MS&T Magazine - Issue 5/2012

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Training System

C-17 Globemaster – An International Focus National Focus

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Issue 5/2012

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Editorial Comment

Managing Editor

"...nature has been evolving for 3.5 billion years, enough time to develop some successful strategies, one would think."

On the cover: Boeing's C-17 Weapons Systems Trainer is a realistic, full-motion simulator used for pilot training.

Image credit: The Boeing Company.

an ink cloud and camouflage and a powerful bite that it uses both for offense and defense reveals its redundant and multi-functioning security measures. Its ability to deliberately stalk, surprise, and even kill prey much larger than itself shows that it can manipulate uncertainty for its own ends. Finally, its use of deadly bacteria in its own defense reveals that it uses symbiotic relationships to extend its own adaptive capabilities. Not all organisms in nature display these characteristics so prominently as the octopus, but all organisms use them to varying extents to survive and adapt.”

And the traits revealed by the octopus and nature: • Have a decentralized organization. A decentralized organization provides diversity in problem solving; • Exploit creative redundancy. Creative redundancy provides diversity to problem solving. There are many different ways to solve a problem; • Exploit partnerships. In nature symbiosis is everywhere and occurs with the most unlikely partners – in win-win situations, and; • Use feedback cycles to create new adaptive structures. Most importantly, learning from success leads to continual adaptation.

Learning from failure only prepares for the last problem.

Sagarin proposes that complex bureaucracies, even militaries, can begin the process of becoming adaptable by ceasing top down management by directive from a small group of experts, but instead, pose challenges and allow solutions to emerge from across the organization. And the process of responding to these challenges will, he states, start a ‘cascade of adaptability’. This process sounds a lot like an instructional strategy – but scaled up, way up.

Is any of this new? No, but it provides a different face to the pursuit of organizational adaptability that complements concepts such as Organizational IQ, and the challenges of the ‘messy and wicked’ risk management environment that frames the current business of defence. What Sagarin and his octopus do, however, is clearly demonstrate that focusing on the mental development of the human is not sufficient. As Geary Rummler famously stated, “If you pit a good performer against a bad system, the system will win almost every time”.

Jeffrey N Loube, CPT MS&T, Managing Editor jeff@halldale.com

05 MS&T MAGAZINE

Jeff Loube

In military, defence and security circles the terms adaptable, adaptation, adaptive have become ubiquitous. But, how many folks really understand the implications of adaptability? What do organizations really need to do to become adaptable?

Frank DiGiovanni, the Director of Training Readiness and Strategy for the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, speaking to the recent ADL iFest, focused on individual training and education as the key to providing US forces the key advantage to success in the 21st century.

"What we really have not focused on enough is the development of the mental capacity of our service members, including the combat decision-making," DiGiovanni said. "This is about adaptive education and training, and how we institutionalize our lessons learned into education and training."

That may be necessary, but secrets from nature strongly suggest it is not sufficient.

Rafe Sagarin, a marine ecologist at the University of Arizona, has written a provocative book entitled Learning from the octopus: How secrets from nature can help us fight terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and disease.

This is not his first foray into applying the secrets of nature to society’s challenges. In September 2003 “Foreign Policy” he started to develop the principles incorporated in Learning From the Octopus in an article titled Adapt or Die, which of course is nature’s way.

In nature risk is always present and unpredictable, as it is for society. And nature has been evolving for 3.5 billion years, enough time to develop some successful strategies, one would think. He states “What natural organisms don’t do is plan, predict or try to make the perfect response: they adapt to solve problems in their environment!”

Sagarin sums the adaptability of the octopus this way: “Taken together, the octopus reveals almost all of the characteristics you would want in a biologically inspired adaptable security system. Its use of tools (the coconut shells) and its well-known ability to wreak havoc on laboratory containment systems show that it can learn from a changing environment. The rapidly changing skin cells show it has an adaptable organization in which a lot of power to detect and directly respond to changes in the environment is given to multiple agents that don't have to do a lot of reporting and order-taking from a central brain. That it has

ISSUE 5.2012

Secrets from Nature

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08 11 18

05 Editorial Comment Lessons From Nature. Managing Editor Jeff Loube considers adaptability and the lessons of the octopus.

08 Training System New Clients; Training System Enhanced. Sales of the C-17 Globemaster to international clients is prompting enhancements to the training system. Group Editor Marty Kauchak explains.

11 National Focus Developing Leaders. MS&T’s Dim Jones maps out command, staff and leadership training in the UK armed forces and its ongoing evolution.

15 National Focus A Change Agent. The Peruvian Army’s new computerized training centre is more than just a military training centre. Walter F. Ullrich reports.

18 Training Technology Mobile Learning. The US DoD has embraced a mobile future. Chuck Weirauch brings us up to date.

21 Training Technology Intelligent Tutoring Systems. Using artificial intelligence to support the learning process.

Bob Pokorny describes the current state of ITS.

24 Training Technology www.halldale.com/mst All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – especially translating into other languages - without prior written permission of the publisher. All rights also reserved for restitution in lectures, broadcasts, televisions, magnetic tape and methods of similar means. Each copy produced by a commercial enterprise serves a commercial purpose and is thus subject to remuneration.

