat Training Centers (CTCs) provide invaluable live training opportunities, however these training experiences are limited due to their availability and expense. Providing readily available, relevant, and realistic training prior to and subsequent to CTC rotations can significantly enhance the benefits of these live training experiences.

Realistic tactical simulations are beginning to proliferate, but the developers focus on simulation fidelity not on training. If used in a training context, the simulations are employed as a substitute for the live ’sandbox’. Basic data is collected and diagnostic evaluation is conducted by human observers. On the other hand, the training community has been developing intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) that can perform the key functions of a live tutor/coach. An excellent opportunity exists to couple an intelligent tutor with realistic simulations to provide supplemental training to the CTC experience.

Proposed Solution

The Virtual Combat Training Center (V-CTC) will develop an intelligent tutoring system that is plug-compatible with existing PC-based simulations. Evaluation of student actions is performed by a combination of deductive and Bayesian reasoning, not fixed decision trees. Thus the tutor has an expert level, active knowledge of domain concepts, rules and solutions and develops a rich model of what the student knows and does not know. The student model is continually updated, and influences the tutor’s strategies so that it customizes interactions and instruction to the individual student.

The tutor is hooked into an existing simulation, using software connectors, rather than extensively modifying simulations or building new ones from scratch. This approach will be demonstrated with an existing high-fidelity tactical simulation of combined-arms warfare at the battalion and company level (Armored Task Force). The tutor system is a modular to allow re-use of key components for other applications. In particular, the separation of tutor and simulation, the use of software connectors, and a software architecture approach where the tutor knowledge bases are built from reusable ontologies should all enhance portability, extensibility, and reusability.

Expected Benefits

The proposed approach will provide improved training effectiveness and cost reduction. Improved training effectiveness is due to a richer student state model, more customized tutorial interactions, and more realistic training in simulations. This improved training complements existing CTCs by providing advance training before rotation, refresher training after rotation, and greater time on task outside the CTC. System cost reductions will be due to reusable ITS components and plug-in connectors to existing and future simulations, thus leveraging millions of dollars of development cost.

The Need and Opportunity

Army training in most FORSCOM units revolves around preparing for and participating in Combat Training Centers (CTC). At these centers, the troops fight against intelligent, experienced live opponents using equipment and tactics of enemy forces. The CTCs provide invaluable live training opportunities, however these training experiences are limited due to their availability and expense. For example, in a typical National Training Center (NTC) rotation, there is only enough time to practice two to three missions on offense and on defense. According to some estimates, it costs one million dollars a day for a brigade to train at NTC. Commanders are often reassigned to new positions after a CTC rotation, leaving the new commander of the unit to learn anew what his departing predescessor had just learned.

Due to these limited resources, it is critical that the training experiences at these CTCs be optimized. The benefits of these live training experiences can be extended by providing low-cost, readily available, realistic, and relevant PC-based training prior to CTC rotations to better use the time there, and subsequent to rotations, to enhance retention and allow for in-unit follow-on training that builds on what has just been learned. This supplemental training also allows much greater time on task, allowing trainees to spend more time developing a wider range and more in-depth tactical skills and increased automaticity in applying those skills.

Simulations and games that apply to Defense needs are beginning to proliferate, some from the DoD and from entertainment. These developers are usually domain experts who do not have the interest or resources to add significant training (if any) to their simulations. If the simulations are used in a training context, they are typically employed in a similar manner as the live training centers. Basic aggregate data (e.g., number of kills) is collected and diagnostic evaluation is conducted by human observers — a reduction in equipment cost of CTCs, but still requiring observer personnel. High-end workstation simulations such as JANUS, may also require additional personnel to operate the interfaces for trainees.

A segment of the technical training community focuses on development of intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) that can perform the key functions of a live tutor/coach. These tutoring systems tend to be handcrafted for each application and are expensive and time consuming to build when so developed. The members of this community are not ususally subject matter experts in military subject matter so any simulations developed by them tend to be rather low-fidelity by comparison to those developed by military subject matter experts.

We see an excellent opportunity to couple intelligent tutoring systems technology with existing subject-matter developed high-fidelity simulations to provide supplemental training to the CTC experience.

