MS&T Magazine - Issue 2/2012

www.halldale.com The International Defence Training Journal

National Focus

More With Less Training Technology

Technology Based Training: Type 45 and Beyond Transformation

Exercise Bold Alligator 2012

Official Publication

Training Technology

Opening New Worlds ISSN 1471-1052

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Issue 2/2012

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Editorial Comment

Europe Editor

"...simulation is the least expensive way to prepare troops effectively for their missions..."

On the cover: A Landing Craft Air Cushion enters the welldeck of USS Wasp during exercise Bold Alligator.

Image credit: U.S. Navy/Andrew Rivard.

Oceania, Middle East or in South America.

The same is true when it comes to military spending. Emerging regional powers such as China, Brazil, India, Russia and South Africa have rapidly growing economies and they are also engaging in significant military modernisation programmes. It is no coincidence that some of them are also the major conventional weapons recipient nations. Sooner or later the ITEC organisers will also be judged by the extent to which they attract visitors from these regions. Last year’s 20% certainly left room for improvement.

The conference committees have always demonstrated outstanding creativity when it comes to finding the right topics. This year is no different – there is even a fair chance that ITEC 2012 will outperform last year’s resounding success. In contrast to ITEC in Cologne, this year’s Host Nation is smart enough to give the event strong backing.

This is being manifest in the number and rank of panellists, key speakers and the professional level of the lecturers UK organisations are dedicating to ITEC. This support also holds great promise when it comes to attendance figures.

The Conference Chair, David Richardson from Raytheon UK, and his team have optimised ITEC’s conference structure. Four main streams will now address Operational Needs, Technological Advantage, Best Training Solutions and the People Dimension. The latter super topic deals with the human factor, a most exciting issue. Although military and political leaders constantly claim that people are the focus of their attention, there have been too many incidents during and after mission that put this in doubt. It is only right that the conference committee take up this issue and go forward with it; there is definitely a need for action.

And, once again, we have the chance to show all those amazed non-experts that simulation is not only good for modelling technical or physical environments, but also the perfect means when human personality is at issue.

Let's bang the drum together at ITEC! Walter F. Ullrich Europe Editor, MS&T Magazine walter@halldale.com

05 MS&T MAGAZINE

Walter F. Ullrich

The expectations surrounding major events such as ITEC are immense. Needless to say, both visitors and exhibitors expect to find more or less all available technology complemented by the accumulated knowledge and expertise of professional speakers – and in an almost perfect business ambience. Much attention is also paid to attracting the right people, i.e. qualified visitors. None of this is an easy task, particularly in the current situation. We haven’t even got over the global financial crisis, yet the economies on the Old Continent are being shaken by the euro crisis. Those countries that have for a long time been living on tick and wishful thinking are adopting drastic austerity measures that go well beyond their pain thresholds. Those that were more frugal in the past are now watching their capital disappearing in monetary firewalls. All in all, these are not good times for making big investments and certainly not for requesting big money for defence budgets. Such is the situation the S&T community is facing today, and such is the context within which ITEC 2012 will take place.

At first glance, the situation we find ourselves in is not a pleasant one. Yet, as strange as it may sound, it also offers opportunities. We all know that simulation is the least expensive way to prepare troops effectively for their missions – something even the non-experts have now realised.

However, much uncertainty remains in the outside world about the potential of simulation or, to be more precise, what simulation can actually do. The America’s Teachers at I/ITSEC initiative, a programme that familiarises science teachers with the field of modelling and simulation, is a very good way to disseminate the message. And so is ITEC’s new “military for free” scheme, which is about much more than filling lecture rooms and halls, because every participant, in particular the qualified non-expert, must be regarded as a possible multiplier.

Therefore, we all must not cease to advertise that when it comes to mission preparation, simulation is where you get the most for your money.

But even though the opportunities simulation presents in Europe are not too bad, they are better further afield. Economic growth is happening elsewhere, in Asia and

ISSUE 2.2012

Banging the Drum for Simulation

MS&T_APRIL_2012.indd 1

4/19/2012 11:41:46 AM

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MS&T (ISSN 1471-1052) is published six times per year in February, May, June, August, September, November by Halldale Media and distributed in the USA by SPP, 75 Aberdeen Road, Emigsville PA 17318. Periodicals postage paid at Emigsville, PA. POSTMASTER: send address changes to MS&T, Halldale Media Inc, 115 Timberlachen Circle, Ste 2009, Lake Mary, FL 32746.

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05 Editorial Comment Opportunities in Tough Times. Europe Editor Walter F. Ullrich sees opportunity for simulation in today’s austere and troubled times on the Old Continent.

08 National Focus More With Less. The US military is changing strategy, decreasing budgets, and adjusting training policies. Group Editor Marty Kauchak reports.

14 Training Technology Technology Based Training. MS&T’s Dim Jones continues his visits to the Royal Navy’s HMS Collingwood and the Technology Based Training Unit.

20 Training Technology Opening New Worlds. Virtual worlds hold great promise for revolutionizing the way military life is experienced. MS&T’s Chuck Weirauch writes.

24 Training Technology Medical Simulation. Medical simulation in DoD is well beyond its infancy. Chuck Weirauch continues MS&T’s coverage of this sector and examines current projects and research programs.

30 Human Performance The Human Factor. The majority of aircraft accidents have been attributable to human error in one way or another. Dim Jones explains how the RAF is addressing HF training.

34 Simulation History Simulation and Pilot Selection. Aviation

medicine, and pilot selection was born in

the crucible of high losses of aircraft and

pilots in WW I. Neva Capra and Marco R. Galloni describe those early days in Italy.

42

38

44 NEWS

Seen & Heard. A round up of

developments in simulation and training.

Compiled and edited by Fiona Greenyer.

Transformation Back to Basics. Exercise Bold Alligator 2012 was a revitalization and major re-investment in the amphibious capabilities of the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps team. Group Editor Marty Kauchak reports.

Conference Report GameTech 2012. The record breaking attendance at this year’s conference reflected the heightened interest in gaming, virtual worlds and mobile applications.

MS&T’s Chuck Weirauch reports.

ISSUE 2.2012

Editorial

Editor in Chief Chris Lehman e. chris@halldale.com Managing Editor Jeff Loube

e. jeff@halldale.com

Group Editor Marty Kauchak

e. marty@halldale.com

Europe Editor Walter F. Ullrich e. walter@halldale.com

Procurement Chuck Weirauch e. chuck@halldale.com US News Editor Lori Ponoroff e. lori@halldale.com RoW News Editor Fiona Greenyer e. fiona@halldale.com

07 MS&T MAGAZINE

MS&T Magazine Military Simulation & Training Magazine

National Focus ISSUE 2.2012

Fit, Yet Lean MS&T MAGAZINE

08

The U.S. military is adjusting its training policies. The long-term budget to support the new defense strategy will decrease spending across many S&T programs. For their part, S&T sector companies have their own plans for operating in this new era.

Group Editor Marty Kauchak reports.

Opposite The T-38C replacement will help prepare future pilots for the increased complexity of fifth generation jet fighters.

Image credit: U.S. Air Force/Kenny Holston.

In February, the Obama administration delivered its fiscal year 2013 defense budget request to Congress. This is the first budget to support the administration’s goal to reduce DoD spending across all portfolios through the next 10 years. While final budget details will be announced this fall, some initial decisions impacting S&T programs have been revealed.

In one program decision, Colonel Curt Walker, from U.S. European Command’s (EUCOM) Joint Training, Readiness and Exercises division, reported the command’s joint training program will take proportional reductions in exercise funding from the department’s overall budget reductions. “Beginning in FY 13, DoD funds for EUCOM will be down

tional capability for the embryonic T-X program from FYs 2017 to 2020. Industry teams led by Alenia, BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin/Korean Aerospace Industries are offering existing designs for the competition. The contract award has been delayed by one year to 2016.

The heritage T-38C fleet will continue to have several important limitations as they are used to train pilots for the F-22 and F-35s: they are not capable of performing aerial maneuvers beyond 5gs and in-flight refueling.

Other parts of the Air Force’s future training strategy may include optimizing savings by combining multiple requirement areas to achieve a single, combined solution. “Future budget allocations may lead to consolidation of some training programs. Nonetheless, Air Education and Training Command will continue to have enough resources to develop airmen in a world class fashion, but the methodologies used up to now require change,” he added.

Efficiencies through Learning Technology This January, the Air Force revealed return on investment data for the first official KC-135 Stratotanker Boom Operator Weapon System Trainer (BOWST) in Air Mobility Command. The trainer allows boom operators to perform inflight refueling requiring a tanker and a receiver. “An eight-hour tanker sortie cost more than $49,000 without factoring in the receiver costs. The BOWST can train boom operators for approximately $600 an hour,” an Air Force press release noted.

Such is the potential of S&T and a glimpse of how the sector will boost training readiness with the right investment – even in this era of funding reductions.

And it appears that message has been heard. Representative insights

ISSUE 2.2012

Reality of Reductions

approximately 22 percent. This means that nearly one out of the four training dollars (22 percent) we had to work with in FY12 is gone for FY13. The picture for training budgets in 2014 and beyond is still a matter for discussion and has not yet been resolved,” he added.

EUCOM will maintain a credible theater exercise program, in part, by increasing its focus on regional versus bilateral exercises. “This allows for a like number of engagement opportunities while reducing costs and decreasing the raw number of exercise events,” Walker said, and added, “We've also eliminated redundant exercises and created more training synergy with adjacent COCOMs [combatant commands]. This not only drives down costs, but it also helps to close operational seams. We are carefully monitoring the impact of these changes as we go to ensure we don't compromise critical training and engagement opportunities.”

Captain John Ross, the command’s spokesperson, emphasized that while shrinking resources do represent significant challenges for EUCOM’s joint training program, “training professionals at every level have worked closely together to create a full slate of exercises for FY13 and beyond that address EUCOM's readiness and engagement priorities.”

At the service level, David Smith, spokesperson for Air Education and Training Command (AETC), told MS&T that “certainly Air Force training and training readiness accounts will be subject to some portion of budgetary reductions. Fiscal constraints means the Air Force will have to use available funds in a smarter manner.”

In one of the major DoD S&T acquisition decisions that will free up funds through the budget outyears, the service has punted on its plans to buy a T-38C fast jet trainer replacement. The Air Force has slipped the initial opera-

09 MS&T MAGAZINE

O

n January 5, 2012 President Barack Obama announced a new defense strategy to defend the United States and its national interests. At the same time, the president said the nation is cutting about $487 billion in Pentagon spending through the next 10 years.

The developments have enormous implications for the department’s learning communities. The services’ training programs are adjusting from supporting two simultaneous ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to allowing the nation to increase its focus on broader challenges in the Asia-Pacific region and Middle East. And while the military retains its skill sets gained from the large-scale, long-term stability operations that have dominated military priorities and force generation over the past decade, it will also train to support missions the DoD’s leaders are emphasizing at this strategic turning point – with leaner budgets. Several missions of increased focus include cyber operations, special operations, and missions with unmanned vehicles.

National Focus ISSUE 2.2012 MS&T MAGAZINE

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gleaned from the Office of the Secretary Defense (OSD), USEUCOM and AETC indicate the Pentagon is moving forward with its use of learning technologies.

For its part, OSD is using its policy leadership position to sponsor several projects that promise to further harness the efficiencies of these technologies.

One concept that the Training, Readiness and Strategy (TR&S) office on the defense secretary’s staff is exploring is a personalized intelligent tutoring agent or Personal Assistant for Learning (PAL).

PAL is part of a family of learning capabilities the office is researching under the Project Aristotle umbrella. Frank DiGiovanni, the director of the TR&S office, pointed out that PAL will know the user's learning style, proficiency levels, and strengths and weaknesses. “It will act as a life-long mentor or tutor. It will have ubiquitous access to the World Wide Web as well as peer-to-peer connectivity with those from the same functional area or who have similar interests. This is one of many concepts which can be added to each warfighter's ‘tool kit’ to improve individual performance as part of DoD’s long-term effort to develop a more agile and adaptive force.”

The TR&S office is also pursuing a DoD-wide virtual world training framework (a pilot program will go live this April). The mid-term vision for the virtual world framework (VWF) consists of a single virtual training environment with a set of common “construction tools,” an ontological layer for importing legacy content, and a thin-client approach that supports simultaneous, multiple browser interfacing. DiGiovanni again explained.

“The virtual world will be populated through the importation of legacy content and/or ‘crowd-sourced’ through a market place mechanism. Content population will support contributions from our allies. The long-term vision for the VWF is that it will serve as the key component of a seamless DoD-wide mixed reality training capability.”

Learning technologies will also be part of USEUCOM’s strategy to help its units and staffs achieve training readiness while completing fewer exercises – by relying more on distributed and virtual solutions to control costs. “If we can leave a unit in CONUS [continental U.S.] but tie in with them virtually, it's a huge cost savings. As long as we're playing from the same models and simulations,

Above Frank C. DiGiovanni, Director, Training Readiness and Strategy, OSD. Image credit: U.S. DoD.

the training audience meets its objectives while saving the taxpayer money,” Walker said.

AETC’s Smith pointed out that his command’s leaders will continually seek ways to better educate more people with fewer dollars, which will depend on leveraged use of technology throughout the command enterprise. “Quality use of emergent learning technologies will allow us to effectively manage the growth of new information in a more demanding technological environment.

AETC is investigating adopting more blended learning approaches, where appropriate, to combine face-to-face classroom methods with computermediated activities to form an integrated instructional approach.”

Retaining a Competitive Edge At first glance, the planned reduction in DoD spending through the next 10 years appears bleak for the S&T sector. However, there are silver linings on the industry’s future business horizon.

As previously noted, several missions including operations in cyberspace, will receive increased DoD focus and training readiness investments. Last year, U.S. Cyber Command conducted the firstever Cyber Flag exercise. “This event is a joint cyberspace tactical training event, fusing both offensive and defensive cyber operations against a realistic and thinking enemy in a virtual training environment,” DiGiovanni said, and concluded, “This type of training will continue to receive emphasis, not only to ensure the

readiness of our cyber capabilities, but also to develop and train to cyber tactics, techniques, and procedures for the future.”

This and other developments have encouraged small and large companies in the sector to devise strategies to remain competitive and profitable.

MetaVR is one company below the prime contractor/integrator levels that finds itself well positioned in the market.

Garth Smith, the company’s, co-founder and CEO, noted that since its inception in 1997, MetaVR has been a small company focused on developing commercial software products. “Being small keeps us nimble and able to follow up on new opportunities quickly. This in turn has resulted in our products being adopted by a wide variety of applications. We have a very diffuse, or diverse, customer base. Early on, we moved away from depending on DoD contracts as they are subject to volatility and would make us dependent on a single customer.”

Accordingly, MetaVR’s customers use the company’s products in a wide variety of applications such as UAV operator training, manned flight simulators, mission planning and rehearsal, joint terminal air controller simulation training, urban operations training, and disaster management training.

One of MetaVR’s more interesting business niches is supporting the refurbishment of F-16 simulators. The training devices are being upgraded as the continued missteps and delays in fielding the F-35 have provided a lifeline to the F-16 fleet and its training systems. “Most recently, MetaVR recently sold 105 new Virtual Reality Scene Generator (VRSG) licenses for use in another USAF F-16 simulation training program, for five F-16 full mission simulators,” Smith recalled.