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Constructive Simulation. Enhancements reflect new strategies. The Army’s III Corps Warfighter Exercise employed several technology firsts. Group Editor Marty Kauchak writes.

26 Conference Report ADL iFest. 2012 iFest identifies the challenges as distributed learning evolves. Chuck Weirauch reports.

28 Show Report Eurosatory 2012. Eurosatory is the largest land defence exhibition in the world. MS&T’s Europe Editor Walter F. Ullrich reports.

29 News Seen & Heard. A round up of developments in simulation and training. Compiled and edited by Fiona Greenyer.

ISSUE 5.2012

USA

MS&T Magazine Military Simulation & Training Magazine

07 MS&T MAGAZINE

ning

CONTENTS

Training System

An International Focus The C-17 Training System is completing its final product deliveries and ensuring continued life cycle support for the U.S. Air Force customer. At the same time, the Training System is expanding to support the aircraft’s new international customers, reports Group Editor Marty Kauchak.

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oeing’s venerable C-17 Globemaster production line will remain active for a bit longer due to a recent uptick in international sales. With the U.S. Air Force having received 217 of its 224 C-17s, Boeing has aggressively marketed the aircraft to international customers around the globe.

A total of 28 C-17s have been delivered to Australia, Canada, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the 12-member Heavy Airlift Wing (NATO Airlift Management Agency/Strategic Airlift Consortium).

This July, Boeing integrated the forward, center and aft fuselages, and wing assembly of the first of 10 C-17s to be delivered to India.

The near-term marketing focus of even more contracts for the aircraft is the Middle East.

The maturity of the C-17 in the U.S. Air Force and its newfound popularity in other nations, have huge implications for the program’s Training System (TS).

While the government-industry team

continues to support life cycle training for U.S. Air Force active duty, Guard and Reserve aircrews, it is similarly focused on training the new overseas operators’ aircrews.

Above C-17 pilots flying in formation during a night mission in one of the C-17 Weapon Systems Trainers at Altus Air Force Base.

Image credit: Link Simulation & Training.

USAF Update As the prime contractor for the C-17 TS, L-3 Link Simulation & Training is responsible for program management, aircrew instruction and training, contractor logistics support for aircrew and maintenance trainers, aircrew and maintenance training system support center operations, and change management support of 11 C-17 training sites.

While the U.S Air Force’s Globemaster training system is mature, the government-industry team continues to consider technology enhancements to support the training devices’ life cycle and course content, and plans to expand the TS footprint to mirror the remaining aircraft deliveries to active and reserve component units.

Carl Wilson, L-3 Link’s C-17 Training System senior program manager, told

MS&T that in one instance, while the service’s C-17 Training System Weapon Systems Trainers (WSTs) are currently equipped with head-up displays, Link has proposed a simulated avionics unit that will replace actual aircraft components with simulated components as well as modification of the Formation Flight System. “In the near future, Link will be proposing the addition of Electronic Warfare and Flare Tasks to the C-17 Training System maintenance training devices. This modification will ensure the training devices remain concurrent with the aircraft and provide C-17 maintenance personnel additional training capability.”

Link will also be activating C-17 training sites at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (AFB), Ohio and Stewart and

With the flurry of activity in international sales, the real story in the C-17 Training System resides in the strategy to train the new crews of these aircraft, and integrate C-17 operators’ crews into exchange programs.

The U.S. Air Force actively trains aircrews and maintainers in support of the C-17 programs for Australia, Canada, the Heavy Airlift Wing (HAW), India, the UK, Qatar and the UAE. For Fiscal Year 2012, ending as this issue was being published, the Air Force has/will train 46 partner pilots and 44 partner loadmasters in initial qualification and mission qualification courses at Altus AFB. The training throughput of overseas nations’ operators will increase in response to foreign military sales of the aircraft. Ann Stefanek, a media operations officer at Air Force Headquarters in the Pentagon, noted that 76 partner pilots and 48 partner loadmasters are currently scheduled for training in FY 2013. International partner maintenance training and continuation aircrew training is conducted at Joint Base Lewis-McChord AFB, Wash-

Capt. Matt Foss, 58th Airlift Squadron instructor pilot, requalifies Maj. Steve Jacque, 58th AS instructor pilot, in a C-17 Globemaster III simulator.

Image credit: USAF/Franklin Ramos.

ington, Charleston AFB and Jackson ANGB, Mississippi.

For its part, Link as the TS prime contractor provides aircrew training to the Royal Australian Air Force at RAAF Amberley, and at U.S. sites for Canada, the UAE, Qatar, the UK, NATO’s HAW and India, Wilson said.

The Link industry team for overseas C-17 training systems at RAAF Amberley includes AAI Corporation, providing contractor logistics support and maintenance training via Aerosonde.

Link is currently in the process of conducting a Training Needs Analysis to address curriculum and support requirements to accommodate the delivery of a C-17 Cargo Compartment Trainer to the RAAF. “The analysis will define the additional RAAF contractor logistics support, curriculum support, and student loadmaster instruction and training support resources required, which will be delivered via a subsequent contract modification,” Wilson explained.

Boeing, as the C-17 OEM, delivers training systems, services and other support to its international C-17 customers’ aircrews and maintainers, upon request, as part of the aircraft’s life cycle package. The available training is at the initial qualification and continuation levels.

