Technology
From DARPA to LAN
With the end of the Cold War, a stronger emphasis was placed during the 1990s on running a fiscally efficient military built on the practices of sound business and of making military procurement practices interface seamlessly with commercial industrial manufacturing processes. With pressure to reduce military spending applied by the Federal Acquisitions Streamlining Act... »
US Army’s creation of SIMNET
SIMNET, the military’s distributed SIMulator NETworking program. Simulators developed prior to the 1980s were stand-alone systems designed for specific task-training purposes, such as docking a space capsule or landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Such systems were quite expensive, for example, more than $30-$35 million for an advanced pilot simulator system in... »
Stars and Stripes: Army’s New Game
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,... »
Virtual Training
“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... »
VBS2 or Armed Assault
Here is VBS2, this is the latest version of a military grade simulation, the US Army just paid for a simulated exercise called DARWARS and payed about $17.7 million in USD (see the link). I feel that $20.00 a copy is a relatively fair price to pay to play the commercial version of this.... »
Tactical Iraqi for U.S. Military and Private Security Company (PSC) Operators
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... »
DARWARS Ambush!
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... »
US Army Arcade
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... »
US Army’s New Game
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,... »
New Simulations on the way
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:... »