Jim Craig, vice president of training systems within Lockheed Martin’s Global Training and Logistics unit, told MS&T about his company’s holistic strategy, which has a robust R&D program as one underpinning.

“We are focused on delivering training value to our customers – versus a particular product or approach – looking carefully at what will be the most affordable and useful to the end user: the warfighters. We’ve made smart investments into research and development to ensure our training solutions remain agile and have worked hard at maturing

VR Group and MetaVR Deliver the Ideal Solution for Your Tactical Training Needs

National Focus ISSUE 2.2012 MS&T MAGAZINE

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our technology so that our customers receive something that’s innovative but also proven and reliable.”

One deliverable from the company’s R&D efforts is the Scalable Advanced Graphics Engine (SAGE), “which creates richly detailed virtual worlds,” Craig said. He pointed out the graphics engine, “takes advantage of the phenomenal advances in the commercial gaming industry but is still an affordable solution for the military training community.

That’s why it’s powering Army gunnery crew training on M1A1 and M1A2 tanks.”

The Orlando-based business unit’s R&D efforts have also delivered the Common User Interface. The product gives its customers the ability to control live, virtual and constructive training products at the same time, using one webbased interface, anywhere in the world.

Applications for Common User Interface would include the support of joint and combined (coalition) training for geographically dispersed units and staffs – offering significant reductions in training related costs.

With the end of the Iraq combat mission and the imminent withdrawal of

forces from Afghanistan beginning in 2014, the military will increasingly look to learn and hone its skill sets at home station. Lockheed Martin offers other products including the Digital Range Training System program, the Urban Operations Training Systems program, and technologies like the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System to support training for individuals and units in the live and virtual domains at bases, posts, armories and other venues.

On the strategic level, Lockheed Martin continues to partner with small businesses. In a collaborative effort with Organic Motion, the Orlando-based business unit used SAGE to support intelligent avatars, giving dismounted soldiers real-time training interaction with these dynamic, responsive figures.

Elsewhere in the sector, Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) has a wide-ranging strategy to remain well positioned as an independent integrator to provide solutions like training and Live, Virtual and Constructive (LVC) service offerings.

For starters, BAH remains committed to its maturing cyberspace operations’ business, a previously described area of increased DoD investment. “Booz Allen

has provided initial leadership with cyber ranges and cyber training solutions, and will continue to invest in this area,” Keith Catanzano, a vice president and head of LVC at the company, said.

At the same time, the company seeks to expand its core and proven competencies in the remainder of its LVC portfolio.

One not too subtle adjustment of its business strategy will include looking across DoD competencies to leverage best practice approaches to LVC applications across the total force – including the National Guard and Reserve.

A forward-looking effort has the company’s LVC services combining cuttingedge technologies and advanced learning techniques to help the military meet its readiness needs. Catanzano continued, “Incorporating Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) into the design of LVC components enables LVC systems to share common services. Booz Allen solutions such as SOA, cloud computing, and data analytics enable us to integrate existing assets and create flexible LVC systems for the services that can be updated with new information and capabilities to support dynamic, interactive learning.” ms&t

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Training Technology

Technology Based Training: Type 45 and Beyond MS&T’s Dim Jones bring us up to date on the Royal Navy’s synthetic training as he continues his review from MS&T Issue 1-2012

ISSUE 2.2012

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MS&T MAGAZINE

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n the last issue of MS&T, I visited the Maritime Warfare School (MWS) at HMS Collingwood in Portsmouth, and covered the introduction of the Maritime Composite Training System (MCTS).

However, MCTS is not the only show in town, and there are other– though no less effective – synthetic environments.

The visual Bridge Simulator, commissioned in 2002, is used to train and assess all warfare branch officers, except aircrew, for the entire range of watchkeeping, ship-handling and navigation training, from initial Deck Officer qualification to tailored courses for COsdesignate. It provides 5500 hrs training annually, and is currently running at 90% capacity. 65% of training is devoted to individual career courses, and 35% taken up by ships using various training packages for continuation training; these can be monitored by Flag Officer Seat Training (FOST) staff at the ship’s request.

The simulator is staffed by contracted VT Flagship instructors, all qualified Watch Officers, and supported by RN bridge personnel.

Multi-platform

Above

The simulator can replicate the bridge environment of 22 types of vessel, from a minesweeper to a Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) carrier; since the trainee is essentially making decisions and giving orders for others to execute, the level of fidelity of actual bridge equipment can be lower, but the handling of the simulated vessel is precise. The simulator has a wide array of databases, including the 3 major RN ports – Portsmouth (including Southampton), Plymouth and Faslane – which include all key navigation features, lights and buoys. It can replicate all weather, environmental, visibility and light conditions, tides and winds, and complicate a scenario with a wide array of other vessels, naval, merchant and civilian. The subject ship can be under tow from a tug, launching, landing or deck-moving aircraft, or practising Replenishment at Sea (RAS).

There is no deck motion, but the visual gives a very realistic impression – it certainly made me want to hold on to something!

View from the bridge of a Type 45 Destroyer.

Image credit: TBTU.

It is not only warfare officers who are benefiting from state-of-the-art simulation. Close by is the Phalanx engineering simulator, where trainees can learn maintenance, fault-finding and repair techniques, using classroom-based software which accurately reflects all technical documentation and safety measures. Up to 6 students can simultaneously work individual problems, selfpaced, but monitored by an instructor and with full replay and debrief facilities. There is also a laptop version for individual refresher training. Once the students have mastered the theory and practised the procedures in the desktop simulator, they can transfer their skills to the real hardware in an adjoining space.

Lastly, and bringing this review of RN synthetic training right up to date, I visited the Technology-Based Training

Type 45 is so different from previous platforms, it effectively represents a 40-year advance in design over the Type 42 – immensely capable, and utilising COTS equipment. Alongside this has come a step-change in maintenance, with contractors providing more waterfront support to RN personnel; a new approach to training has been developed to meet the new requirements, resulting in the TBTU being tasked to develop synthetic Type 45 training packages to substitute for Government Furnished Equipment (GFE), where practicable. All RN maintainers are given generic training courses throughout their careers, and receive platform- and equipment-specific training before joining their ships.

The TBTU’s mantra is computeraided instruction, CAI, not CBT; rather than being taught didactically, students are given the tools to engage in the learning themselves, with the instructor acting as facilitator. Not all TBTU training is synthetic – some 15-20% involves practical use of GFE for safetycritical training, such as the Sea Viper magazine trainer at HMS Collingwood.

The TBTU staff build courses through Key Learning Points and Modules, and can deliver them in a variety of formats.

The modular course design principle, using a Learning Content Management System (LCMS), allows for flexible reuse of the content. For example a Chief Petty Officer may need all the KLPs in his specialisation, more junior personnel less, and officers may need an overview of KLPs from a variety of systems. Elements within courses are linked, and an update to one will automatically update the others.

Looking forward to QEC and the Type 26 Global Combat Ship, approximately 45% of the equipment going into

assets, and then lock it down within the LCMS to provide configuration management. This not only provides version control, but also a single point of contact for anyone needing data, and a focal point for re-use of course content and media assets. This will drive down costs and ensure that, instead of having many different models of components, systems or indeed ships, there will be only one. For example, existing CAD data on most RN platforms is already held by MoD engineers. It has utility for training re-use at no, or minimal, additional cost; however, in order to capitalise on this, Defence Equipment & Support need to be aware of the potential, and the teams identifying the training requirements

ISSUE 2.2012

A New Approach

QEC is common with Type 45, so there is great scope for read-across and re-use of training. For QEC, the TBTU will surge in numbers from 18 to 30, with the addition of RN SMEs and an enhanced in-house media design and courseware development capability.

The TBTU is also tasked to provide advice and consultancy across the RN for all future training and technology, to find solutions for training problems, and to provide the interface between trainers and technicians. During development, relevant engineering data can be obtained from the contractor by the Integrated Project Team. The TBTU uses this data to help develop the training package, generate the courseware and media

15 MS&T MAGAZINE

Unit (TBTU), lodged at HMS Collingwood, but working directly to FOST. The unit is currently 18 strong, comprising RN SMEs working alongside training developers; it was set up within the MWS to exploit emerging technology for training in support of the Type 45 destroyer, but its wider potential was soon recognised. It has been in its current format for some 2½ years, with the emphasis firmly on future capabilities in addition to its core role of synthetic courseware development.

Training Technology

need to be innovative with their training solutions.

In the early days, it proved difficult to get the message out that TBTU could advise on, and provide, training solutions; 2 years in, and anyone looking for a new training solution will be directed to them. The synthetic training community across defence is growing, as many users are employing similar tools and open architecture, and capitalising on re-use and the sharing of best practice.

Whereas historically defence bought hitech standalone simulators, but were unaware of the potential for linkage and networking, they are now much more intelligent customers. MCTS has been a great success story and a triumph for GOTS/COTS, but was its application for collective training thought of when the contract was let?

Software Success In a climate of funding constraint, there is a constant quest for best value, and an imperative to make maximum use of what the defence estate already owns, and can re-use at minimal or no cost.

It will come as little surprise that, at

the top of this category, and central to much of TBTU’s work in the simulation area, is VBS2. The TBTU is now the RN centre of excellence for VBS2, which is one piece of software that has joined a community of users across the MoD; for instance, the RN could link with the School of Artillery (see MS&T 5-2011) in the same scenario. VBS2’s applications are almost limitless. A Capability Concept Demonstrator (CCD) VBS2 model

Above First Sea Lord, Adm Sir Mark Stanhope, and FOST, RAdm Clive Johnstone, try out the ORC simulator.

Image credit: TBTU.

of the Type 45, using engineering data already held allows simulation of launch and recovery of boats and RIBs, the employment of the 4.5 gun in Maritime

tors around the world?

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Training Technology

Fires scenarios, ship induction, ship awareness, procedural rehearsals and maintainer rounds training. The radars spin, the doors and hatches work, and an individual can ‘walk round’ the synthetically modelled ship through passageways and compartments. This training could be delivered to 100 students networked in classrooms, or to an individual on an iPad. The utility of this tool can be extended to Phase 1 and Phase 2 Training, and has impressed the QEC team, who are considering commissioning a similar system for the QEC. How far can VBS2 be pushed as a teaching tool? It appears that there is plenty of scope yet! Emerging applications include a procedural trainer for the interaction between driver and gunner on the Royal Marines’ Offshore Raiding Craft, which will allow the practice of firing the GPMG from a moving platform without costly sea time or the need to compete for scarce range slots; this application can be adapted for other craft and helicopters, and can simulate night operations with the use of NVG. Retrospective modelling of the Type 23 frigate from a re-useable format into VBS2 is

funded, and there are further possibilities for simulation of flight deck operations and also Heavy RAS.

Projects TBTU reports regularly to the IPTs and FOST on the art of the possible. Savings resulting from innovation can be used to reduce costs, or be ploughed back into an improved solution. An external business agreement exists with the University of Portsmouth, whereby TBTU provides projects for 3rd year students; they have built the QEC model in VBS2, for which the design is owned by MoD. This year, 40 to 50 students have been working on terrains for VBS2, representing a Vanguard-Class submarine, Offshore Raiding Craft, and the Type 26.

This work is zero-risk, aimed at maximum re-use and minimal cost to the Royal Navy. It provides a customer base for students, and even those projects which do not reach fruition are useful.

The product is comparable with those from major companies, but at a very low cost.

TBTU is currently working with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) in scoping the specifica-

The 5th annual

tion of all surface stream simulators.

The research project ‘Interact’ aims to produce a report for FOST showing the future potential for linking all surfacestream simulators, including legacy equipment. This could see a ship’s Ops Room team, in the MCTS at Collingwood or Devonport, training with personnel in the Bridge Simulator above, and the Fire and ‘Havoc’ Sinking-Ship simulators at HMS Raleigh, and helicopter simulators at RNAS Culdrose; there would be no need for any visual, just simple DIS comms and the appropriate State Boards in each location. It would even be possible to ‘fight’ 2 ships, a Type 23 and a Type 45, concurrently in the MCTS – a ‘mini-Thursday War’.

It is to be expected that the next generation of software will have increased functionality and the same open architecture. The continued success of TBTU – and, indeed, the wider defence training community – will be founded on continual dialogue and interaction between units like TBTU and the RSA, the MoD in the form of DE&S, JBTSE and DSTL, the universities and colleges and, last but certainly not least, industry. ms&t

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ISSUE 2.2012

Understand current efforts and the programmes being used by allied force to ensure that training and simulation exercises accurately simulate the stress and strain of combat operations

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Explore the latest technological advances being made to enhance TTP throughout militaries internationally Discuss why cooperation between forces is key to ensuring that training for the battlefield is both realistic and reactive Learn how industry are driving forward training methodologies through an interactive technology demonstration Analyse the latest techniques and methodologies that will enhance frontline training and better prepare troops before they engage in the battlefield

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Training Technology

A World of Opportunity Some refer to it as the 3D Internet, others as virtual worlds. Regardless of what it’s called it has the potential to change the way we train, learn, operate and care for our families. Chuck Weirauch reports.

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he 3D virtual world is on the verge of becoming the armed services’ tool of the future to train and educate, and immerse students in a blended learning environment.

Here, in a virtual world, they can apply their knowledge to addressing real-world problems and share their experiences through online collaboration with their peers. Both the military and industry are finding that virtual worlds can play a major role in the collaborative design and development of new products and systems without the constraints of more traditional approaches. It's all becoming more possible through what some have described as the next generation of the Internet, the so-called 3D Internet.

3D Internet and the VWF And just as the US military led the development of the original Internet, again it has taken the lead for the next-gen Internet. The key to this advance is the application of interactive 3D modeling and simulation technology to all of the capabilities of the Internet. Much broader

in scope than any one virtual world platform such as Second Life, the 3D Internet is foreseen as a globe-spanning network that will allow unprecedented growth and expansion of the virtual worlds technology as immersive environments for learning, collaboration and technology advancement. Information technology experts are predicting that the 3D Internet could fully emerge within the next five years, but the US military has already planted the seed for its more rapid development.

At GameTech 2012, Frank DiGiovanni, Director of Training Readiness and Strategy for the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, announced the initial release of the beta version of what may be destined to be the foundation for the 3D Internet for the military, the Virtual World Framework (VWF). The release of the VWF is due to the efforts of DiGiovanni's office, a number of other governmental agencies and VWF contract awardee Lockheed Martin's Virtual World Labs. While the 3D Internet may also evolve through other means, the VWF is planned to serve as

Above MOSES is designed to provide independent and secure access to a virtual environment.

Image credit: U.S. Army STTC.

the foundation at least for military virtual world environments.

Referring to the beta release of the VWF as a "dream come true," DiGiovanni pointed out the need for more virtual training as funding decreases for live training. He said that the VWF will help the military import its legacy content into the digital realm so that it can be better understood and used by others in the virtual environment. The long-term vision is to employ virtual world technology to create a blended training environment that will incorporate live and virtual simulation, immersing users' avatars on a live platform into the virtual world, for example, DiGiovanni explained.