The company’s St. Louis-based Training Systems and Government Services division is the venue for this training.

An expanding number of international

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ISSUE 5.2012

International Developments

Above

09

A subsidiary of Kopin Corporation

MS&T MAGAZINE

Memphis Air National Guard Bases, in New York and Tennessee respectively.

The TS prime contractor supports its Air Force customer with an interesting mix of industry team members.

For USAF C-17 training centers and systems: Eagle Systems provides program-wide information technology support; AAI Corporation delivers program wide contractor logistics support; the Delaware Resource Group supplies contractor logistics support and cargo handling support at Altus AFB Oklahoma and contractor logistics support at Charleston AFB South Carolina and Joint Base Lewis-McChord Washington; C2 Technologies provides program-wide aircrew courseware support; and AVT delivers program wide visual system database support.

Wilson also commented on his industry team’s performance. He noted that during this past year, Link has received a Contract Compliance Evaluation administered under the direction of Headquarters Air Mobility Command and Headquarters Air Education and Training Command. “Link received a ‘Very Good’ evaluation rating; the second highest rating possible and the highest rating the C-17 program has ever received.”

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C-17 operators are electing to receive training support in part, or in whole, from Boeing rather than through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) process.

In one case, Boeing provides initial qualification training for one unspecified nation’s C-17 operators. Tracy Mead, the company’s C-17 Training System program manager, also explained the UK’s operators come to St. Louis for continuation training, in a “mixed-approach” training program. “Some continuation training is under FMS with the U.S. Air Force and some is here in St. Louis. I’m very proud of the training services we’re providing – the customer seems to be very, very happy with our training,” Future international C-17 training will occur well beyond St. Louis.

One of two C-17 full motion, WSTs at the division’s facility is owned by the UAE and specifically supports the nation’s C-17 training program. “Eventually the training center will be located in their country and will provide the full spectrum of aircrew training to them, colocated with their C-17 operation. They will be able to do all of the initial qualification and continuation on that site under contract to Boeing,” Mead said.

The UAE’s in-country, C-17 training site is expected to be operational in third quarter 2013. Boeing will provide the training services and support at the venue for several years under a current contract.

Mead added the other C-17 international operators have expressed “a high level of interest” in having their own training capability in country. “In some cases we are actively engaged with those C-17 operators to be able to provide them with a training capability.” Mead pointed out Qatar is one of those nations with which Boeing is in advanced discussions on this topic.

Boeing’s current industry partners for this expanding international business portfolio includes FlightSafety International’s simulator systems division and visual simulation systems branch for training devices, and the Delaware Resources Group for staff at the UAE site previously discussed. “The other things, the logistics support, courseware updates, simulator software support and the like, are part of our core business here in St. Louis,” Mead emphasized.

Mead’s discussion with MS&T concluded with him pointing out the advan-

Above

• The RAF employs one USAF member

The United Arab Emirates Air Force has six

in the RAF C-17 (C-17A Aircraft Commander, 99 Squadron, RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire); 4. The Royal Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF)/USAF (Proposed; not currently active): • The USAF plans to employ one QEAF member in the USAF C-17 (pilot-unit/ location TBD); and • The QEAF plans to employ one USAF member in the QEAF C-17 (pilot-unit/ location TBD; and 5. Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)/ USAF: • The USAF employs two RAAF members in the USAF C-17 (C-17A Aircraft Commander, 15AS, Charleston AFB and C-17A Loadmaster, 17AS, Charleston AFB); and • The RAAF employs two USAF members in the RAAF C-17 (C-17A Instructor Pilot, No. 36 Squadron, RAAF Base Amberley, Ipswich and C-17A Loadmaster, No. 36 Squadron, RAAF Base Amberley).

The Air Force’s Stefanek also pointed out for the international C-17 pilots, there are training requirements that her service has placed on them to become “full up round” pilots in its squadrons. Some sample training requirements include: • C-17A Pilot Initial Qualification, Altus AFB - C-17 PIQ, 10 weeks (Course #203000); • C-17A Co-pilot Airdrop, Altus AFB C-17 ACAD, 4 weeks (Course #211000); • C-17A Aircraft Commander Airdrop, Altus AFB - C-17 ACAD, 3 weeks (Course #111000); and • C-17A Instructor Aircraft Commander, Altus AFB - C-17 IAC, 4 weeks. (Course #501000) (Can be conducted as a local upgrade with Squadron certification board held at completion of evaluation if the exchange officer's experience and performance warrant). ms&t

C-17As in service.

Source: Boeing.

tage that Boeing, as the OEM, offers in providing concurrency between the C-17 aircraft and training devices and training systems. Indeed, all of the international operators discuss this requirement as early as the contract proposals phase.