Proposed Solution

The Virtual Combat Training Center (V-CTC) is an intelligent tutoring system that is plug-compatible with existing PC-based simulations through the use of software connectors. The tutor increases the level of knowledge and expertise that commanders acquire. It does this by promoting expert ways of thinking. It teaches the leader to model the battlefield in his mind, analyze the situation against doctrine, and make doctrinally sound decisions, and rehearse these skills in a variety of situations until they become automatic.

This approach will be demonstrated with an existing high-fidelity tactical simulation of combined-arms warfare at the battalion and company level, called Armored Task Force (ATF). The predecessor to ATF, Brigade Combat Team (BCT), has been used at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) Leader Training Program (LTP). The tutoring system will be developed so that the main components (student model, domain knowledge, and tutor strategies) are reusable for other simulations. The tutor component is also intentionally designed as a separate component to existing simulations to promote its reusability.

Tutoring System. Most computer-based tutoring systems build student models based on recognition-based exercises, such as multiple-choice, drag-and-drop, and fill-in-the-blank exercises. While these types of measures are easily collected, they do not provide a full assessment of student state. Not only is it important to have knowledge about a domain, but one must also be able to apply those skills necessary to perform the tasks and do so with confidence. This tutoring system will build a skills and knowledge student model within the context of realistic scenarios and simulations. The V-CTC builds a skills and knowledge student model within the context of realistic scenarios, such as CTC exercises, and in the context of task performance in these high-fidelity simulations.

The tutor provides a real-time assessment of student state that is richer than current approaches. It includes performance-based measures of actions and choices during a realistic simulation, as well as knowledge-based measures of student plans, perceptions (e.g., of enemy threat), and explanations for actions taken or not taken. A dialog capability between the trainee and simulated instructor also provides a rich source of user modeling information, in addition to allowing the trainee to directly ask and answer questions in a natural way. The data collected includes latency and self-assessment measures that provide information for a model of confidence. A Bayesian analysis takes these various measures and forms a student state model consisting of knowledge, skills, and confidence.

Evaluation of student actions in the simulation is performed by deductive reasoning. This knowledge-based reasoning is supported by a domain knowledge representation which is a domain specific knowledge base built over domain-specific ontologies ultimately backed by a standard upper ontology. The ontologies provide a high-level organization of the knowledge, and furthers the user model’s extensibility and reusability. The domain-specific knowledge base provide the tutor with an expert level of active knowledge of domain concepts and rules and solutions. The student state model is continually updated, and influences the tutor’s strategies so that it customizes interactions to the individual student.

The tutor system will be hooked into an existing high-fidelity tactical simulation, using software connectors, rather than either extensively modifying simulations or building new ones from scratch. These hooks into the simulations allow the tutor to control basic operations of the simulation, such as starting, freezing, or replaying particular scenarios at specified points in time. They will allow the tutor opportunities to gather input from the student and provide feedback and explanations.

The tutoring system will be designed with a generic, modular architecture to enable re-use of the key components for other applications. Re-usable components include the student state model, tutoring strategies, domain knowledge representation, and the methodology for connecting the tutor and simulation. We also build the tutor separate from the simulations to allow reuse of each in multiple applications.

Simulation. The Virtual Combat Training Center concept will be demonstrated with a high-fidelity tactical simulation of combined-arms warfare at the battalion and company level, called Armored Task Force (ATF).

ATF is the recently released successor to a previous simulation called Brigade Combat Team (BCT). BCT was an innovation in that it provided most of the fidelity of JANUS (a simulation used extensively at the Command and General Staff College) but eliminated the need for high-end workstations or controllers to interpret commands. BCT included detailed scenarios from NTC training rotations, and combat situations from the first Gulf War to hypothetical engagements in Kuwait, North Korea, and Cuba. Brigade Combat Team has been used for training at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC), Leader Training Program. ATF and BCT were developed by an active duty Army artillery officer, who is an observer/controller at NTC, and was previously stationed at JRTC.

The ATF game pits a friendly force of up to battalion/company size against an enemy force of up to brigade/regimental size against each other in simulated combat. ATF allows a user to take the role of the friendly forces while it plays the opposing force (OPFOR). It randomly selects from multiple enemy course of actions (COAs) stored with each scenario. The user manipulates NATO-standard icons that represent companies, platoons, or sections. Commands can be given from the company-level on down to the platoon-level and specify paths and orders for individual vehicles. Just as in modern land warfare, the user fights with and against units consisting of a wide variety of assets. These include armor, infantry, artillery, engineers, air defense, and aircraft. These units must be synchronized and massed at the key point on the battlefield to win. The cybernetic battlefield is a digitized elevation map of actual terrain and uses UTM coordinates. Actual National Training Center (NTC) maps (e.g., of Crash Hill) are used in the NTC scenarios.