While several US military services and agencies currently have developed virtual worlds based on Second Life software and that platform, that medium

neurs to experiment and take advantage of the fact that it reduces cost, increases innovation and helps us keep up with the pace of technology. Just like the first World Wide Web came from the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense, it makes a lot of sense for them to create the 3D Internet, and that's really what this is."

Since it may be perhaps up to five years before the VWF could become fully operational, the services continue to expand their virtual world enterprises on the Second Life platform, However, Linden Labs, the creator and administrator of Second Life, has decided to no longer support new large businesses and enterprise Web activity. In response, military virtual world developers have begun shifting to other platforms such as Unity3D and OpenSimulator 3D Web virtual environment platform.

The latter is the platform for the Military Open Simulator Enterprise Strategy (MOSES) developed by Maxwell and the STTC staff who also administer most of the MOSES system. Because of the limitations of Second Life, the training arms of several services that began their virtual world applications on that platform have now moved to the MOSES platform,

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available for download, he explained. As with Second Life, the VWF runs with a Web browser.

Richard Boyd, Director of Emerging and Disruptive Technologies at Lockheed Martin Virtual World Labs, said that the VWF facilitates the concept of a 3D operating system that can blend all media types, such as audio and video, that "enables deep collaboration" between users and allows people to offer content in a shared space. The key OSD requirement for the VWF is to create such an architecture that has the ability to share content while being interoperable, he said. But the major advantage of the VWF is that it is designed to be based on open-source architecture, which will significantly reduce costs for the military over proprietary virtual environment systems, Boyd emphasized.

"Think of it (the VWF) as a massively parallel distribution system where people are incentivized to create content as well as capabilities for it," Boyd said. "This is the optimal solution to the problems that we have had in modeling and simulation forever. Openness is the only way to build robust, complex systems. This is all about enabling thousands of entrepre-

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was designed for entertainment purposes and cannot provide the security often required for certain military training exercises and educational courseware.

That is why the US armed services need to have a different platform, one provided by the VWF, for information assurance, according to Doug Maxwell. He is the Science and Technology Manager for Virtual Worlds Strategic Applications at the US Army's Simulation & Training Technology Center (STTC). Maxwell is also the founder of the Military Users of Virtual Worlds working group and serves as a virtual world technology advisor to DiGiovanni's office.The STTC is a member of the VWF development team.

The point of the VWF is to have a new, distributed and collaborative environment that can be called a virtual world, while also paying close consideration to the information assurance needs of the military, Maxwell said. The VWF also provides the framework for a statesharing machine so that all users can experience the same environment at the same time. The beta VWF, which also 7� X 4.8�provides the building tools for a virtual world, employs mostly Java scripting, HTML 5 and Web GL tools, and is now

Training Technology

as have some academic institutions.

MOSES is also employed by some Web entrepreneurs competing in the STTCsponsored annual Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge Competition. One agency, the Air Force's Air University, employs Second Life for its Huffman Prairie virtual worlds system, as well as MOSES for other virtual world enterprises.

Other commands and agencies that use MOSES include the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC). The latter organization has employed virtual world technology to collaboratively redesign Virginia-class submarine Combat Attack Centers. It also has a Virtual NUWC Campus in Second Life, where distributed learning courses are delivered and virtual division meetings conducted.

Current Applications The Air Force Air University's Huffman Prairie virtual worlds enterprise is currently comprised of more than 15 prototype virtual world applications, including MyBase, that are being developed through collaboration with other armed services and academia. Some incorporate gaming technology, while other endeavors include conducting distributed learning classes in a virtual world.

One prototype class for instructional faculty will be conducted on Air University’s Squadron Officer's College Virtual Campus, where students via their avatars will walk into a virtual classroom.

There, they will interact together with 3D learning models designed to introduce them to pedagogy, the holistic science of education. The course will replace a traditional 40-slide PowerPoint presentation. According to Fil Arenas, Associate Professor of Organizational Leadership at Squadron Officer College, this virtual world-based course is just one

Above MyBase aims to attract men and women interested in learning more about the Air Force.

Image credit: U.S. Air Force.

experiment in the Air University's faculty development initiative to integrate the advantages of virtual world technology into its curriculum.

"Virtual world technology can help take students to a higher level of learning, beyond the traditional classroom

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knowledge and comprehension levels," Arenas said. "When you start applying, synthesizing and analyzing (via the exploration of 3D models), you increase the level of learning, and we can do this in a virtual learning environment very easily."

According to Andy Stricker, Distributed Learning Architect at Air University's Integration and Innovation Division, the use of 3D models in virtual worlds allows students to become interactively engaged with the application of their knowledge to problems in real life and demonstrate their understanding of concepts. Virtual worlds can also provide blended learning environments to enhance learning, he pointed out.

"Blended learning environments will give our students the very best prospects for development over the lifespan of their professional work careers," Stricker said.

"They do so by integrating audio, visual and all the ways that we take in information with our full senses. Virtual worlds can also provide people with experiences that would be very difficult to do in real life and we can't do readily in the traditional classroom. We want to leverage the capabilities of the virtual world environment to support learning across the spectrum, whether you are in a mobile

situation or however you are tying into the virtual world."

Other service commands and organizations are also beginning to employ virtual worlds for a wide variety of functions. The Army has just recently launched its OneSource Virtual World that is designed to serve as a virtual Army Community via the Virtual Resiliency Campus, eventually providing the kind of wide service and support that is offered on actual Army bases for soldiers and their families. Here, service members can attend training sessions via their avatars, and deployed soldiers can collaborate and socialize with their peers and family members. The OneSource Virtual World is based on the Unity3D Web platform.

Benefits As more armed service organizations begin to employ virtual worlds for their educational, training and system design needs, additional benefits are emerging.

"There are no more stovepipes when you are using this virtual world technology," Maxwell said, referring to the VWF enterprise. "It is readily available to all of the services simultaneously. And what we build goes to fulfill everyone's needs as a whole. We are looking to be able to

set up an environment that is easy to use and reuse by the military."

Overall, the opportunities for the virtual world applications for the military seem almost endless. While the primary driver is reducing operating and training costs, an online review conducted by MS&T of virtual world experts for the US services reaped an impressive number of other anticipated benefits and advantages, such as: • a persistent, continuous learning environment; • a vehicle for rapid prototyping and design model building; • perfect for command-and-control system, maintenance, and cultural and language training; • a tool for distributed and experimental learning; • an immersive, interactive and social environment; • can replicate any environment, geographic and cultural; and • may be the tool that can successfully integrate true LVC training.

The IT experts listed many other presumed benefits than listed here, but as one Air Force report simply sums up, " Virtual worlds is one of the key technologies and key capabilities that enables all aspects of learning." ms&t

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17.04.12 12:09

Training Technology

DoD Leadership in Medical Simulation Organizations such as TATRC and JPC-1 have a leading role in developing products like Caesar.

Chuck Weirauch explains how these organizations work together to advance medical simulation and education.

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aesar is the perfect example of Department of Defense (DoD) led research and development of a critical medical training device, a vital tool for the training of Army combat medics, evolving into a viable simulation-based commercial product. Work conducted by the scientists, engineers and medical personnel of the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC), the Joint Program Committee-1 for Medical Training and Health Information Systems (JPC-1) and the JPC-1 tri-service advisory board on the Combat Medic Training System (COMETS) has led to the successful commercial marketing of CAE Healthcare's Caesar autonomous trauma patient simulator.

Caesar is just one of the many simulation and other technology-based medical training and education tools being produced to help enhance and maintain medical practitioners' cognitive and psychomotor skills, consequently improving patient safety. The COMETS was one of the original projects of the TATRC Simu-

lation and Training Technology (MSTT) Portfolio which began operations in 1999.

It is one of 15 TATRC medical research and development portfolios.

The JPC-1 was created in 2010 through funding via the Department of Defense Health Affairs Initiative managed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs (OSD/HA), which has the goal to improve medical education and readiness for all US armed services. JPC-1 is the first of a planned series of JPCs to be established, and has program responsibility for the Initiative's Defense Medical Simulation R&D Program. Representatives from the Army, Navy and Air Force and the National Capital Area Medical Simulation Center, as well as other DoD agencies, make up the membership of its steering committee.

While the TATRC MSTT Portfolio is an execution agency that manages medical R&D projects it funds primarily through contracts with institutions and private industry, the JPC-1 serves as a coordinating agency to investigate and

Above CAE's Caesar trauma patient simulator.

Image credit: CAE.

evaluate the medical training and educational needs of its armed services partners, then pursues the means to provide such solutions. The JPC-1 looks at more of the application for simulation-based technologies, rather than the research and development of new technologies as TATRC does.

Joint Effort The COMETS is one of the first joint efforts between TATRC's MSTT Portfolio and JPC-1. The original R&D on this effort to develop an autonomous patient simulator mannequin was provided by the SIMGroup of the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT) with TATRC management and oversight.The COMETS project was initiated through input from the Army’s Directorate of Combat Medic Training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas as a means to train

“68 Whiskey" combat medics in triage and treatment of injuries seen during combat.

According to Harvey McGee, the COMETS training system was the first mannequin developed from the ground up with combat casualty care training in mind. McGee served as the former Technical Director of the TATRC Medical Simulation & Training Technology Portfolio (TATRC) and is currently the Medical Simulation and Training Technologies Portfolio Manager for the JPC-1.

The JPC-1 assumed the COMETS effort from TATRC to finalize some engineering work on the latest prototype, McGee explained. Once that work was completed, CAE Healthcare licensed the COMETS technology from CIMIT. The result of this government-industry agreement is CAE Healthcare's Caesar.

"TATRC really laid the groundwork by doing R&D to identify enabling technologies and develop those into engineering components that could be integrated into systems of simulation-based training, and continues to do so," McGee said. "The underlying purposes of both TATRC and the JPC-1 are to improve patient safety, improve the quality of care that is given and lessen the cost of care without compromising the levels of safety or of quality of care."

tion and training from a clinician's point of view, explained Dr. Kevin Kunkler. He is the current Manager for the MSTT Portfolio. Its four focus areas are now the same at those of the JPC-1: the Combat Casualty Training Initiative; the Medical Practice Initiative; the Patient Focus Initiative and Developmental tools for Medical Education.

"We are looking at more of a clinical focus for which we can find solutions," Kunkler said. "So instead of taking everything from a technology perspective, we are trying to determine what the clinical problems are and not being so specific on what technology solves the problem, but rather what comes forth to solve them."

One MSTT R&D area that is more

clinically based is clinical skills degradation and what actually defines a declining skill, or" how do you go from expert to less than that over time," Kunkler explained. This is particularly relevant in the military, where deployed medical personnel then come back home and are trying to get back up to speed on some procedures that they have not seen in their practices for a while, he pointed out.

"We are first looking to identify the skills needed," Kunkler said. "Then maybe we can design some tools that will help these practitioners regain their high level of skills. It does not matter what technology is deployed to help solve that problem. We are trying to figure out what is the best tool, period."

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The TATRC Simulation and Training Technology Portfolio's four initial focus areas were in PC-based interactive multimedia; digitally enhanced mannequins; part-task trainers and total immersion virtual reality. One example of the first category is the Virtual Human Patient Trainer. Under this TATRC-funded effort, the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) developed a Virtual Human Coach for soldiers dealing with behavioral health questions and issues. COMETS was developed under the second focus area. Part-task trainers include the Virgil Chest Tube Insertion Trainer, the Rapid Trauma Skills Trainer and the Compartment Syndrome Simulator. The Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CAREN) is an example of work under the total immersion virtual reality focus category.

Now, the MSTT Portfolio has moved away from concentrating on such specific technology areas to a broader focus on what is most needed for medical educa-

Training Technology

Both the MSTT Portfolio and the JPC-1 solicit input on the latest technological developments and breakthroughs from governmental bodies, academia, institutions and private industry as potential solutions to medical training and education problems and issues.

One means of doing so is through the announcement of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants and contracts, although other funding mechanisms can be employed.

According to Kunkler, some of the latest 2012 MSTT Portfolio SBIR announcements are for: • The development and integration of next-generation haptics into medical simulators; • The creation of a multi-substrate 3D printer with the ability to render highfidelity anatomically accurate synthetic physical tissue models that can be used for anatomy, trauma and surgical training purposes; and • The latest in sensor technology for integration into synthetic anatomical training models for objective user’s performance measurement.

"We are looking to see how 3D printers could model different types of tissue properties and more rapidly prototype them, while specifically looking at tissue reproducibility, appropriateness, and accuracy," Kunkler said. "We also want to know how you could integrate biosensors into synthetic tissues to indicate as to how much pressure you put on tissue, for example. We also want to know what the next generation of haptics is going to look like."

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JPC-1 Focus

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According to Dr. Janet Harris, Director of the JPC-1, that entity's ultimate goal is to improve DoD patient safety and quality of care by leveraging simulation and advanced technology. The JPC-1 and MSTT Portfolio Combat Casualty Care training focus supports the overall service mission on training for initial lifesaving treatments, considered to be the very beginning of the DoD continuum of care, Harris pointed out. The Medical Practice focus centers on making sure that medical providers have the skills they need across the entire continuum of care, she added, noting that this focus area also includes studies that include looking at the decay of knowledge, so that when medical practitioners come

Above The Computer-Assisted Rehabilitation Environment, or CAREN, is a virtual reality system to assess wounded warriors.

Image credit: U.S. Army.

back to the US after being deployed overseas, they can use simulation-based training and education tools to make sure that their skills are back to the level they were before.

"In the Patient Focus area, we are looking at how we can use simulation, which would include how we would use gaming, to educate our patients on the information they need to provide better care for themselves to improve their health, as in rehabilitation," Harris said. "This includes a wide gamut of projects, because it can be anything across a wide range of treatment areas, including those that deal with a service member's stigma about seeking care for psychological health, such as PTSD. In the Developmental Tools area, we are looking for a physiology research engine via an open source. We are looking at a plug-and-play physiology research engines, since simulation developers have their own algorithms. We are also seeking a variety of technologies based on gaming to focus on cognitive skills improvement."

The JPC-1 has also recently funded a study on the comparative effectiveness of simulation systems, comparing them to more traditional training methods, including live animal training. The University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota and the University of Missouri are all conducting various elements of this study, McGee said.

"This is really the first time that an effort of this magnitude is being done to really establish the scientific foundation for simulation-based medical training," McGee said. "One of our challenges is to increase the effectiveness of simulation-based training, regardless of the type of simulators. This is where our and TATRC's focus on synthetic tissue research comes in as well. As some modalities become more effective, we hope to lessen our reliance on more traditional training methods."

"These then could be assessed to determine their training effectiveness so that in medicine we would have a better idea of which training methods were teaching cognitive and psychomotor skills," McGee continued. "And at the end of the day, they could tell us how well the skills learned via simulation really translated to the day-to-day delivery of health care, whether it was in an operational combat medicine role or if it was treatment given in a fixed medical facility."

According to Harris, the JPC-1 simulation effectiveness study is one of the key issues for the organization that will determine the future of medical education and training. One of the research areas will determining what are the validated methods that are available for determining that an individual actually has the knowledge and skills that they need to have, she explained. Once the skill levels are determined, the research will look at where simulators can be utilized to train certain skills, and identify skills that current simulators can't train to the desired levels, Harris added.

"We also want to find out where simulation falls short to train certain skills," Harris elaborated." Then we want to invest research in those to improve the simulators that are currently available."