C-17 Exchange Programs As in other fixed and rotary-wing communities, the USAF has exchange agreements with overseas partner nations that operate C-17s: 1. Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF)/ USAF: • The USAF employs three RCAF members in the USAF C-17 (C-17A Aircraft Commander, 62AS Joint Base LewisMcChord AFB; Aircraft Maintenance Officer, 62 AMXS, Joint base LewisMcChord and C-17 Loadmaster, 62 AMXS, Joint Base Lewis-McChord); and • The RCAF employs three USAF members in the RCAF CC-177 (C-17 Instructor Pilot, 429 Transport Squadron, CFB Trenton, Ontario; Aircraft Maintenance Officer, 429 Transport Squadron, CFB Trenton; and a C-17 Loadmaster, 429 Transport Squadron); 2. German Air Force (GAF)/USAF: • The USAF employs one GAF officer in the USAF C-17 (C-17A Pilot, 14 AS, Charleston AFB); and • The GAF employs one USAF officer in the German A-310; used as the reciprocal (A-310 Pilot, Special Airlift Wing, Koln Wahn AFB, Cologne); 3. Royal Air Force (RAF) UK/USAF: • The USAF employs one RAF member in the USAF C-17 (C-17A Aircraft Commander, 17 AS, Charleston AFB); and

National Focus

Command, Staff and Leadership Training in the UK Armed Forces ‘Command’ in the Oxford English Dictionary is, inter alia, defined as ‘authority, especially over armed forces’, and ‘leader’ as ‘the person who commands or leads’. MS&T’s Dim Jones explains how the UK armed forces are developing leaders.

Above The JSCSC Building at the centre of the Defence Academy estate, Shrivenham.

Image credit: UK MoD.

finite time to realign training, doctrine and attitudes to reflect a rapidly changing military environment. In this regard, and although even its most ardent proponents would not suggest that it is perfect, Command and Staff (C&S) training in the UK defence forces has been moving with the times. In assessing how this has been achieved, I will concentrate on the officer corps. Although I fully recognise the vital role of senior and junior NCOs in the overall effectiveness of any force, they generally have the opportunity to develop their leadership and management skills ‘on the job’, whereas a junior officer may be required to demonstrate all of them very early on in his or her career. Furthermore, it is hopefully the best of the junior officers who will become the senior commanders of their generations.

ISSUE 5.2012

bounds envisaged in the Cold War era.

The campaign in Afghanistan continues, that in Libya is not long over, and who knows what challenges further unrest in the Middle East may throw up?

These changes have occurred against a backdrop of almost continuous reorganisation and force reductions; indeed, in 1991 the troops returned from Gulf War 1 (Desert Storm), with the dust of the falling Berlin Wall barely settled, to face the first reorganisation package – ‘Options for Change’ – seeking a ‘peace dividend’ from the demise of the Warsaw Pact. Significant among the resultant challenges has been the need to adapt the training given to those earmarked for command appointments, especially as part of a coalition. In his book ‘Losing Small Wars’, Frank Ledwidge, himself a Royal Naval Reserve officer, is somewhat disparaging in his assessment of the effectiveness of British military – and, for that matter, political - leadership in Iraq and Afghanistan. He makes some good points; however, whereas events can be analysed relatively quickly, it takes a

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I

n a military context, the concept of authority is relatively simple, but that of leadership much more complex - not so much the authority to lead as the ability to do so effectively; and, whereas, in the social orders of days gone by, authority to command carried with it a leadership mandate, the same is not true in the more egalitarian environment of western society today. In addition to leadership, effective command requires management ability, communications skills and, especially at more senior levels, political awareness, both internal and external. Imbalance in these attributes can lead to a variety of undesirable outcomes, from heroic calamity to well-organised paralysis.

The past 20 years have seen fundamental changes in the operations required of UK armed forces, from the static defensive posture of the Cold War, focused on the UK and Germany, to a series of campaigns of varying intensity, almost all under a UN or NATO umbrella, almost all as part of a coalition, and all ‘out-of-area’, in other words beyond the geographical

ISSUE 5.2012

National Focus

Initial Officer Training

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Leadership qualities in officers are assessed during selection, and developed during Initial Officer Training (IOT) at the three Service colleges at Dartmouth, Sandhurst and Cranwell, and the Commando Training Centre, Royal Marines.

The relatively leisurely (although that’s not how it seemed at the time!) three year courses of yesteryear are a distant memory, victims of the quest for efficiency and savings, and of changing demographic trends – including the exponential increase in the percentage of young people attending university.

IOT courses now typically last less than a year and are very much focused on imbuing trainees with the knowledge, leadership and management skills they will need in their first appointments. Recognising that, whereas command and management skills can be honed throughout a career, leadership potential is generally developed in the early years, C&S training for junior officers (JO) has evolved from an amorphous melange of residential, correspondence and OJT courses to much more structured and progressive programmes, overlaid on the specialist training required for professional development; in this transition, the potential of IT and distance learning has been fully embraced.

JO C&S training remains essentially single-service, but with an eye on the common entry standards needed for more advanced courses. Junior Army officers undertake the JO Leadership Programme (JOLP) and the Tactical Awareness Course (JOTAC). JOLP starts during the Commissioning Course at Sandhurst, continues through Regimental Duty and culminates in a week-long distributed learning course; JOTAC is a 4-week residential course at the Land Warfare Centre at Warminster, and a pre-requisite for promotion to Captain. Overlaid on these are 3 modules each of Military Analysis (MA) and Military Knowledge (MK), which are distance learning packages completed in parallel during the course of normal duties; successful completion is a prerequisite for promotion to Major and attendance at the Intermediate Command and Staff Course (ICSC).