ATF includes scenarios from National Training Center, the Fulda Gap in Europe, the first Gulf War and a hypothetical second Gulf War. It improves on BCT by providing a better simulation of military command since missions can now be assigned to companies and platoons and they will carry out their orders independently. ATF also includes more accurate vehicle and turret modeling, better modeling of weather effects, the addition of civilians, the addition of vehicle smoke capabilities, and an improved user interface and graphics. The maps are not hexes, but continuous terrain features including trees, buildings, and roads in contour-map representations.

BCT and ATF are real-time simulations (1X, 2X, 4X, or 8X of battle real-time) of combined arms warfare. Note that this real-time aspect is very important in helping trainees acquire an intuitive feel of how fast the battlefield changes and in learning how to synchronize different battle operating systems such as artillery and armor.

Operational concept. The Virtual Combat Training Center (V-CTC) could be used for individual development in the unit prior/after CTC rotations. The tutoring component emulates an Observer/Controller (O/C) at NTC. The virtual coach ‘pops-up’ and points out poor tactical decisions as they are being made, teaching Army doctrine at that time. Later, in the After-Action Reviews, the virtual coach summarizes what the commander did wrong and what he should have done.

The V-CTC and simulation can be used in the classroom to illustrate tactical concepts. It can be used to train commanders in different echelons and for networked team training for different roles such as FSO, S-2, and S-3.

Expected Benefits

The Combat Training Centers (CTCs) provide invaluable live training opportunities, however these training experiences are limited due to their availability and expense. Providing relevant training with high fidelity simulations before and after CTC rotations can benefit live training experiences and enhance retention. It is only through the use of simulations that trainees can acquire the hundreds to thousands of hours of training that is required to developed expertise without incurring the time, expense, and risk inherent in live training and real combat.

Intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) coupled with high fidelity simulations can provide this supplemental training. ITS provide individualized instruction with the potential 2 sigma (standard deviation) improvement that good human tutors can accomplish.

We expect that the proposed Virtual Combat Training Center will provide the following advantages and benefits:

Improved quality of training

• With richer student model to inform tutor strategies
• With tutor strategies adaptive to the individual
• With more realistic simulation-based training

Reduced cost of training

• With re-usable ITS components
• By leveraging the millions of development dollars for PC-based simulations
• By providing advance and refresher training to supplement live training exercises

Low-cost training available anywhere and anytime

• Inexpensive platform and software
• Runs on a lap-top PC (lightweight, compact and portable)
• Requires no special peripherals (just a keyboard and mouse)
• Works well in remote and noisy environments as the primary interface is visual, not auditory

A high-fidelity simulated task environment coupled with an intelligent training system with a rich student state model is a vast improvement over current computer-based training programs. This new approach can transform military training by providing continuously available, on-demand mission-level training for all forces at all echelons.

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.

VBS2Fires is a professional Call-For-Fire training which combines the flexibility and stunning visuals of VBS2 with a highly sophisticated Call-For-Fire training and simulation system.  The system allows Offensive Support specialists to construct a Call-For-Fire which is then processed by the system and actioned accordingly within VBS2.    The system simulates exterior and terminal ballistics to a high level of detail and supports a wide array of munitions, fusetypes and fire platforms.

As VBS2Fires is built upon VBS2, all of VBS2’s standard features are included.  Do you want to conduct Call-For-Fire training from a helicopter?  Do you want to perform a Danger Close mission with Infantry participants conducting a mounted assault?  Do you want to train FiST teams in deployment to and from OPs? All of this is possible within VBS2Fires thanks to the underlying VBS2 engine.

VBS2Fires is a desktop trainer that runs on any machine capable of running VBS2.  It is designed to use a two screen setup with one screen dedicated to Call-For-Fire functionality and the other running the VBS2 virtual environment.  This can be achieved through a dual monitor connection to a single PC, or for optimal performance, through the use of two networked PCs.

SimCentric’s proprietary Call-For-Fire Parsing Technology allows Calls-For-Fire to be entered in plain text and then interpreted by the system. Alternatively, VBS2Fires also provides a graphical wizard to allow interactive construction of a Call-For-Fire.