Med Sim Future According to McGee, medical simulation is well beyond its infancy. We are seeing an increasing level of acceptance each year as more people in medicine become more familiar with simulation as a modality for conducting training and observing the effectiveness of such training.

"The medical simulation needs are enormous, since many different practitioners need to gain and retain many different skills sets," Harris summed up. ms&t

ulator Laguna Surface Ship Sim

Safety Through Effective Training M&S development in the last decade has been very dynamic.

However, if previous attention was paid to direct materiel modeling, now even high-end simulators will hardly surprise anybody.

T

oday’s simulation efforts are directed towards battlefield modeling, mission control and HQ level operations.

Emphasis is given to complex process modeling and model interactions.

From one side, the complexity of simulations is being dictated by continuously increasing force integration levels, long-term complex international military operations and the ability to handle increases in realtime data flow. This is counter balanced by a need to optimize military training budgets.

Advanced local and global virtual operations modeling is now possible. Interaction between tactical units, detachments, HQ's and countries are being worked out with minimal forces involved and with colossal economy of budgets.

The term “International Interoperability” with regard to M&S is becoming more technological then political.

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The key terms of today are also: • Interoperability; • Global

database compatibility; Interface adaptation, ensuring necessary bandwidth; • Complex models build automation, realtime interaction development; • Standardization of Model Object formats, creation and filling of shared Object Libraries; • Mandatory M&S standards development and refreshing not only for standalone simulation, but regarding its interoperability with the Complex Models and Mission Control/ HQ simulators; • Usage of same Model objects of different resolution for M&S and R&D purposes, as lab samples; • Social systems and Groups modeling.

Intercultural interaction simulation; • Common format of training results and Lessons Learned storage.

The complication and appreciation of weapons platforms raises a principal point of personnel training. Today’s practice indicates that effective crew training may not only minimize non-battle casualties, but help to avoid them.

Thanks to continuous advances in M&S technologies, simulators can efficiently fulfil up to 80 percent of training tasks necessary for the practical preparation of flight, tank and missile system crews and other military specialists.

Flight crews in European countries, for instance, get approximately 70 percent of their combat training on ground simulators.

Safety is another vital feature of virtual training, especially for rookies and unskilled military personnel. For a score of objective reasons, the recruitment of career professionals is a major and troubling issue, especially for countries with a high defense expendi-

ture purchasing modern battle platforms.

This results in developed countries spending 7-10% of the defense bill on training materiel.

It should be noted that the traditional virtual simulators are not here to stay.

For instance, UAV simulators, interactive shooting and convoy training suites are of special interest, but they are also to be integrated into the common combat training system.

Simulators from Rosoboronexport JSC, fit the modern situation. High accurate models, state-of-the-art onboard visualization systems, full imitation of environmental conditions, along with precise software engineering and stunning visual effects quality, make Russian simulators a good buy. Visualization systems and hi-res 3D landscapes for land, sea and air applications are continuously updated by the vendor according to electronic charts and other sources of data.

The simulators are equipped with efficiency control systems, full logging and debriefing systems. Technologies realised in Russianmade simulators provide the integration of remotely located and even functionally different simulators designed for various applications (e.g. flight, marine and army simulators) into virtual constructs in which trainees can be taught simultaneously and remotely in a single modelling, information and visual environment. This seamlessly integrates the simulators into any national training system, unveils international remote training capabilities, and makes the whole system fully scalable. In conditions of general military budget cuts, that makes an extra economic advantage.

Having an unquestionable advantage and considerable experience, the production of Russian-origin-materiel simulators, like “Mil” helicopters, “Sukhoi” and MiG fighter craft, tanks, IFV, surface ships and submarines, Russian vendors are spreading their activities to the relatively new international M&S market area. Complex interactive shooting trainers, HQ and task force simulators and Live and Constructive Training systems are already offered. Rosoboronexport exploits the solutions, which have passed the best of practical trials – that of the MoD of Russia.

Good examples of Russian-origin production are the “Laguna” High-End surface warship integrated simulation suite, the ultimate generation (VMFK index) of Mil helicopter simulators up to Level D, “Vega” interactive shooting simulators for tactical unit and battle field imitation systems which

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are well known by Russian and foreign customers.

Rosoboronexport JSC, the sole Russian state intermediary arms trader authorized to export/import all types of military and dual-purpose products, technologies and services, is currently supplying the “Laguna” type simulators to various countries worldwide for preparation of ship complements and combat crews. With regard to marine simulators, Russia holds one of the highest international market shares. Dozens of Mi-8/17, Mi-24, Mi-35, Mi-26 helicopters, and “Sukhoi” fighter craft simulators are also delivered nowadays. Helicopter Training and Simulation Centers (TSC) are being built and commissioned for long-term crew training services. The distinctive aspects of Rosoboronexport– marketed simulators are: • exclusive access to official initial data packages of real Russian-origin materiel; • full scalability; • readiness for seamless integration into distributed training systems and with thirdparties simulators.

Efforts made by Rosoboronexport in recent years have allowed it to achieve a

spectacular 20-fold rise of all type simulator exports for 6 years. Presently hundreds of requests for procurement of Russian training facilities from foreign customers are under consideration. Such positive dynamics testifies to the efficiency of the new arms sales strategy pursued by Rosoboronexport.

Answering to the requests of its foreign partners, Rosoboronexport provides multilevel logistic and technical support for simulators supplied. Various services are rendered to customers, including simulator delivery, installation and upgrading, as well as consultations on maintenance procedures provided in a convenient form. Status of the supplied equipment and its software is permanently monitored, irrespective of its location.

The Rosoboronexport JSC in cooperation with Russian training aid manufacturers is ready to fulfill the requirements and requests of customers. As the exclusive state arms exporter, the company has the unique capability of developing and strengthening long-term mutually beneficial military technical cooperation with foreign partners.

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Human Performance

The Human Factor MS&T’s Dim Jones slips in a few war stories as he describes why and how the RAF is trying to break the bond of “Human Factors (HF) Aircrew” and aircraft accidents.

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ack in the dark days towards the end of the last century, and after my first attempt at tunnelling out of MoD had come up inside the wire, I found myself as the RAF’s Deputy Inspector of Flight Safety. One of my duties was to ‘set the scene’ for the periodic Flight Safety Officers’ Courses, and the first part of that was a brief resume of accident statistics.

The graph of accidents per flying hour in the immediate post-war period showed a rate in 1946 of about one accident per 1000 flying hours. The reasons are not hard to fathom – a large, widelyspread air force, poorly supervised and starved of funds, comprising wartimetrained aircrew flying unreliable aircraft, still operating to quasi-wartime rules and procedures; it is worth remembering that the training accident rate in the RAF during WWII exceeded that for operational losses, so the absence of the threats posed by operations and enemy action only partly mitigated the problem. As might be expected, there was a steep early decline to less than half the 1946 rate by 1950.

From 1950 to 1968, the graph shows a more measured decline, with a few peaks and troughs – the result of a smaller, better supervised and better trained air force, slightly more reliable aircraft, and changing attitudes to mili-

Above Understanding how individuals and teams operate can reduce the accident rate and improve performance.

Image credit: Crown Copyright.

Left Not the donkey's fault!

tary aviation. From 1970 to about 1985, the improvement was erratic with significant fluctuations, but the last 25 years illustrate more measured progress, in which there has been a steady lowering of the rate towards zero – or, more accurately, towards what is generally regarded in modern air forces as being a practical minimum – about 2 accidents per 100,000 flying hours. There are many reasons for this, but some clues might be provided by a snapshot of the breakdown of accidents by cause during a ten-year period – in this case 1994-2003. It can be seen from the pie-chart that technical fault – ie the failure of equipment – was responsible for 22% of the accidents, and natural operating hazards – such as birdstrike – a further 4%. However, dwarfing these was the 51% attributed wholly or in part to ‘Human Factors (HF) (Aircrew)’ – in other words, failure of the people

rather than the machines. To this figure one can add the 5% of HF (Non-Aircrew) – possibly engineers or air traffic controllers – and probably a proportion of the 3% of those accidents the cause of which was ‘Not Positively Determined’.

In the early days, many accidents attributed to HF were put down to the propensity of the human being to make mistakes, or to the frailty and inadequacies of the human body. The former could obviously be addressed in part by better training, and also by the transfer of ‘experience’ from seasoned aircrew to their less-weathered counterparts. This was not formalised, but was thought to take place by some miracle of osmosis, and was normally the product of an exchange of information, accompanied by convivial consumption of coffee or beer, depending on the time of day, colloquially known as ‘war stories’. This was thought to impart a mystical power known as ‘airmanship’, although there were always those who maintained that airmanship could not be

9–

Other 15%

8–

Rate per 10,000 Flying Hours

learned; it was something you either had or did not have. For those in need of a definition, it was variously described as ‘the art of operating the aircraft’ or, more prosaically ‘all the other stuff you do in the air apart from flying’. In time, it became apparent that, although airmanship was a good thing to have – it is generally less expensive, and certainly less painful, to learn from other people’s mistakes than to make them all yourself – this was not the whole story. There was clearly a need to learn more about the human body and mind, in order to identify the limitations and, where possible, do something about them. In the early days, the emphasis was on achieving this in order to reduce accidents; working on the principle that accidents and incidents are like an iceberg – the few accidents are underpinned by very many more incidents – identifying lessons from incidents would help to prevent them becoming accidents. However, whereas accidents are generally very public events, many incidents would go undetected unless they were reported (that part of the iceberg below the surface) – and therein lay a problem. On the assumption that the bit of the iceberg above the water is of roughly the same

Human Factor Aircrew 51%

7–

Natural Operating Risk 4%

Technical Fault 22%

Not Positively Determined 3%

6– 5– 4–

Human Factor Non-Aircrew 5%

3– 2– 1–

0– I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1946 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02

Year

Above Graph: RAF Cat 4/5 Air Accident Rate 1946-2000.

Pie chart: Tri-service Cat 4/5 Air Accidents

by Cause 1994-2003.

composition as the mass below, it stands to reason that, if there are 2½ times as many HF accidents as technical defect, there ought to be the same proportion

of incidents. Not so, however; whereas aircrew and others directly associated with flying operations are only too happy to point out a fault with an aircraft, they are generally more reluctant to highlight a fault in themselves, particularly if to do so would result in being ‘hauled over the coals’. This reluctance was exacerbated by the ‘blame culture’ which existed in certain areas of military flying at that

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Human Performance

time. The result was that the ratio of HF to technical defect incidents was not only not 5:2, but not even 2:5. Clearly, something needed to be done to reverse this situation; however, the adoption of a ‘noblame culture’, although it has been successful in some other air forces, notably the Swedish Air Force, was somewhat alien to the Brit psyche. The introduction of anonymous incident reporting procedures only brought a modest return. A compromise was reached by the adoption of the ‘Just Culture’, where honest failings would be forgiven, but wilful misbehaviour would not.

At about this time (the first half of the 90s) the RAF started getting interested in the concept of ‘Crew Resource Management’ (CRM), an import from the world of civil aviation and specifically the airlines.

In the peculiar field of military aviation, the acronym was adapted and its meaning widened to include Cockpit Resource Management, and the definition of a crew – for those single-seat pilots congenitally opposed to the crew concept – extended to cover formations. This recognised that, by understanding better how we operate as individuals and as teams, not only could we avoid making so many mistakes, thereby reducing the accident rate, but we could actually improve performance, such that not only would we do the job more safely, but we would do it better.

HF as an academic subject had been studied in various defence-related establishments for some time and, indeed, HF consultants – specifically behavioural scientists – had given advice to acci-

dent Boards of Inquiry since at least the 1970s – I was the junior member of one such Board (into a fatal F4 accident) in 1978, and the ‘accused’ in 2 more in the 80s. These consultants had also lectured to the Flight Safety and Flying Supervisors’ courses to which I referred above, but now it was recognised that, while an understanding of HF was critical to a flight safety officer (FSO) or a squadron commander, the principles also needed to be taught to, and understood by, all those directly involved in military aircraft operations; thus, CRM training gradually developed into HF training. At first, it was administered by FSOs and other suitably qualified and trained service personnel, but soon much of the training was outsourced, in recognition not only of the available expertise in this area outside the service (some of it sadly a byproduct of successive major reductions in armed forces numbers), but also of the benefits of having training delivered by professionals in the field, rather than by enthusiastic amateurs.

Above Look familiar?

Image credit: Crown Copyright.

Currently, training is delivered to the RAF, under the auspices of the RAF HF Centre at Cranwell, by Inzpire, a firm of defence consultants who are also involved in other areas of defence training such as the Air Battlespace Training Centre at RAF Waddington. Furthermore, the foundation course is now delivered not to aircrew already on the front line, but to all students undergoing flying training. I sat in on one course; a quote from the first chapter of the Student Study Guide reinforces the message above: “Reduced accidents are a consequence of HF training, but not the primary aim; the primary aim is improved operational performance”.

HF is, of course, an integral part of training for many professions. So what sorts of things are particularly pertinent to military aviation? After a brief introduction, including an ‘icebreaker’ exercise in

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which the students are invited to record the main influences on their relatively brief lives in picture format, the first ‘case study’ is of the flight of Apollo 13. Movies such as this – while sometimes forsaking accuracy for dramatic effect – are powerful tools with which to bring out some of the key HF principles; I remember, back in the dark ages, an epic called ‘Twelve O’Clock High’, about the WWII US daylight bombing offensive, being used to demonstrate to us the principles of leadership. Apollo 13 is a fascinating study of human interaction, and how success – or at least survival – was prised from the jaws of disaster by effective leadership, teamwork, and by everyone raising their game at the crucial moments. A later look at the Challenger disaster reveals instances where this, just as crucially, did not happen.

Throughout subsequent course elements, such as ‘Emergencies, Decision Loops and Airmanship’, the need for HF training, its applicability to all humans in all areas and the human predisposition to error, is brought out using case studies from aviation, motor sport, the rail, oil and nuclear industries, and road traffic accidents. I referred above to error and blame. Clearly not all mistakes are entirely ‘honest’; some are the result of violations of limits, rules and procedures.

The error factor is still there, because the vast majority of the perpetrators do not expect their transgressions to lead to accidents, the more so because – in many of the examples used – the accidents result in the demise of the trans-

gressor. The adage that most rules are the result of previous painful experience generally holds good, but there are always those who believe that they know better; the fortunate ones – and I include myself here – live to reflect on their inability or reluctance to take this on board.

The clear distinction between honest or inadvertent error and wilful indiscipline needs to be evident if a ‘Just Culture’ is to prevail.

Understanding how you yourself tick is key to understanding how you will operate in, and react to, the military aviation environment. All HF students undergo a full Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) psychometric assessment, the results of which are divulged only to the subject.

Armed with this knowledge, the student is then introduced to the intricacies of the human brain and how it functions, including the various types of memory (short term and long-term, semantic, episodic and motor) and attention (selective, divided and focused). The limitations of the brain, in terms of perception and processing of information are discussed, as are human behaviours – rule-based, skillbased and knowledge-based.

Emerging from the theoretical to the practical, all these factors contribute to the development of Situational Awareness, or SA. The constituent parts of SA are an appreciation of your situation, understanding how the environment affects you, and being able to project future consequences. These are essential prerequisites to effective decision-making. However, while the definition of SA

is imprecise, the absence of it is splendidly encapsulated in aviation’s most apt brevity codeword – ‘Tumbleweed’. As a sometime practitioner of this noble status, I can say that it is not irreversible.