RN officers undertake Phase 1 of the JO Leadership Course (JOLC) as part of IOT, and also attend the Divisional Officers’ Course. JOLC2 is a recently developed 2-week progressive course,

Above It wasn't like this in Nelson's day - RN JOs on JOLC2.

Image credit: UK MoD.

intended to build on previous training and be a prerequisite for ICSC. Week 1 is mainly theoretical, increasing selfawareness by the use of personality profiling tools, examining core leadership theories and introducing coaching and motivational theory. Week 2 is more practical, focusing on leadership and teamwork, and includes teambuilding exercises in outdoor locations.

RM officers undertake their own equivalent of JOLP1, and may then complete either Week 1 of JOLC2 or JOLP3; those selected for ICSC attend the Land, rather than the Maritime, course.

The RAF has a unique problem: junior Army and RM officers can practise their skills on the soldiers under their command from the word go, and the RN has the Divisional Officers scheme, which offers similar opportunities. However, whereas most RAF ground branch officers have NCOs and airmen under command, junior aircrew do not; indeed, but for a quirk of fate which saw me in command of a platoon of Scottish infantry at age 20, I did not have direct responsibility for anyone but other aircrew until I became a squadron commander. The RAF has recently replaced all previous training with the JO Development Programme (JODP). This comprises 3 stages, of 1, 2 and 1 week duration respectively, which are intended to be undertaken at

intervals of between 12 and 18 months after completion of IOT. It is the responsibility of the individual to book onto each course, and each module includes a package of preparatory work, effective completion of which will be informally assessed at the start of the phase. This study is completed during the course of normal duties, and material for it can be accessed through the Defence Learning Portal. The syllabus includes airpower, politics, leadership and communication, and the ratio between instruction and student participation progresses from 80%/20% for JODP1 through 50%/50% for JODP2 to 20%/80% for JODP3. The pilot for JODP1 was completed in 2008 and that for JODP3 in late 2011, the delay allowing the first graduates to progress through their careers at the correct rate.

It will, therefore, be some time before the first products of JODP attend ICSC or the Advanced Command and Staff Course (ACSC), the centrepiece of C&S training in the UK Armed Forces.

A wide-ranging MoD review of staff training in the early 1990s, driven by the increasing emphasis on joint operations – although, arguably, the quest for savings and estate rationalisation played a supporting role – resulted in the closure of the single-service Staff Colleges at Greenwich, Camberley and Bracknell, and the creation of the Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC) which was established in 1998 at Bracknell, and moved to its current purposebuilt and extremely impressive accommodation in 2000. This is on a site at Shrivenham in Wiltshire, adjacent to the former Royal Military College of Science (RMCS). RMCS subsequently became the Defence College of Management and Technology (CMT), which, with JSCSC and the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS), forms part of the Defence Academy of the UK, which also has close academic ties with Cranfield University.

Alignment The alignment of the differing requirements of the three services was not without its challenges. Historically, selected RN and RAF officers had typically attended advanced staff training in their late 30s, as senior Lieutenant Commanders or Squadron Leaders (OF3); it was regarded as an opportunity to broaden general military knowledge, and specifically of sea- and air-power, and to

The JSCSC Forum.

Image credit: UK MoD.

the vast majority of the course content was single-service. The new ACSC is a 46-week tri-Service course, although retaining some single-service elements.

RN and RAF officers attend the course at senior OF3 or junior OF4 levels, and Army officers at junior OF4. Some officers have the opportunity to attend staff

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Above

13 MS&T MAGAZINE

prepare students for future command appointments. In contrast, Army ASC students were generally either junior Majors (OF3), or Captains (OF2) already selected for promotion; the long term aim remained to identify potential senior commanders, but the immediate emphasis was on selection for key operational and staff appointments, and the course content had commensurately academic and tactical flavours. The 3 staff college courses did congregate for specific lectures, presentations and exercises, but

college overseas instead, and the ACSC retains a substantial element of foreign students.

In order to effect this realignment, there are significant differences in the ICSCs, which are single-service but all take place at Shrivenham. ICSC(Maritime) and ICSC(Air) courses are of 8 weeks duration, and are undertaken by senior Lts and junior Sqn Ldrs respectively.

ICSC(Land), for newly-promoted Majors, however, takes 30 weeks, the reason being that this course includes much of the tactical and technical content of the former Army Staff Course. This anomaly is a cause of some concern and the subject of ongoing study.

Prior to 1988, the only formal course for more senior officers was RCDS, attended by senior Colonel (OF5) equivalent or 1* (OF6) officers. The inception of the Higher Command and Staff Course (HCSC), the aim of which is to ‘prepare selected officers and officials for higher command and staff appointments’, recognised the need for a practical command course to supplement the more academic RCDS. HCSC was initially run at Camberley, and was mainly for Colonels, with a representation of RAF,

National Focus

RN and Overseas students, but moved to form part of JSCSC in 2000. It is a 16-week course, typically comprising 24 UK military, five UK Government and four overseas students. Some themes of the course are: ‘The principles, practicalities and realities of the current and future strategic and security environments within national and multinational contexts; combined, joint and multi-agency operations, and national and organisational cultural factors; The classical elements and enduring tenets of operational art; the nature of high command, and, more specifically, of the commander’s role in campaigning; and campaign-planning skills and decision-making at the operational and military-strategic levels.’