VBS2Fires runs in Trainee, Instructor or Standalone modes.  It is fully integrated with VBS2 core features such as the After Action Review and the Real Time Editor.  It has additional analysis tools for investigating ballistic trajectories, terrain and unsafe practices.  The system provides an interface external to VBS2 to allow streamlined operation and a professional look and feel.

Features:

• Highly detailed exterior ballistics model

  Simulates gravity, drag, wind drift, pressure, temperature, spin drift and Coriolis effects; additionally the model simulates the change of these parameters at varying altitude

• Customisable properties

  Supports field guns, self propelled guns, naval gunfire fire platforms.  Customise the firing characteristics, operational reloading and relaying times, and the munitions that a platform is able to fire.  Build your own projectiles with customisable ballistics properties.

• Wide selection of munitions and fuses

  Munitions include: HE, WP, Smoke (multiple colours), SADARM, DPICM, RAAMS, ADAM, ILLUM (multiple colours), and Copperhead.  Fuses include: Quick, VT, Time, Delay, Seek and Destroy, and Laser guided.

• Wide selection of fire distributions

  Including: Converging, Circular, Linear, Range and Lateral Spread, Parallel Lines of Fire, and user defined custom distributions.

• High fidelity terminal ballistics models

  Terminal Ballistics are modelled both visually and functionally to accurately reflect real-world effects.  Functional damage models reflect side lobe patterns of explosive rounds defined by round velocity and explosive velocity.

• Range of Call-For-Fire entry options

  Trainees enter Calls-For-Fire through the entry of plain text or through the use of a wizard-based GUI.  These are automatically interpreted by the system.  Additionally, voice may be used to communicate between a human instructor and trainee.  The instructor then has the option of manually entering Fire Control information into the system.

• Artificial Intelligence Engine

  VBS2Fires will automatically respond to a Call-For-Fore that is end by the trainee using a detailed Artificial Intelligence algorithm suite.  Alternatively, the instructor may manually respond to Call-For-Fire injecting errors as appropriate.

• Simulation of Radio Nets

  Communications are an essential part of the Call-For-Fore process.  VBS2Fires simulates CNR radio traffic, radio nets, radio frequencies, and radio logs.  Simulated encryption is also supported.

• Rapid scenario design

  VBS2Fires will save you time and money through its rapid scenario editor.  Using this editor building a VBS2Fires scenario is no more complex than building a standard VBS2 Scenario.  Scenarios can be rapidly prototyped and tested in a simple

• Real-Time Editor

  Provides an Instructor with a run time authoring capability allowing any aspect of training to be modified during training.

• After Action Review

  VBS2Fires is completely integrated with the VBS2 AAR system.  Bookmarks can be dynamically added from VBS2Fires and all projectile paths and effects are captured. Additionally, VBS2Fires provides terrain and ballistics analysis tools to aid the exploration of learning points following an exercise.

• Runs on COTS hardware

  Runs on a single PC with two video outputs, or on two networked PCs.  If a PC can run VBS2, it can run VBS2Fires.

• Flexible network based architecture

  Operable in Instructor, Trainee or Stand-Alone mode.  Can be run onsame machine as VBS2 on a separate machine connected over the network.  Seamlessly connects to other machines over any TCP/UDP capable network.

• Seamlessly links with VBS2 COTS Desktop Trainer

  Use VBSFires as part of a larger training exercise.  As it incorporates the VBS2 engine, Call-For-Fire training can be implemented as part of larger training scenarios with Combined Arms participants.

Example VBS2Fires applications:

• Individual training

  Standalone mode allows a trainee to practice Calling-For-Fire without an Instructor or other participants.

• Individual instructor/trainee interaction

  A single instructor terminal can be solely dedicated to a single trainee terminal, allowing an instructor to monitor and control the exercise for that trainee.

• Instructor led group training

  An instructor can monitor and control the exercise for a group of trainees participating in a single VBS2 scenario.  These trainees can interact with each other, or can alternatively be located remotely in a scenario calling fire for unrelated targets.

• Instructor monitored group training

  The Artificial Intelligence engine within VBS2 allows the system to automatically respond to Calls-For-Fire without the requirement for Instructor interaction.  This allows the instructor to focus on monitoring or assessing trainees and highlighting learning points, rather than on operating the system.