Like airmanship, the notion that ‘you’ve either got it or you haven’t’ does not hold water for SA, and the key to getting it is to understand why you haven’t got it.

The closing modules of the 5-day course are on Resource Management, Sleep and Fatigue, Stress and Communication. The last case study involves the mid-air collision of 2 RAF Tornado aircraft behind an air-refuelling tanker, and draws together elements of many of the foregoing subjects.

The foundation course is only the start of HF training. The RAF HF Centre run a Facilitator’s Course for experienced personnel, based on a package of 20 case-studies, developed by Inzpire.

These embrace military maintenance, aircraft (fast-jet, rotary wing and multiengined), flight ops and civilian accidents. The facilitators then deliver currency training to their colleagues. Lastly, a follow-on Instructor’s Course qualifies selected personnel to run an abbreviated foundation course.

The human body, and especially the brain, are wondrous things, but not everybody’s works quite the same way, and they are capable of ‘throwing the odd wobbler’. Such events, in the peculiar world of aviation, can have dire consequences; a thorough understanding of the foibles and limitations helps guard against these – forewarned is forearmed. ms&t

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Left

Simulation History

The Blériot simulator as it appeared in an historical photograph.

Image credit: Authors.

Pilot Selection, Aviation Medicine and Simulation Losses of aircraft and pilots fostered the emergence of a new discipline – aviation medicine – and ways to study that discipline. Neva Capra and Marco R. Galloni tell the story of the Italian contribution in WW I.

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he new discipline, aviation medicine, the study of the physiological and psychological aspects of the relationship between man and aeroplane, arose out of the need to reduce losses through combat and flight training accidents in WWI. The importance of the Italian contribution to this pioneering work was often recognised in the international literature. However, the existence of two ‘flight simulators’ built in Turin around 1917 – the oldest ever found – is often ignored. They were used to study sensory perception for aptitude tests conducted on aspiring pilots attending the flight schools at Mirafiori and Venaria Reale.

These two “simulators” reveal a part of the history of flight simulation that was unexpectedly rediscovered, in May 1994. Staff at the ASTUT (Scientific and Technological Archives of the University of Turin) while researching old scientific materials at the Institute of Human Physiology discovered a treasure trove. In a

room below the stairs of the Institute's Home Room – which had remained locked for a long period and whose keys had been difficult to find – they found equipment for measuring gases in human blood and instruments for studying respiration and muscle physiology. They also found other rather unusual and, at first sight, rather irrelevant objects under a thick layer of dust that clearly dated back to the beginning of the twentieth century. A device that was lying upside-down covered by leather and its support made of iron captured the researchers' attention: It contained a seat, a steering wheel and two pedals, which immediately called to mind the controls of an aeroplane from the pioneering period. A little further away, an incomplete wooden frame also contained a kind of aircraft seat.

The documentation found together with those equipments, as well as the study of publications of that time on the physiology of flight enabled them to iden-

tify some of the objects as tools for the medical selection of pilots during WWI. Ten years after these devices were discovered, the former President of MIMOS (the Italian Movement for Modelling and Simulation) and the then head of the simulation centre of an important Italian aerospace industry, by chance learned of these important scientific relics. In collaboration with GAVS (Group of Friends of Historical Aeroplanes), the decision was taken to begin restoring the two simulators, to study their historical, operational and functional context in order, ultimately, to hold an exhibition in an appropriate context. Important companies were also invited to collaborate on the project, which was named RESSSTAURAH (Restoration and Study of the Historical Simulators built in Turin by Amedeo Herlitzka), by providing financial support or other services.

Pilot Selection at the Institute of Physiology of Turin Since the beginning of WWI it had become clear that selection of aspiring pilots was essential to avoid unnecessary loss of life and aircraft. Together with Agostino Gemelli in Milan, who primarily devoted himself to psychological studies, the physiologist Amedeo Herlitzka was one of the first scientists in the world to formulate a rigorous method for the medical selection of airmen.

A report written at the end of the war revealed 90% of air accidents were due to the physical limitations of the pilot, 2% to enemy shooting and 8% to aircraft problems. The selection method developed by Herlitzka was aimed at measuring parameters such as attention, psychomotor skills and emotionality of the future aviators. From the outset it significantly cut the number of failures during training flights.

In order to become a pilot cadet, candidates had to pass a series of tests: the rotating chair, barometric depression and others specifically intended for the two test beds discovered in Turin.

The rotating chair test was used to evaluate candidate airmen's resistance to rotation movements and accelerations

Left & Above The second type of simulator found as it appeared in an historical photograph found together with the equipment in 1994.

Image credit: Authors.

to present any physical troubles before reaching a depression corresponding to 5,000 metres. Subjects who were unfit to fly normally had a strong acceleration in respiratory and cardiac rhythm, as well as other reactions such as headaches and sleepiness or severe ear pain, which sometimes resulted in permanent deafness after restoration of normal atmospheric pressure.

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The oldest of the two simulators was built using components produced by the Italian Transaerea Company of Turin.

Since 1912 it had been manufacturing, on a French licence, Blériot XI aircraft that were used by the first Aviator Battalion. It was therefore called the “Blériot simulator”. This test bed was not intended for pilot training, but for collecting readings on the sensory perception of aspiring pilots, in particular, on the functionality of the organs of the internal ear. These are essential to assessing position in space, especially in peculiar conditions, such as

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similar to those that, at the time, would have been experienced during the most extreme manoeuvres onboard an aeroplane. In one version of this test, the subject was tied to the chair and blindfolded, rotated 10 times in 20 seconds and, immediately after this, asked to strike a target placed in front of him. Symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, tremors and major deviations from the target indicated problems in the pilot's vestibular system, which was enough to declare him incapable of flying. In a second, more severe, version of this test, the candidate was rotated 5 times in 10 seconds, with his trunk bent forward and his hands supporting his head. The time needed for him to straighten his body again was then measured. The most fragile of the aspiring aviators would eventually shout out or break out into uncontrolled movements, or experience real shock.

In order to become a good pilot, the candidate also had to demonstrate his aptitude for tolerating significant changes in air pressure without evidence of any disturbances. This was verified using a metal chamber big enough to accommodate one person, similar to the one built by Angelo Mosso (based on a model by Paul Bert) to study human physiology at high altitudes. A pump permitted the pressure inside the chamber to be gradually reduced, thus recreating conditions at 6,000 metres altitude, while recording physiological parameters such as regularity of breathing and heartbeat. To be declared capable of flying, the candidate was not permitted

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However, some deliberately attempted to worsen their results in order to be exonerated from having to fly. In such cases, however, the accuracy of the readings often revealed the deception and such evidence even led, in most cases, to a confession.

At the end WW1, approximately 30% to 40% of a total of 18,500 soldiers examined had been rejected. Figures based on the activity of the laboratory in Turin show that of the 8,799 candidates tested, 6,097 were deemed suitable and 2,702 were not (of these, 1,075 were deemed unsuitable due to a visual deficiency, 247 on account of hearing problems, 243 due to heart disease and 242 due to deep physical (body) weakness, etc.).

However, it is worth noting that, given the technical limitations of the aircraft back in those times, aviation recruitment still remained an act of courage. ms&t

Image credit: Authors.

cloud or mist. In the first configuration of this test, the instructor changed the roll or pitch attitude of the test device in which the candidate sat blindfolded. The candidate thus had to indicate the perceived vertical direction using a kind of protractor. The examiner then evaluated this reading against the real vertical. In another configuration of the Blériot simulator, lamps were placed in front of the candidate, who obviously was not blindfolded, and was asked to respond to an order signalled by a lamp by means of an appropriate movement of the cloche or rudder command; a system of electrical contacts recorded the candidate's reaction time and the clock was not stopped if his answer was wrong.

The second type of simulator found at the University of Turin probably derived from a critical evaluation of the characteristics and performances of the Blériot simulator. Made up of a pilot seat mounted on a wooden, tilting, frame, it was capable of more complex movements; indeed it could also rotate around the vertical axis thanks to a circular rail on the ground. However, the simulator was incomplete when found and no specific information has yet been uncovered, with the exception of a single photo.

The use of sophisticated instrumentation – that was found in the room under the Great Hall of the Institute of Human Physiology – guaranteed the accuracy of the readings taken during the tests described in the above. The Hipp’s chronograph enabled the evaluation, up to one thousandth of a second, of the aspiring aviators' reaction times. It was connected to a system of electrical contacts on the Blériot simulator in the above-mentioned test configuration or connected to a complex electrical circuit so that the instructor could activate a light signal. The candidate then had to correctly move a bar while the clock measured the time between the two actions.

Graphic records were created by a kymograph, which consisted of a cylinder covered with blackened paper that was rotated by means of a clockwork mechanism. One or more pens, connected to transducers on the subject, traced even minimal movements of physiological events, such as breathing or heartbeat, on the paper during the various tests.

The research carried out by Amedeo Herlitzka at the Institute of Human Physiology of Turin certainly made it possible to save many lives by identifying, in good time, those who were not fit to fly.

About the Authors Neva Capra is Collections’ Curator and Head of the Educational Department at the Aeronautical Museum Gianni Caproni, in Trento (Italy). She has been the Curator of the temporary handson exhibition “Try to Fly – The history of Flight Simulation”, which has been opened in several different Italian cities (Trento, Torino, Varese, Genova) since its first opening, in 2008.

Marco R. Galloni is associate professor at University of Torino and lectures Anatomy and Embryology in the Veterinary Medicine Faculty. He is the president of Scientific and Technologic Archives in the University in which role he organises the preservation of the heritage of documents and instruments that are witness of the history of sciences; in his work the evolution of aviation medicine has been one of the main topics and brought to the realization of exhibitions, publications and video documentaries.

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The Blériot simulator as found in 1994.

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Above

Transformation

Live and Synthetic: Exercise Bold Alligator 2012 Revitalizing and reinvesting in the amphibious capabilities of the US Navy-Marine Corps team, two thirds of BA12 occurred in the synthetic environment. Group Editor Marty Kauchak writes.

E

xercise Bold Alligator 2012 (BA12), the largest amphibious exercise on the U.S. east coast in the past 10 years, culminated this February 6 with a D-Day landing on the beaches of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The exercise brought together various fleet assets to accomplish littoral missions and assess overall readiness.

Live assets included 24 ships, 120 aircraft and 14,350 personnel from the U.S. and 10 allied nations, covering the full spectrum of subsurface, surface, ground and air capabilities.

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Large Amphibious Missions

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The scale and scope of BA12 addressed a major U.S. Navy and Marine Corps training readiness shortfall. During the past decade the two services have focused their training to support the ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rear Admiral Kevin Scott, the commander of Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 2, noted that their “interoperability as a Blue-Green team – to provide a unified strike from the sea – atrophied.”

Above The amphibious assault phase of Bold Alligator 2012.

Image credit: U.S. Navy/Tom Gagnier.

Scott’s ESG staff, embarked aboard USS Wasp (LHD 1) for BA12, coordinated the debarkation of Marines, vehicles via landing craft, and movement ashore of passengers and cargo.

The senior operational commander, stationed at Virginia Beach, Virginia, continued, “Therefore, our primary objective was to align and understand the approaches of the Navy and Marine Corps to unite our forces and create a stronger, more agile, single capability.”

Since the events of 9/11, the NavyMarine Corps team has routinely completed live and synthetic operational

training at the Amphibious Ready Group and Marine Expeditionary Unit level (three ships with embarked Marines). By way of comparison, the BA12 U.S. amphibious training audience, consisting of the Expeditionary Strike Group and its Marine Expeditionary Brigade counterpart, traditionally has 15 or 16 ships with embarked Marines.

“It’s the large scale amphibious operations that we need to work on planning, coordinating and executing that we haven’t done in more than 10 years.

There are a lot of basic skills that you relearn after you do that,” Marine Corps Colonel Brad Weisz, deputy commander at ESG 2, added.

Lessons learned from 10 years of ground combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan have not been forgotten and were integrated into the BA12 scenario.

“The first thing that everybody learns and relearns is that all operations are joint,” Weisz pointed out. And while the four military services and the U.S. Coast Guard were included in the exercise as participants and observers, so, too, were military units from 10 other nations, and civilians from other U.S. government organizations and non-governmental organizations.

BA12 participants also supported shaping operations, allowing them to design the battle space to their advantage in the sea, air and land domains, prior to arriving at the amphibious objective area. “At the same time we wanted to minimize any sort of civilian casualties and collateral damage – among the many other things that we have taken out of Iraq and Afghanistan. We wanted to apply them here,” Weisz emphasized.

Importance of Coalition Operations

Primacy of Synthetic Environment This was the also first time that east coast-based, Navy-Marine staffs and units completed a live and synthetic

Above Rear Admiral Kevin Scott (right) noted that their "interoperability as a Blue-Green team – to provide a unified strike from the sea – atrophied."

Image credit: U.S. Navy.

exercise on this scale. Of particular note, about one-third of the BA 2012 training events were completed in the live environment, Weisz estimated. That left an attention getting two-thirds of the scenarios for completion in the virtual and constructive domains.

“I say this is important because while we had about 24 or 25 live ships out there, the vast majority of our training was completed from the synthetic portion. That’s because you can’t keep

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Eleven nations participated at various levels in BA12 – and with good reason – as the Obama administration’s defense strategy encourages combined, or coalition, operations. Weisz provided one context of how the U.S. military trains as it will operate. “The truth is, we’re also leaning now-a-days toward more coalition operations, so we’re not going to be doing as many things unilaterally, by ourselves,” he noted and continued, “Coalition operations are here to stay.” Accordingly, BA12’s roster of other nations participating in operational, staff or observer roles included Australia, Canada, Germany,

France, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK and Turkey.

From the coalition perspective, BA12 included a number of training “firsts” in recent U.S.-sponsored amphibious exercises. At the top of Weisz’s list was the overview of the French military’s participation. “We had the French out there leading the way for everything, from our shaping operations to our units going ashore. They took over landing force objective 1 and basically kicked-off the operation.”

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Transformation

everybody out on station as long as you want,” Weisz added.

One of the more interesting instances of integrated live and synthetic training during BA12 occurred in mine warfare.

In these scenarios, U.S. Atlantic and Pacific fleets’ mine warfare forces completed training with their Canadian and UK counterparts in live dive events, unmanned undersea vehicle operations and other missions. In addition to two Canadian mine countermeasure ships conducting live operations seaward of Camp Lejeune, “at the same time we had operating on the west coast with the Naval Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command, units conducting operations out of San Diego Bay and geo-translating those training objectives back to the east coast,” Weisz said.