An early element of the course is academic leadership and management training at CMT, who are responsible for doctrine, and for providing the Defence Strategic Leadership Programme; this recognises that the Services use different models from, for instance, industry, and that a central ‘translation framework’ is needed to embrace best practice. CMT believe that leadership principles can be taught, but that applying those principles is another matter entirely. Students study a variety of subjects, such as Leadership

of Change and Transformation, the Ethics of Leadership and Power Politics, undergo psychometric testing, and take part in sessions on self-awareness and coaching; many describe it as a cathartic experience.

Staff Ride A highlight of the course is the ‘Staff Ride’, which takes place predominantly in Northern France and focuses initially on the D-Day landings and subsequent advance to the Rhine; the specific aim of the Staff Ride is to provide, through military historical example, a practical focus for the study and analysis of high command and the planning and execution of future campaigns and major operations, within a combined and joint context.

Lastly, Exercise Habile Cormorant, a 2-week Theatre War Games exercise, aims to bring together Military-Strategic (Mil-Strat) and Operational Level concepts, doctrine and practice. It centres on concurrent potential conflicts involving two alliances, the Nantes Treaty Organisation (NTO) and the Arcadian Sea Security Council (ASSC). Students role-play at three levels, the NTO Alliance Military Committee (Pol/Mil Strategic), the Alliance Joint Command

(Mil-Strat) and the Joint Task Force (Operational). The exercise brings out the realities (and anomalies) of coalition and alliance planning – you can’t make a plan until you know the forces available, but nations won’t declare forces until they have had sight of the plan!

There is a media input, which includes one-on-one interviews with key players, and press conferences. It acquaints students with the 6-stage planning process, and includes ‘Red Teaming’ – looking at the same problem from an alternative perspective. Throughout the process, the players can consult ‘mentors’ – recently retired senior commanders.

So what of the future? The structure and content of C&S training are under constant review and development, to ensure that it meets anticipated needs.

All phases of the RAF’s JODP are now undertaken at Shrivenham, and it is hoped that the environment and opportunity to mix with more senior students of all Services will prove beneficial; the Army and RN are taking a keen interest. One thing is certain – the demands on commanders in future operations will only become greater, and the training which ensures that they are equipped to respond will be fundamental to success. ms&t

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ISSUE 5.2012

In addition to our normal circulation around the world, 3000 extra copies of MS&T will be distributed from our large central booth at I/ITSEC. More people choose to advertise in MS&T around I/ITSEC than any other magazine in the simulation and training sector.

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National Focus

CETAC EP The Computerized Tactical Training Centre of the Peruvian Army is a lever of change for both the Army and civil authorities. Walter F. Ullrich writes.

Above Training is aimed at the commanders and their staff at the different command levels.

Image credit: CETAC.

critical and analytical,” he said. Although there was still a long way to go, General Arteaga was convinced that every rank would enthusiastically embrace this great change. For Brigadier General Walter Martos Ruiz, former Commander of the Education and Doctrine Command, Supervisory Command of CETAC, this not only included changing the educational system but also adopting another command model, a “Mission Command Type”, as implemented by the German Army. It is in this spirit of agile and critical thinking that CETAC officers started operating their institution. And it is in this spirit that research and education is carried out at CETAC.

CETAC Mission and Resources For a long time, Peruvian foreign relations

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Forces are generally seen as one of the most technologically advanced and professional armed forces in South America.

At the beginning of this century, the political and military leadership of Peru envisioned a new era of technological innovation for the Army that would make it one of the best armies in the world.

The plan included the acquisition of modern simulation technology to enable the forces to save resources and train the military leaders using state-of-the-art technology. The intention was to create an institution that went beyond the military sector and would address both social and environmental disorders, as well as natural disasters. This finally led to the establishment of CETAC EP, the Computerized Tactical Training Centre of the Peruvian Army that opened in December 2010 on the premises of the War College in the capital Lima. In his inauguration speech, Army General Otto Guibovich Arteaga, then Commanding General of the Peruvian Army, stressed that building CETAC was part of the educational reform. “Future leaders must be

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he Peruvian Army looks back on a history that spans almost two centuries. Officially established in 1821, the Ejército del Perú has seen many ups and downs. One glorious moment was Peru’s participation in General Simón Bolívar’s final campaign that ended Spanish rule in South America. Its bitter moments include Peru’s defeat against Chile in the War of the Pacific some 50 years later. This fiasco was followed by a resolute restructuring of the Army that was supported by French officers. In fact, France continued to assist the Peruvian Army for many decades, and it was only after WWII that the United States of America took over this role. With 76,228 troops, the army is by far the largest service of the Fuerzas Armadas del Perú. Between 2000 and 2006 the armed forces underwent several reforms as part of the transition to democracy. The reform process not only modified the structure of the armed forces, but included a restructuring of the military leadership and officer training programmes. Today, the Peruvian Armed

National Focus ISSUE 5.2012 MS&T MAGAZINE

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were dominated by border conflicts with neighbouring countries. It is, therefore, no wonder that the Army’s most prominent duty is to deter and to protect Peru from attacks against its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. In the second half of the 20th century Peru was an almost permanent target of the “Shining Path” guerrillas. Although seriously decimated over the last decade, these Maoist terrorists have not been completely eliminated. Safeguarding internal order and counter-insurgency therefore still rates high among the Peruvian Army’s tasks. Specifically, the Army’s mission provides for participation in civil defence and the country’s social and economic development, as well as in peacekeeping operations on the basis of international agreements.