• Instructor led training during combined training exercise

  An instructor manages a group of trainees who are conducting Call-For-Fire training in support of a manoeuvre force consisting of a combination of human and computer controlled elements.

• Enhanced Offensive Support simulation for VBS2 training exercise

  VBS2Fires is used to increase the richness of a training exercise involving an Manoeuvre force by providing a high fidelity hostile indirect fire simulation.  To do this a single Instructor directs fire in order to shape the Blue force.

• Combined in exercise with Call-For-Fire Simulator

  VBS2 Fires is used in conjunction with the Call-For-Fire Trainer Simulator to provide seamless interaction between the physical simulator and the desktop trainer.

Developed by Bohemia Interactive partner Virtual Integrated Simulations (VIS), the Marksman MK1 is a revolutionary new system that turns any scoped weapon into a training simulator. Combining durable and detachable Virtual Reality hardware optics with high-fidelity ballistic computer simulation, the Marksman MK1 offers a complete Marksmanship training solution. Training can be conducted with the same weapon that is used on operations. This facilitates realistic training, with inconsistencies such as trigger pressures and weapon weight distribution entirely eliminated.

Accurately-modelled environmental and ballistic effects allow training in dynamic scenarios, and in any real-world location. The MK1 system is completely deployable, with rapid setup and minimum footprint; training can be performed in barracks or in the field. It provides a cost effective solution that is flexible enough to meet most training needs.

The Marksman MK1 is supported by a comprehensive software system which allows fall-of-shot analysis, target analysis and trainee evaluation. This software is seamlessly integrated with VBS2.

The MK1 system can be enhanced by an optional VR Spotter Scope or VR Range Finding Binoculars and can be used in conjunction with the Call-For-Fire Trainer (CFFT) or Aircrewman Virtual Reality Simulator to facilitate complex integrated training such as engaging targets from a rotary wing platform, and participating as part of a broader Offensive Support fireplan.

The Marksman MK1 is also designed to operate within the new VIS 360 Immersive Dome System, enabling marksmen to shoot in 360-degree, high-res projected environments for total immersion.

Train like you fight. The future of marksmanship training has arrived.

Developed by Bohemia Interactive partner Virtual Integrated Simulations (VIS), The Call-For-Fire Trainer (CFFT) is a full simulator which combines the power of VBS2Fires software with a highly deployable hardware suite to provide a complete, immersive and affordable training solution for any Offensive Support specialist.

The CFFT employs the new VIS 360 Immersive Dome System, enabling trainees to Call-For-Fire in up to 360-degree, high-res projected environments for total immersion. This dome system can be easily adjusted for deployment in most training rooms. The CFFT also provides sophisticated surrogate devices for laser designators and binoculars, which utilise the latest 3D tracking technology for maximum realism.

The CFFT provides a new level of immersive Call-For-Fire training at a fraction of the cost of other immersive simulator systems.

Innovative hardware, state-of-the-art software: your complete Call-For-Fire solution.

VBS2Fusion heralds a new wave of VBS2 development. It provides developers with a true VBS2 API for the very first time, allowing them to add significant functionality to VBS2 without learning the VBS2 scripting language. The C++ API provides a simplistic Object-Oriented framework allowing the developer to programmatically monitor and modify VBS2 entities. The API facilitates a rich degree of control over objects, entities, groups, triggers, waypoints and the VBS2 environment. VBS2Fusion is the essential tool for any development team considering tailoring VBS2.

VBS2Fusion transforms VBS2 into a true simulation platform, allowing bespoke applications to be developed which leverage the power of the VBS2 virtual environemnt, graphics capability and simulation engine.

VBS2Fusion is an add-on module that is sold separately to VBS2. VBS2Fusion will be released in several phases, with Version 1.0 to be released in May 2009. The initial version of VBS2Fusion abstracts the VBS2 Application Scripting Interface (ASI) and is designed to allow developers to influence VBS2 scenarios during run time.

Version 2.0, due for release in November 2009, will add a range of additional features such as direct access to the VBS2 simulation core (removing the need to access the scripting layer, or ASI, entirely) and also the means to control the complete VBS2 character skeleton externally.

VBS2Fusion is developed by SimCentric Technologies, a close partner of Bohemia Interactive. SimCentric offers professional and affordable support services for customers seeking to employ or fund updates to VBS2Fusion.

For more information visit the VBS2 website.