Indeed, the business case exists to increase the use of synthetic training in naval exercises. Speaking in his capacity as an operational leader, and not as a requirements official, Weisz pointed out, “We realize we have to do a lot more

Delivering effective training to meet increasing demand and operational complexities

Senior Defence Officials attend

25 – 28 June, 2012 | Pretoria, South Africa

FREE*

Expert Speaker Panel includes: •Maj. Gen. Luvuyo Nobanda, Chief Director: Force Preparation, South African Army

• Col. Laetitia Olivier, Project Officer: • Jörg Schmid, Domain Leader: Underwater Future SA Army Strategy, South African Army Security, Institute for Maritime Technology

•Brig. Gen. Gotsileene Morake, Commandant, Defence Command and Staff College, Botswana

• Lt. Col. Francois Gericke, Team Leader, Centre for Conflict Simulation

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•R. Adm (JG) Kevin Watson, Director Naval Engineering Section, South African Navy •Col. Leon Puckree, Officer Commanding, Centre for Conflict Simulation •Col. Willie Wagner, Educational Researcher, College of Educational Technology

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• Cobus Venter, System Engineer, CSIR DPSS

• JP du Plessis, Simulation Specialist, • Lt. Col. Shaun Patrick Carroll, Second in Command, School of Armour (South Africa) Institute for Maritime Technology • Lt. Greg Farr, Academic Assistant, Military Academy Saldanha

• Kuben Thaver, Programme Manager: Command & Control, Acquisition Department, Armscor

• Dr. Terrence Kommal, Military Medical Doctor • Lufuno Madavha, Project Manager, Armscor Specializing in Military Health Training, 1 Military Hospital & School for Military • Johan Potgieter, Senior Researcher: Health Training Conflict Management and Peacebuilding, • Herman le Roux, Research Group Leader Institute for Security Studies CSIR DPSS

Key topics include:

Don’t miss these expert-led workshops:

• Live and virtual training: high-fidelity, low-cost training for soldiers, pilots, seamen, special forces and police • Simulations for doctrine development, acquisition planning, and scenario planning • Constructive simulations for officer training • Integration, interoperability and distributed simulations: future directions in simulations

June 25 - Workshop A: The Fundamentals of Simulation,

by Col. Willie Wagner

For more information or to register: Tel: +27 11 275 0126 Fax: +27 11 275 0275 Email: register@iqpc.ae

June 28 - Workshop B: Technological Frontiers in Simulation

“It was great to be present. The information will guide our future.”

SAAB “Good panel. Hearing how other countries have the same challenges and how they solve it”— South African National Defence Force

www.jointsimulationafrica.com

Above U.S. LCAC 53 speeds from the French navy projection and command ship FS Mistral.

Image credit: U.S. Navy/Michael Scichilone.

synthetic training due to operational costs, our operations tempo and the fact you can learn the basics through synthetics, so that when you do go live, you’re able to get that much more out of the training.”

On the horizon for the Bold Alligator exercise series is conducting an exclusive synthetic-based, joint training BA13 which will mirror BA 2011, the building block for the 2012 event. Exercise BA14 will again combine live and synthetic training scenarios.

The scope and size of BAs13 and 14 are expected to increase.

Of particular interest to industry should be the missions that will be emphasized in future BA exercises, creating a demand to complete these skill sets in the live environment, and certainly, to replicate them in a high fidelity manner in the virtual or constructive domains.

Speaking again from the perspective of a fleet operator, Weisz said some areas of focus for high- demand missions in future BA events would include C5I (command, control, communications, computers, collaboration, and intelligence), ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and seabasing. “We also talked about what we learned from Iraq and Afghanistan and that’s in the area of non-lethal weapons. You are seeing some more emphasis put on: do you have the capabilities for the maritime environment, to conduct that non-lethal capability? And the area of ship-to-shore connectors, both from an aviation and surface perspective, will take on some momentum in the near future.” ms&t

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Conference Report

Keynote address – Gen. Edward Rice.

Image credit: GameTech.

A New Era GameTech 2012 attendance sets a record as the military community seeks to bridge training and education gaps through emerging technology. MS&T’s Chuck Weirauch reports.

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ith a record-breaking attendance of nearly 800, the 2012 Defense GameTech Users' Conference held March 28-30 in Orlando highlighted the growing Department of Defense emphasis on gaming, virtual worlds and mobile technologies to bridge training gaps and expand education in the face of DoD budget cuts that threaten to end the days of new bigbox simulation-based training systems.

According to GameTech Conference Director Tom Baptiste, Executive Director of the National Center for Simulation, the event exceeded all of its goals, with attendance up more than 25 percent from last year.

There was major consensus among the military leadership presenting at GameTech that the era of game-based and other technology-driven, non-traditional training has arrived, and none too soon, given DoD budget reductions and the return of US forces deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan to the Unites States.

"We are going to have to deliver learning in a way that requires significantly fewer resources than in the past, so we need to bring in simulation and gaming into our enterprise more than we have done so in the past," said GameTech keynote speaker Gen. Edward Rice, Commander of the US Air Force's

Air Education and Training Command (AETC)."And we have to accelerate the pace in which we bring them into our operations," he emphasized.

Spotlighting the increased focus on virtual worlds this year more than in past GameTech events, keynoter Frank DiGiovanni, Director of Training Readiness and Strategy for the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, announced the beta release of the Virtual Worlds Framework (VWF), the means to implement the foundation for a new, Internet-based military virtual worlds platform (See the Virtual Worlds article this edition).

Joe Camacho, Director of the Joint Warfighting Center's Joint Knowledge Development and Distribution Capability (JKDDC), said that the agency's Joint Knowledge Online (JKO) network will begin its lifetime goal of transforming its framework to a major emphasis on mobile learning this June with five online courses being adopted for use by mobile devices. Within two years, all JKO courses will be available via mobile devices, he said.

"This is the future," Camacho emphasized, "Moving our courseware into the mobile learning environment will double the use of online training. We want to maximize the use of this technology in a budgetary constrained environment."

In the Day 2 Flag Officers' Panel, James Smerchansky, Marine Corps Deputy Commander for Systems Engineering Interoperability Architectures and Technology, said that while game-based training has a strong future in the military, gaming product producers need to show how they have validated the results of their products' training effectiveness.

Game-based training needs more validation, accreditation and certification, he told the audience.

Terry Allard, Department Head of Warfighter Performance for the Office of Naval Research, called for the employment of intelligent tutors to advance science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) literacy and to increase human performance. Brig. Gen. Thomas James, Commandant of the Army Armor School, said that the military cannot replicate the new hybrid threat emerging in today's combat environment in live training since it is just too complex and rapidly evolving. The only way this environment can be replicated is through game-based, massively multiplayer and virtual environment applications such as the Army Training and Doctrine Command’s (TRADOC) Enhanced Dynamic Geo-Social Environment (EDGE), he proclaimed.

Overall, there were more than 90 sessions and tutorials throughout the threeday event. The emerging and growing medical domain was addressed in a dedicated track of serious games, virtual worlds and simulation for education and healthcare.

The focus on virtual worlds was highlighted by the announcement of the 2012 Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge winners at the show. The Challenge is sponsored by the Army Research Laboratory's STTC. According to the STTC's Tami Griffith, the Challenge is a way for the government to recognize agency and public innovations in this field and provide them with a means to link to government sources that seek to capture their low-cost, off-the shelf advances in this area.

This year, there were over 30 Challenge entries. Winner of the $25,000 Grand Prize was Robert Daniel with the "Cybersim Holodeck". ms&t

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INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION

2012

LAND DEFENCE & SECURITY Visiting the leading tradeshow offers business opportunities

Under the patronage of

11 - 15 JUNE 2012 / PARIS www.eurosatory.com

Presided over by

World News & Analysis

Seen&Heard A compendium of current news from the military simulation and training industry, compiled and edited by news editor Fiona Greenyer and the MS&T editorial team.

For the latest breaking news and in-depth reports go to www.halldale.com.

ISSUE 2.2012

Training Devices

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ATC Simulator – UFA has completed installation and user training of an ATTower Tower Simulator at Naval Air Station (NAS) Joint Reserve Base (JRB) Fort Worth in Texas. The 4th Marine Air Wing (MAW) Aviation Training Systems will operate the 5-channel HD LCD ATTower installation.

It will support training requirements and specialized operations needed by the Navy and Marines including formation flights, overhead breaks, and arrestor wire landings and was adapted for some of the specific characteristics of traffic at NAS JRB Ft. Worth.

The system was delivered with the ATEditor exercise creation environment, a fully integrated suite of tools that allows the facility staff to create and manage exercises for the training curriculum.

F/A-18 Contracts – The US Navy has awarded L-3 Link Simulation & Training a contract for the F/A-18 Contractor Operators and Maintenance Services (COMS) program. L-3 link is providing F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet training device support and instructor staff. The scope of the program calls for L-3 Link to operate and maintain 30 F/A-18 aircrew and 24 maintenance training devices.

The company is also to build an F/A18D tactical operational flight trainer (TOFT) for the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF). The device is scheduled for delivery during the first quarter of 2014 to an RMAF base in Butterworth, Malaysia.

TOFT – The US Naval Air Systems Command, NAVAIR, has strengthened its warfighter-qualification facilities by installing a tactical operational flight trainer (TOFT) at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California. The TOFT gives local VX-9 and VX-31 pilots an alternative warfighter-qualification train-

ing venue and lets them rehearse critical military missions before participating in live-fire and captive-carry test and evaluation (T&E) events. This is the only TOFT in the US Navy that is government-operated and maintained and the only one located at a Research, Development, Acquisition, Test, and Evaluation facility.

INSECT Trainer – Aptima has developed INSECT, the Intuitive Navigation System for Effective Collision-avoidance Tactics. INSECT is a simulator-based training system designed to enhance the perceptual skills of helicopter pilots, help them maintain awareness of their surroundings and operate safer in degraded visual environments such as dust, snow, and sandstorms.

Developed with NAVAIR, INSECT is designed to help pilots of UH-60 Black Hawk and other aircraft capable of vertical/short takeoff and landing (VSTOL) to “see through the debris” and pick out critical visual cues to avoid hazards such as buildings, power lines, and enemy fire when flying in degraded visual conditions.

Future Technology Collaboration – The Boeing Company and Elbit Systems are collaborating on a joint distributed

Above China Lake installs F/A-18E/F Tactical Operational Flight Trainer.

Image credit: U.S. Navy.

simulation project that will link a Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet simulator in St. Louis with an AEL Avionics Laboratory simulator in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

The effort brings together Boeing's and Elbit's expertise in order to demonstrate current simulation and network technology as well as the capabilities of the Super Hornet. The demonstration will also explore the potential for other technology collaborations, such as Super Hornet interoperability with Brazilian fighter aircraft. The distributed simulation project is expected to be completed this summer.

Weapon Training Simulation – Meggitt Training Systems has won an $11 million contract from the Australian Defence Force (ADF) for delivery of weapon training simulation systems (WTSS) at four purpose-built Australian Army facilities.

The WTSS is a complete small arms training environment that includes indi-

Contract Extension – Saab and the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) have signed a two year extension contract for the Deployable Tactical Engagement Simulation training system (DTES) Managed Service, used by the British Army. The order amounts to £11.7 million (approx. SEK 121 million).

Saab has delivered a Managed Service to the British Army for their combined training since August 2009. It provides full technical and operational support to Battle Groups exercising in Kenya. The extended contract includes new and improved capa-

Aircrew Training Air Combat Training System – Cubic Defense Applications, Inc. has received a new contract valued at more than $11 million from the Royal Australian Air Force. Cubic and its principal subcontractor, DRS Training and Control Systems LLC, will provide the P5 Tactical Combat Training System (P5TCTS) to the Royal Australian Air Force for use in training F/A-18F Super Hornet crews.

P5TCTS will be delivered in late 2012 to RAAF Base Amberley near Brisbane, Queensland. The RAAF's new P5TCTS will be similar to the current U.S. Navy TCTS system and will include airborne instrumentation pods built by DRS, transportable ground systems with live monitor, and portable ground subsystems, PDM Advert 1 Combat 11/03/2012 which includes Cubic's111x76 Individual Aircrew21:09 Display System (ICADS) software for debriefing.

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Visit stand A102 Call +44 (0) 1264 321340, e-mail enquiries@pdmtc.co.uk or visit www.pdmtc.co.uk to find out more

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Army

bilities such as medical treatment simulation, improved after action review facilities and engagement feedback devices.

The Future of AFV Training – PDM Training and Consultancy Ltd. has conducted a study into future training solutions for the British Army's Main Battle Tank, Challenger 2, as well as considering future training options for the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme, the replacement for the Army's Armoured Infantry Vehicle. The studies were aimed at obtaining the best value for money whilst harnessing the latest in training technologies. Meanwhile, PDM is providing the Project Leader for an important UK MoD sponsored project to develop a future Ground Based Tactical Trainer for armoured vehicles.

These activities will be showcased by PDM at ITEC 2012.

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vidual training in marksmanship and weapons handling. It is configured for the future adoption of mortar simulators for crew and collective training missions with an integrated capability supporting call for fire and indirect fire tasks.

NH90 Sim Contract – NAHEMA (NATO Helicopter Management Agency) has awarded Sogitec Industries a contract for the design and production of the first six NH90 training devices to be delivered to the French Army and Navy.

Two types of training devices are offered by Sogitec, FFS (full flight simulator) and MRTD (medium range training device).

The MRTD is a flight training device class simulator equipped with an additional range of tactical mission training features.

The standard MRTD for the Navy configuration is enhanced with dynamic 3D-motion seats and chin windows for more realistic behavior. It also includes a networked RCT (rear cabin trainer).

The contract with NAHEMA opens an opportunity for Nations within the NH90 community to order additional NH90 training devices.

Modular Screen Technology – 3D perception’s modular screen technology has been selected by CAE for its CH-147F Chinook gunnery trainer. This is one of the training devices CAE is to deliver to Canadian Forces Base Petawawa as part of the comprehensive CH-147F training systems being developed under the Operational Training Systems Provider (OTSP) program, which CAE leads as the prime contractor.

G Seats – Stirling Dynamics has won a contract from Indra to design and develop G Seats for the AW159 Lynx Wildcat helicopter simulators for AgustaWestland. Stirling will provide motion cueing technology for two full mission simulators and a flight training device.

The seats will simulate the onset of “g” forces associated with various stages of helicopter flight, including the motion cues for surge, sway, heave, buffeting and harness tensioning.

The simulators will be operational and in service to provide training for the British Army from early 2013 and for the Royal Navy from early 2014. Installation will be in the Training Centre at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, which AgustaWestland is under contract to build. RNAS Yeovilton will be the home for Army and Navy Wildcat squadrons when they enter service.

Underwater Escape Trainer – Dytechna Engineering Ltd. has delivered a Viking Underwater Escape Trainer Facility at Royal Navy Air Service (RNAS) Yeovilton. The bespoke training device was designed based on the Viking vehicle architecture and is configured to replicate the interior of the operational vehicle. It can hold up to 12 trainees and provides accurate and realistic escape routes training. The systems solution has the capability to be upgraded as the Viking vehicle is upgraded providing through life value for money for its 25 year service life.

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Partnering One of the interesting dynamics of the current S&T marketplace is the continued effort by companies to partner with their counterparts in order to maintain cutting-edge, profitable and relevant products for the military training audience.

MS&T has watched Scalable Display Technologies’ footprint grow in the sector during the last several years. One foundation of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-business model has been its expanding network of partners in software, hardware and other technology domains.

Scalable has enjoyed longstanding partnering relationships in the sector with a number of companies, providing various solutions for end products.