CETAC EP’s mission closely follows the Army’s. More specifically, CETAC has to provide training for planning and evaluation that is based on the simulation of virtual scenarios of military operations, natural disasters and social crises.

Training is aimed at the commanders and their staff at the different command levels, as well as at schools. However, it also addresses the crisis committees of public and private organisations.

The centre consists of 10 fully equipped classrooms, a high-tech auditorium comprising five computers and the state-of-the-art simulation software SWORD developed by the French MASA Group, a globally acting software company focused on developing artificial intelligence-based Modelling & Simulation. The centre is run by 20 well-trained and highly motivated personnel – officers, engineers and operators following up to three years preparation at the Technical School of the Army. As CETAC’s operating budget is embedded within the Army’s strategic plans, funding is guaranteed for some years to come.

The key impetus to set up CETAC came from the assumption that simulation has proven to be an effective way to improve the coordination, communication and decision-making processes of commanders and their staffs before they actually go in the field with their units.

“Simulation applications appear to have no limits,” says Colonel Guillermo Ortiz Herrera, Head of the Department of Planning and Director of Constructive Simulations at the CETAC, referring to the broad range of possibilities simulation

Above Training addresses the crisis committees of public and private organisations.

Image credit: CETAC.

offers for supporting training, operations research or decision-making processes.

“Still, at the beginning there were many questions regarding how best to use simulations,” Colonel Ortiz recalls: What difficulties could arise during its use?

How would students react to simulation technology? What effect does a methodology that uses simulations to train teams create in terms of decision-making responsibility? And so, right from the beginning of its activities, CETAC placed the human factor at the centre of all its endeavours.

One Software Tool for All Use Cases In many respects, the application areas and objectives at CETAC do not differ from those of other computerised tactical training centres around the world.

Simulation use cases include Command Staff Training that prepares division or brigade commanders and their staffs for their operations in the field; Doctrines and New System Analysis allows materiel or doctrines to be evaluated before they are actually introduced; Decision Support helps to find results that best suit the objectives; Downloadable Games help individuals to improve tactical knowledge and procedures; Crisis

Management Training for Natural Disasters or Social Crises brings together those players that have to interact on a national level; and, finally, CETAC is also responsible for The Study of Historic Events.

In all the above, CETAC exclusively utilises the commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software tool SWORD, software that is employed in France, Switzerland, the United States, Sweden, Spain, Brazil, and in NATO. SWORD is an aggregatelevel constructive simulation that is automated for the multi-level training of corps, brigade or battalion commanders, for military and security scenarios with thousands of aggregated units on 500km x 500km terrains. SWORD is built around an artificial intelligence engine that provides an extremely high level of automation and realism. “What makes SWORD unique are the behavioural simulation and the command agents,” explains Colonel Ortiz. Simulated agents execute their mission with respect to the doctrine and react in the face of dynamic events.

They issue appropriate orders to their subordinates or report on the current situation. Moreover, SWORD is characterised by flexibility and portability, as it can be used at full capacity on a single laptop or a local area network.

One Centre for Different Applications Thanks to the vision and determination of the commanders of the Peruvian Army, CETAC was built from scratch in less than 12 months. Since its establish-

cern at the regional and local government level. So far, 360 officials from public and private institutions, such as the National Civil Defence Institute, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Agency for Energy and Mining, provincial governments, city representatives, firelighters, journalists, bankers and other public officials have participated in exercises or seminars. “The experience gained during the exercises has also allowed us to recognise the importance of this new technology for implementing contingency plans for disasters produced both by nature and man,” Colonel Ortiz confirms. All these efforts will, of course, not reduce the likelihood of a massive earthquake, but they will contribute to Peru being better prepared once one happens.

CETAC – a Unique Institution CETAC helps the Peruvian Army to make a substantial contribution to securing the nation’s internal and external security. In an area of the world that is greatly affected by natural disasters, it also demonstrates how a constructive simulation like SWORD can also be effectively used for public safety and crisis management applications, including population-related emergencies.

CETAC makes the Peruvian Army a pioneer in terms of building and equipping one single training centre to prepare the Armed Forces in three main types of missions: classic warfare and border protection; OOTW; and supporting the civilian population in the event of natural disasters. CETAC, the Computerized Tactical Training Centre of the Peruvian Army, is quite unique in that part of South America – and not only there. ms&t

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Editor’s Note MS&T would like to thank Colonel Guillermo Gamaliel M. ORTIZ HERRERA, Head of the Department of Planning and Director of Constructive Simulations at the Computerized Tactical Training Centre of the Peruvian Army, whose presentation at Eurosatory 2012 provided the impetus for this feature article.