In one business relationship, Andrew Jamison, Scalable’s CEO, noted that his team has done a significant amount of work with Immersive Display Solutions of Kennesaw, Georgia, “much of which has not been talked about publically.” The collaborative effort among the two companies and their end-customers has recently resulted in 16 virtual training domes being delivered to a number of different US government and military customers. These dome display systems, supported by 93 visual channels, enable the trainees to learn and enhance skills in a range of simulated environments including forward air control, joint tactical air control, flight training, and other types of training missions.

The Marine Common Aircrew Trainer-Prototype Phase 2 (MCATP2) is advancing as a Phase III SBIR project. It is a follow-on project to Pathfinder Systems’ Prototype Aviation Combat Crew Trainer SBIR and re-used much of the company’s developmental experience with the Army’s Non-rated Crew Member Trainer and the first MCAT-P prototype.

For its part, Scalable Display Technologies has supported the Pathfinder Systems-led MCAT-P project since the program’s early

>>

OFT Program – Aero Simulation (ASI) has won a HC-144A operational flight trainer (OFT) program contract from the US Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division. The $22.3M program directly supports the US Coast Guard’s aviation training requirements for this new aircraft platform. The program requires the development and delivery of an HC-144A OFT, supporting systems and related documentation to the US Coast Guard’s Aviation Training Center in Mobile, Alabama. ASI will also develop and deliver a variety of training courses and Contractor Field Services.

As part of the program, ASI will lead a flight test using a Coast Guard provided aircraft to capture the data required to meet Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Level D simulator requirements.

Combat Training – Charles River Analytics has announced a contract award for SUREFIRE, a Simulation for Ubiquitous Red Flag Instruction and Readying.

SUREFIRE is a training simulation that prepares pilots to take part in the US Air Force's Red flag program, a twoweek aerial training exercise for US military and allied pilots to practice intense combat simulations. It recreates the airspace, training rules, and interaction with ground and air entities participating in the exercise through a desktopaccessible simulation. Pilots receive automated instruction through SUREFIRE and then participate in the types of realistic combat scenarios that they will encounter at Red Flag.

Visuals Visual Servers – Hyundai Rotem, a worldwide leader in ground weapon systems, has deployed 176 of Concurrent’s ImaGen™ visual servers powered by the RedHawk™ Linux real-time operating system. The ImaGen servers will be used in the Phase I deployment of image generators for the K-Series Platoon simulator program. The full deployment is expected to include approximately 350 ImaGen servers over one year. Each tank simulator's ImaGen configuration will include eight channels rendered by award-winning Presagis Vega Prime visualization software, utilizing the latest NVIDIA graphics technology.

Projection Systems – Indra has acquired a significant number of Christie Matrix StiM™ simulation projection systems to develop three simulators to be used by the British Army and Royal Navy to train pilots in the use of the new AW159 Lynx Wildcat helicopter.

Indra will design and develop the simulators in conjunction with AgustaWestland Ltd. The systems will be installed in the new training centre AgustaWestland is building at Royal Navy Airstation Yeovilton that will be the home to the British Army and Royal Navy AW159 Lynx Wildcat squadrons. The training centre's simulators will be commissioned in 2013 for Army aircrew training and one year later for Royal Navy aircrew training.

Serious Games Helicopter Training Flying Training – FB Heliservices has been awarded a four year contract plus two possible one year extensions by the UK Ministry of Defence to continue to provide helicopter flying training at RAF Shawbury, RAF Valley and AAC Middle Wallop, together with support services at RAF Shawbury and AAC Middle Wallop.

The contract is worth £193 million and will commence on 1 April 2012.

The contract represents a continuation of the existing Defence Helicopter Flying School and support services contract. Helicopter flying training will continue to be delivered utilising the existing 34 AS350BB Squirrel and 11 Griffin Bell 412EP helicopters, albeit upgraded to include new technology and increase training capability.

Mobile Virtual Training – A NATOcommissioned serious game is the first of its kind to be scheduled for large-scale deployment on Android and iOS mobile devices. The serious game developed completely in VBSWorlds, a Caspian Learning/Bohemia Interactive Simulations product, was designed specifically to operate alongside NATO's Nexus Virtual World platform and will be used by military personnel in operational areas throughout the world.

By developing the serious game with existing NATO training assets, instructors and students can immerse themselves in the interactive training scenario. The serious game is fully SCORM compliant and performance can be tracked through a learning system.

Once complete, the finished scenario

Global Reseller Deal – Swedish company Division By Zero with the immersive product jDome has signed a global reseller contract with Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim). The cooperation enables customers all over the globe to set up an immersive training station in less than 10 minutes. Through BISim, customers can buy a fully deployable simulation and training kit containing all necessary software and hardware for 'instant' training.

The jDome can be used in military training programs like driving, handling vehicles and heavy equipment, systems training and large scale tactical training of soldiers.

New Distributor – Antycip Simulation Ltd. has been selected by SELEX Galileo as a distributor to manage sales and front-line relations in Europe of its software toolkit, MARS. The MARS, Multimode Airborne Radar Simulator, is a software tool which provides a realtime computer simulation of the principal A/G and A/A radar modes of modern airborne pulse-Doppler radars. Designed to be easily integrated into different flight simulators, the tool is currently in use in Eurofighter Typhoon simulators of the European Typhoon consortium ASTA. MARS implements physical/mathematical models of radar devices and of the external environment. Its structure allows customisations for the simulation of specific radar equipment.

Many parameters from the data package of a real radar apparatus can be directly inserted in the tool configuration files, maximising the fidelity of the radar simulation.

Joint Venture – Rossell India Limited has received approval from the Indian Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to form a joint venture company with CAE to provide synthetic training solutions for the Indian defence market. Rossell India Limited will hold a 74 percent share of the joint venture company with CAE holding a 26 percent share.

The joint venture will focus on providing training solutions for defence procurements where India is acquiring foreign platforms.

New Structure – The German Rheinmetall AG is reorganizing its Defence arm in response to planned expansion and the corporation's increasingly international character.

In essence, the new management structure of Rheinmetall Defence will consist of three divisions: Combat Systems, Wheeled Vehicles and Electronic Solutions.

The Electronic Solutions division, headed by Bodo Garbe embraces Rheinmetall's Defence's array of software-based system solutions and electronic components. These range from air defence systems, simulation technology and related services to reconnaissance, C4I, and fire control systems as well as electrooptical components.

The Electronics Solutions division is divided into four business units: Air Defence, Defence Electronics, Electro-Optics and Simulation and Training. The latter business unit, run by Ulrich Sasse, is responsible for developing and fabricating simulation systems for ground, air and naval applications. It also designs and operates major military training facilities.

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Ventures & Partnerships

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days. The product’s current configuration “is 26 channels/ projectors in total – 10 projectors for displays on each side of the helicopter and 5 projectors on the rear view from the helicopter, as well as one channel under the aircraft for external load display,” Scalable’s CEO added.

A partial list of other community users of Scalable’s software products include Aechelon, CATI, CSC, Diamond Visionics, Lockheed Martin, MetaVR, Presagis, Realtime Technologies, Inc. and SDS International.

Scalable’s partnering efforts support the community on both sides of the Atlantic. Indeed, in addition to US-based Digital Projection, projectiondesign of Norway is one of many identified users of “Scalable Ready” hardware.

“Scalable Display Manager adds camera based automation to the projectiondesign WB external warp and blend boxes,” Jamison explained.

In another development, Scalable has recently completed work with NVIDIA to develop an API to their Quadro cards. “This is so the graphics cards often used in the military market, the Quadro cards, are compatible with Scalable.

That was a big story for us and the community,” Jamison pointed out.

Scalable has also partnered with LaserShot on a series of projectors including the Crosshair® Down Range Virtual Targetry System and multiple immersive dome trainers.

– Marty Kauchak

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will be deployed not only to PC and web but also to handheld mobile devices including windows based devices, iOS and Android.

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World News & Analysis

Support Contracts

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Force Modernization Contract – Cubic Corporation has been awarded a new five-year contract to continue its support of force modernization in Lithuania. Under the agreement, Cubic will assist with the design and an equipping plan for an integrated Combat Training Center (CTC) and help stand up the center after its completion.

The contract, worth about $600,000 a year, extends through April 2016.

Counter-IED Training – Saab has signed a £11.1 million, two-year extension for the Collective Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Trainer (CCT) managed service from the UK Ministry of Defence. The extension will ensure UK military personnel continue to receive C-IED live training capabilities.

Since November 2010 Saab has supported C-IED training for all UK personnel deploying on operations in Afghanistan. Saab also provides instrumented live simulation for UK MoD training exercises in Kenya, Canada and the UK mainland.

MCTC Contract – The US Army has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation a five-year, $100 million contract to continue support of the III Corps Mission Command Training Center (MCTC) under the Operations Planning Training and Resource Support Services (OPTARSS) II contract.

The program will provide training for Army mission command systems, simulation-driven staff training exercises, and immersive training for platoon and company convoy and counter-IED operations. The contract includes one base year and four option years.

Training Support Task Order – The US Department of the Interior has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation a three-year, $103 million contract to support the Mission Command Training Support Program (MCTSP).

Northrop Grumman will provide support to the National Guard Bureau Mission Training Complexes (MTC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Camp Dodge, Iowa, and Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania.

The MCTSP provides individual and collective training support using live, virtual, and serious gaming; constructive and individual learning environments; and mobile training solutions.

Software/CBT Announcements

Remo 3D v2.2 – Remograph, providers of products and services for the computer graphics, visual simulation and 3D modeling markets, has announced the release of Remo 3D v2.2.

Remo 3D is an effective tool for creating and modifying 3D models intended for realtime visualization. The primary file format is OpenFlight®.

This new version of Remo 3D brings support for importing and exporting models in the new OpenSceneGraph OSGB, OSGT file formats, as well as the P3D file format from VBS2. As from this release, a 64-bit version will be available in both Windows and Linux, allowing for handling of larger models. Furthermore, new sample models from EdgedSign are now included in the release.

98% Pass Rate – The Canadian Forces School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (CFSEME) has achieved significant Return on Investment for the 5KW Power Generator Virtual Task Trainer (VTT) that NGRAIN delivered to the School in February 2011. Since the implementation of the VTT, nearly every student in the Electro-Optics course has passed the generator troubleshooting and maintenance course, which previously had a failure rate of 20-25 percent.

In addition to addressing critical training gaps in the course, CFSEME incorporated NGRAIN technology into the classroom to deliver a blended training environment that addresses the needs of both its digitally savvy demographic, as well as those comfortable with lecture-style formats.

Above Helicopter Crew Reality Gunnery module.

Image credit: Virtalis.

Simulation Platform – HPC Project has purchased the Presagis pre-integrated suite of software for use in building their reconfigurable gunnery training simulation platform that will be used in both virtual environments and embedded training. HPC has purchased a number of Presagis software tools including STAGE, AI.implant, Vega Prime, Terra Vista, Creator, and SIM OneNet. New products, Presagis Terrain Server and Presagis SEGen Server (SEGen), will also be delivered for use on HPC's reconfigurable gunnery training simulation platform.

Next Gen ExpeditionDI – Quantum3D, Inc. has added updates to its ExpeditionDI, a self-contained, wearable and fully-immersive close combat infantry simulator training platform. ExpeditionDI features several new enhancements including an Intel quad-core processor and a NVIDIA GPU for realistic visual graphics and faster performance to deliver advanced 3D virtual training.

The newest ExpeditionDI adds support for an M320 grenade launcher, and integrates new wireless technology to support training for nearly a limitless number of soldiers in a single environment simultaneously, without any signal interference.

HCR Gunnery – ITEC 2012 will be the first opportunity to try out the Virtalis Helicopter Crew Reality (HCR) Gunnery module - an integrated, virtual, part-task gunnery trainer for the fundamentals of ballistics.

The Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF) – Major General (Ret’d) Ajit Hari Gadre has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer.

General Gadre spent 37 years with the Indian Army as a commissioned officer, retiring in June 2009 as the Additional Director General of Army Aviation where he managed the operations, training, maintenance and logistics of the entire Indian Army Aviation Corps.

Alion – Terri Spoonhour has been appointed as Group Senior Vice President and Manager of the Distributed Simulation Group.

She will lead a business unit delivering expertise in areas that include modeling and simulation (M&S), software development, human-systems integration, systems engineering and management support, with customers that span the Department of Defense, civilian agencies and commercial firms.

Looking Forward - Events ITEC 2012 – International military experts will use ITEC 2012 to discuss, develop and compare different approaches to the intricate issues associated with modern warfare. This year’s ITEC agenda is tailored to offer an expert overview across a wide range of topical issues. The conference will feature a series of compelling sessions within a strategically themed format, examining every aspect of current and future training and simulation technology.

ITEC’s first Cyber Security Training and Education Workshop will see delegates from the public and private spheres join leading representatives from government, military and the defence industry, as well as eminent figures from across civil industry and academia, to discuss challenges and solutions to this sophisticated threat.

Visitors to the ITEC exhibition floor will see a wide selection of the industry’s latest and most innovative approaches to modern military training. The exhibition also offers those responsible for the procurement and operation of training products, technologies and services with the opportunity to see the latest innovations from around the world.

The British Army’s Directorate of Training will use ITEC 2012 as a platform to brief industry on its training needs for the coming years. The service is currently finalising its training strategy and sees ITEC as an ideal opportunity to give industry a clear understanding of the capabilities it is seeking and to learn about affordable new solutions. Specializing in training within the UK defence community, the UK MoD’s Defence Centre of Training Support is also planning its first appearance at the show.

ITEC takes place at ExCel, London, 22-24 May 2012.

SISO Day at ITEC 2012 – The Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO) will organise a "SISO Day" at

I S C A N VISUAL PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS Starting with the finest eye movement monitoring systems available and 30 years experience, ISCAN provides off-the-shelf and customized hardware and software solutions to assess human visual performance in simulated or live environments.

Output metrics give critical insight into individual and group patterns of

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Arrivals & Departures

ITEC 2012, on 23 May. The event will be chaired by Dr. JeanLouis Igarza from Antycip.

A SISO tutorial is planned on the afternoon of 24 May and the speaker is Björn Möller from Pitch. The SISO Day is free to attend for all SISO members. For more details on speakers, presentations and registration please visit http://www.itec.co.uk/ Content/SISO-Workshops-23-24-May KCIS 2012 - International Security in an Age of Austerity – The 2012 Kingston Conference on International Security will take place in Kingston, Canada 11 -13 June 2012. This timely conference will examine how western countries are reshaping their national security strategies in an age of austerity. For program, registration and accommodation information go to http://www. queensu.ca/kcis/2012.html. How will western democracies maintain military effectiveness while grappling with the dramatic changes to the global economic and strategic environments? The financial crisis of 2008 and its continuing aftershocks and the strategic consequences of the decision to draw down the military presence in Afghanistan and, for the United States, in Iraq, have created both challenges and opportunities for military leaders.

Western militaries are experiencing broad and consistently downward pressures on their defence budgets as governments seek to re-evaluate their international roles and strategies in the context of restraining the growth of government spending, addressing national debt concerns, and striving to meet budget goals. These factors will establish the broad parameters within which nations will resource their militaries and shape their national security strategies, and this in turn will affect national roles in maintaining the international security environment.

operation, attentiveness

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The new gunnery module allows students to practice virtual firing on a fixed machine gun and also experience how helicopter firing performance is affected by gravity drop and the effect of the rotors from different helicopter types. Virtalis will also be showing the latest version of HCR, which takes advantage of advances in computer graphics cards, tracking technologies and Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) to deliver greatly improved functionality.

task performance.

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Capability Concept Demonstration CCD 2012 Notwithstanding the fact that, according to the MoD, the UK defence budget is now in balance and the £38bn ‘black hole’ is in the process of disappearing, most of those involved in defence procurement recognise that an extended period of austerity has only just started. More specifically, the view is that any programme which is not funded – and some which hitherto were - will not survive first contact with this year’s budget reconciliation – Planning Round 12.

Despite the reasonable assumption that increased use of simulation to augment, and in some cases replace, costly and environmentally unfriendly live training is a good thing, the story remains the same – there is no money. With this in mind, it is incumbent on the armed forces to make the very best of what they already have. There is a growing realisation within the Army that this is not always being achieved; to address this perceived deficiency, the Army Recruiting Training and Training Directorate sponsored the first Capability Concept Demonstration (CCD) at the Land Warfare Centre, Warminster, on 28th and 29th March 2012. The CCD, subtitled ‘Releasing Latent Capability’ focused on 3 areas: making best use of systems already in service; discovering and exploiting untapped potential in these systems; and exploring the possibilities of applying them in areas for which they had not originally been purchased.

Emphasis was placed on making full use of assets which the UK already owns; in this context, VBS2 – for which the MoD holds an Enterprise Licence – was central to many of the capabilities on display. Its full potential as a synthetic environment for military training and mission rehearsal is recognised, but has not yet been fully realised; in this regard, the Royal School of Artillery (see Article in MS&T 5-2011) has led the way. Key to the exploitation of VBS2 is the Common Simulator Framework, a MoD-developed programme which provides interface middleware to allow interoperability between training systems; through CSF, VBS2 drives many Army programmes, such as the Combat Arms Tactical Trainer (CATT), Command and Staff Trainer (CAST) and the Battlefield Command & Control Trainer (BC2T).

Capabilities on display at CCD 2012 included: two 360o Igloo domes, a small (9m) one for dismounted close-combat training and a second, much larger, one for crew training, the latter enclosing the vehicle itself (in this case a Scimitar) within the dome; dismounted and vehicle-mounted VBS2 desktop trainers; the blending of VBS2 with the Meggitt Dismounted Close Combat Trainer (DCCT); and an Ops Room, complete with touch-screen Virtual Mission Board, and a multi-screen situation board, on which feeds from the various stands could be displayed. Laerdal demonstrated the ‘SimMan Essential Bleeding’ variant of their manikin for trauma treatment, and Skydroid displayed the ‘Scout’, a miniature UAV which, although intended for operational application, can provide a live feed into a synthetic environment. A key feature of the equipments on display was selective or targeted fidelity, where the level of fidelity is tailored to the specific training requirement, thus reducing complexity – and cost – to a minimum. Indeed, although CCD involved some of the ‘big players’ – Boeing, Cubic, and Meggitt, to name but 3 – there was most definitely a key role for the smaller providers.

The Army acknowledge that good ideas are likely to emanate from the hands-on instructors at the working level, but they need to be recognised by those in a position to promote them. For this reason, the first day of the CCD was devoted to specialists in this field, from Corporal to Colonel, and the second day to attendees of the annual Land Training Conference plus representatives of foreign forces. It was also seen as an opportunity for the MoD to demonstrate to the defence industry the requirement for agnostic training capabilities, and also their improved understanding of what is now possible, and what will be expected, in terms of both fidelity and value-formoney, from the next generation of training systems.

As a footnote, Bohemia Interactive, the creators of VBS2, opened a new office in Farnborough on 8th March. According to CEO Pete Morrison, it is part of a plan to ‘decentralise, and set up regional offices’, specifically in the case of Farnborough to ‘service the UK military better, and carry out bespoke development work.’ The timing may well prove to be just right. – Dim Jones

This year’s conference brings together international institutions, military officers, academic experts or scholars, and government officials to examine how western countries are reshaping their national security strategies in an age of budget austerity. The themes: - Identifying threats, vital interests, and core values - Framing the strategic options - Approaches to reshaping the Defence budget - From Strategy to Operations - The Profession of Arms in an Age of Austerity - Implications for the Military Sponsors and partners supporting the conference are The Centre for International and Defence Policy (Queen’s University), Defence Management Studies (Queen’s University) and the Land Force Doctrine and Training System (Canadian Army), and the US Army’s Strategic Studies Institute. – Jeff Loube

Where We’ve Been Show and Conference Reports NMSG MSG 113 Workshop – Gamification and other topics were the subject of a NATO gaming workshop held 16-18 April at the University of Genoa in Italy.

Started several years ago, this workshop was the 11th in a series of investigations to understand better how “Commercial Technologies and Games Can Be Used in NATO.” This particular workshop focussed on immersive environments and their impact on experimentation, training, and other domains in NATO. Fifteen presentations exposed attendees to mentoring systems, standards such as SCORM, approaches to dismounted soldier training and many other subjects.

The goals of gamification are to achieve higher levels of engagement, change behaviors and stimulate innovation. The opportunities for government and businesses are great – from having more engaged customers to crowd sourcing innovation. There are four principal means of driving engagement using gamification: - Accelerated feedback cycles. In the real world, feedback loops are slow with long periods between milestones. Gamification increases the velocity of feedback loops to maintain engagement.

- Clear goals and rules of play. In the real world, where goals are fuzzy and rules

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selectively applied, gamification provides clear goals and welldefined rules of play to ensure players feel empowered to achieve goals.

- A compelling narrative. While real-world activities are rarely compelling, gamification builds a narrative that engages players to participate and achieve the goals of the activity.

- Tasks that are challenging but achievable. While there is no shortage of challenges in the real world, they tend to be large and long-term. Gamification provides many short-term, achievable goals to maintain engagement.

Workshop Chairman Wayne Buck stated that “The reason we hold these workshops is simple, we need to prepare NATO for the eventuality of games invading the workplace. It will happen and when it does it will be fast and furious.”

The next workshop will be held 13-15 November 2012 at FFI in Oslo, Norway and will concentrate on the social and cultural aspects of games. – Walter F. Ullrich IQPC Military Flight Training Conference – The 11th annual IQPC Military Flight Training Conference took place in London between 13th and 15th March 2012. The event attracted upwards of 150 delegates, representing over 20 nations, and comprised a fairly even mix of industry and military. Although the programme contained elements of multi-engined and rotary wing training, it was heavily and reasonably weighted towards fast-jet training. Many of the participant nations face the imminent prospect of preparing their student pilots for 5th-generation fighters; however, the majority are currently equipped with training systems and platforms which were designed for the 3rd generation or earlier, and must implement the necessary transformation in a climate of severe budgetary constraint. This has hit even the major players, and the rest can take some small comfort from the fact that the recently-announced reduction in the

Flight Simulation & Rotorcraft joint Conference

rotary wing mission training rehearsal and the role of flight simulation

This conference brings together the rotary and simulation communities, with the aim of mapping out the way forward for civil & military helicopter mission training in light of recent accidents and incidents where more extensive training might have averted disaster.

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london / 29 - 31 may 2012

Sponsored by:

US defence budget ($487bn over 10 years) is roughly equivalent to the entire UK defence budget over the same period. One of the casualties has been the T-X (T-38 replacement) programme, which has been delayed by 3 years; however, I am bound to observe that the lack of available clear guidance on the specific requirements of this ‘system of systems’ leaves one wondering how the original timetable could have been achieved in any case.

Affordability, the need to drive down through-life costs, and the partnership between government and industry featured prominently in the debates, as did the need to transition from events-based to skills-based training, and to adapt training methods to cater for the next generation of ‘digital native’ students, who will be learning in a system instructed and supervised largely by ‘digital immigrants’. There was much discussion on addressing the current capability gaps in fighter lead-in training, and on the latitude for ‘downloading’ training from expensive front-line aircraft to more economical trainers. A note of caution was sounded, that this apparently eminently sensible initiative might not be as simple as it sounds, and that its efficacy may be influenced by the suitability of instructors on the relatively basic aircraft to teach the more complex events, and by other changes in the syllabi which might result in an unforeseen overload of the training aircraft.

Some changes in training platforms are already in progress – the avionic upgrade of Turkey’s T-38s to T-38M standard, and the introduction of the KT-1 turboprop to the Pakistan Air Force, the Hawk 128 (T2) to the RAF and, slightly further down the line, of the M-346/T-100 to the Italian Air Force. Those with an interest in the T-X programme were more than happy to admit that they were keeping a close eye on these developments, with a view to learning from them. Other issues of continued debate were the mix of synthetic and live flying training, with the concomitant requirements for synthetic devices, and the utility and potential of embedded emulators to teach battlespace awareness and systems management.

As ever, the opportunities for networking outside the conference hall were every bit as important as the presentations and Q&A sessions, and there seemed to be a genuine understanding that, subject to their respective requirements for profitability and training production, there was an overwhelming need for industry and the military to share risks and work together towards successful solutions, and that if either failed, they both would.

In sum, MFTC 20102 was an interesting, positive and useful forum for those engaged, in their various ways, in a common enterprise for which, as yet, the roadmap remains less than crystal clear. – Dim Jones UAS Training & Simulation Conference 2012 – The 3rd annual IQPC Unmanned Aerial Systems Training & Simulation Conference took place in London between 27 and 29 February 2012. It comprised a ‘workshop’ day, followed by 2 conference days. It was attended by some 70 delegates, demonstrating no drop in support from the inaugural conference, and many of them were from outside the UK; in all, 17 nations were represented, indicating also that, even in a straitened financial climate, funds will be found for key personnel to attend events which offer valuable learning, exchange of views and networking opportunities.

Indeed, if relatively small and specialised conferences like this have a weakness, it is that they are meetings of like minds, and do not attract the broader audience, which could include those

who might influence the outcome of, or provide solutions for, the problems and issues raised.

These problems and issues had not changed much from previous years, although some progress has been made.

They fall into 2 main categories: the training of UAS operating personnel; and the airworthiness accreditation, and integration into national airspace, of UAS. Both of these have a training slant to them.

Spanning both categories is the question of ‘sense-and-avoid’, the UAS alternative to the see-and-avoid requirement for normal air traffic in controlled airspace (although how the latter works for flight in cloud seems to be glossed over).

There is also the issue of ‘lost-link’ procedures, and the degree to which autonomous operation of a UAS is acceptable if communications with it are lost – or, indeed, as a primary, rather than a fallback, option. Segregated airspace is the measure of choice for most operating nations, although it greatly limits flexibility and transit between operating areas.

The German Air Force have just taken delivery of the Full-Scale Demonstrator (FSD) of EuroHawk, a High-Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UAS based on the Block-40 Global Hawk. The transit flight of this aircraft from the west coast

of the US to the GAF test centre at Manching, west of Munich, demonstrated some of the sensitivities and problems.

It had to clear the US mainland to the west, and then fly north and east around the US to reach Europe; the comms link was also lost over the Arctic, and then re-established as the EuroHawk entered European airspace. This FSD will shortly be followed by 4 front-line aircraft; the German authorities already have in place a system of air corridors to allow them to transit controlled airspace and reach their operating areas.

On the training side, the sheer numbers of trained personnel required for the US target of 65 continuously-manned Predator and Reaper CAPs, with a surge capability to 85, continue to present a problem. This is despite the success of the Beta programme in selecting and training non-rated aircrew to fly UAS, and the subsequent introduction to the USAF of the new 18X career stream. The return of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan is allowing a more measured approach to the problem, but there is no shortage of work for any capability thus freed up. The use of simulators, the optimum mix between simulation and ‘live flying’ training, and the need for actual airborne time during UAS training, provoked much interest-

ing debate, as did the choice between platform-specific and generic simulators. Many delegates bewailed the lack of effective simulators in their training programmes but, as presenters from industry were quick to point out, the technology exists and the equipment is out there, as demonstrated by the Predator Mission Aircrew Training System (PMATS), shortly to be upgraded to PMATS2. It may be that the ‘hand-to-mouth’ and task-driven way in which many UAS systems have been brought into service is the root cause of simulation systems not being integrated into the process.

This gives no more than a flavour of the many pertinent topics discussed at a most relevant and interesting – if possibly not yet globally influential – conference. – Dim Jones

Book Review Engineering Principles of Combat Modeling and Distributed Simulation. Edited by Andreas Tolk – This book, published by Wiley, and available at Amazon, addresses the military and combat applications of modeling and simulation (M&S) from the beginnings to current training practices and modern methodologies.

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ISSUE 2.2012

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The editor, Andreas Tolk is Professor for Engineering Management and Systems Engineering at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA and has been working in the field of combat modeling and distributed simulation since 1990. He played a key part in numerous standardization efforts of the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization.

He supported NATO’s Research and Technology Organization in the preparation of its M&S Master Plan and other guidelines. He has also served as technical evaluator for many NATO Modeling and Simulation Conferences. He was also project lead or subject matter experts for several practical research projects for NATO organizations as well as U.S. Armed Forces.

The first three parts of the book, which were written by Tolk himself, could well have been given the heading “from a practitioner for practitioners”.

Tolk brings his considerable expertise and experience as educator in this domain to bear when he elaborates extensively on the basics, on combat modeling and distributed simulation.

In the fourth part, Tolk gives proven experts in particular in new fields of interest the chance to have their say.

Internationally renowned co-writers provide in-depth insights into sixteen advanced topics, ranging from the historical context to theory, methods, and solutions. Serious games are just as present as are new challenges such as social and behavioral models. The book concludes with two – admittedly incomplete – annexes with information on existing M&S organizations and military simulation systems.

Tolk’s 900-page book is an exceptional work which is equally well suited to both learning and teaching.

It was written as a textbook as well as a compendium allowing new team members in professional M&S environments to catch up with the state of the art quickly. It could serve as a quick reference book, and should be part of the in-house library of every academic establishment. It should also be on the bookshelves of those professionals who are involved in modeling and distributed simulation at large. And it could quickly prove to be a worthwhile tool for those who need a thorough knowledge even in peripheral areas of their expertise. – Walter F. Ullrich ms&t

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Calendar Simulation & Training Events Organised by Halldale Media 28-29 August 2012 APATS 2012 – Asia Pacific Airline Training Symposium Fairmont Hotel Singapore www.halldale.com/APATS 6-7 November 2012 EATS 2012 – European Airline Training Symposium Andel’s Hotel Berlin, Germany www.halldale.com/EATS 16-18 April 2013 WATS 2013 – World Aviation Training Conference & Tradeshow Rosen Shingle Creek Resort Orlando, Florida, USA www.halldale.com/WATS

Simulation and Training Events MS&T Magazine: Supporting Media 29-31 May 2012 Rotary Wing Mission Training & The Role of Flight Simulation London, UK www.aerosociety.com/Events 11-15 June 2012 Eurosatory Paris, France www.eurosatory.com 26-27 June 2012 Joint Simulation and Training Event London, UK www.jointsimulationandtraining.com 25-28 June 2012 Joint Simulation & Training Africa Pretoria, South Africa www.jointsimulationafrica.com 9-13 July 2012 Farnborough International Airshow Hampshire, UK www.farnborough.com

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