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ment just two years ago, CETAC has trained a total of 2,500 people – both military and civilians. Among these were hundreds of officers from all command levels who exercised in their role as commander or staff officer. At the same time, in the field of Doctrines and New System Analysis, CETAC has studied and validated new doctrines and materiel. “We have, for example, examined the deployment of our missile units with regard to strengths and limitations, and validated its feasibility,” explains Colonel Ortiz, who is also a professional missile operation specialist. In fact, CETAC has taken the inherent potentials of the tools provided far beyond their original scope. It has developed a number of new use cases that fulfil a wide range of operational and training needs that go beyond former traditional “warfare” simulation applications. These use cases include training and analysis for operations other than war (OOTW), as well as planning for counter-terrorist and counter-drug operations. “CETAC has managed to start exploiting SWORD’s capabilities to an extent that no other customer had done before,” says Juan-Pablo Torres, CEO of MASA. Yet, as much as Peru is engaged in preparing to fight insurrections or even attacks against the nation’s territorial integrity, the biggest threat of all comes from Mother Nature. Peru is situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the most seismically active areas in the world. Its coastline meets all the conditions that make it especially vulnerable to major disasters, since the more populated regions are within range of a possible tsunami following an earthquake. “It is not a case of whether but when the Big Earthquake will strike,” explains Colonel Ortiz. “Rehearsing for a magnitude 9+ earthquake is one of the most explicit tasks of CETAC.” To that end, CETAC has developed a wide range of scenarios related to public safety, crisis and emergency management, and natural disaster preparedness. The interest in these events is great, all the more so since the recurrence and severity of disasters associated with natural hazards and technology or induced by human activity has become a great con-

Training Technology

Apps and More Apps The US DoD sees unprecedented opportunities in mLearning and mobile technologies.

Chuck Weirauch writes.

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he May 2012 US Department of Defense Mobile Device Strategy document (www. defense.gov/news/dodmobilitystrategy. pdf) sets out the ground rules for the military’s use of hand held devices. Writing in a June 8 memo, DOD CIO Teri Takai states “This strategy is not simply about embracing the newest technology – it is about keeping the DOD workforce relevant in an era when information and cyberspace play a critical role in mission success.” The strategy focuses on three main areas: wireless infrastructure, mobile devices and mobile applications.

And of course, it is at the ‘apps’ where mLearning occurs.

ADL As it has lead the DoD in developing the standards and best practices for distributed, or e-learning courseware, the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative is also working to establish the same for mobile learning, or what has been dubbed mLearning.

Last year, the Initiative published the

Mobile Learning handbook, a resource guide to mobile learning basics, design, development and best practices. Early this year, the mLearning Guide was developed. It can be downloaded in either Apple iOS or Android versions at http:// apps.usa.gov/adl-mlearning-guide. shtml; both were put together by the ADL Mobile Learning Team. According to ADL Initiative Director Kristy Murray, the team is the source of mobile learning expertise for DoD training activities.

While Murray feels that the impact of mLearning will have as much impact overall as e-Learning, she does not view the two approaches as separate; rather, they complement each other. The real value of mobile devices is for job performance aids, she pointed out.

'This is the very best reason for employing a mobile device for training, being able to employ it to recall what was presented in the initial course because the device is with you all the time," Murray emphasized. "So the biggest advantage of mobile learning is that it provides this ubiquitous access to learn-

Above The US Army is developing smartphones for the office and the battlefield as part of the CSDA program.

Image credit: US Army/Todd Lopez.

ing because you can use it anywhere you have access to information right at the point of need," Murray explained. "This is a big deal for both formal and informal learning."

While the jury is still out as to the effectiveness of mobile learning applications, initial studies have shown that students do learn with them, Murray said.

This conclusion is based on the improvements in learning between pre- and post-tests of students who used mobile learning apps, she explained. Students do learn as well on a mobile device as they do in a classroom New US Army Patriot ballistic missile crew’s use seven Apple iOS smartphone mobile applications for initial training that supplement in-classroom and live training.

C2 Technologies of Vienna,VA developed

However, as the DoD Mobile Device Strategy document outlines, much work needs to be done to develop an infrastructure, along with standards, policies and practices and a means to alleviate security concerns, before there will be widespread use of mobile devices to support operations and training. One app developer has referred to the current state of mobile device implementation as the "Wild West".

There is a current lack of standards for the development of apps, with some app training "solutions" being written with little or no input from instructional designers and no clearly established training objective. Also, the current version of the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), considered the "de facto" industry standard for online courseware, was not designed with mobile apps in mind. Security provides separate challenges.

Take, for example, the measures the Joint Knowledge Online (JKO) organization had to perform to address security issues to allow Apple iOS and Android mobile app versions of unclassified online training courses to become available through its network.

To avoid violating DoD security rules, JKO had to develop a process that would route access to these apps through an overseas network hosted by the United Kingdom Advanced Distributed Learning Partnership Lab so as to not have a direct connection with the DoD's NIPRNET secure network. At the same time, the JKO organization also found a way to have course completions registered with the JKO learning management system (LMS). And, according to JKO Program Director Joe Camacho,the mobile apps can accomplish the same learning objectives that were established for the online courseware.

As of August, there are now five such apps ready to be downloaded.

"Everyone says that you can't do mobile because of all of the restrictions that there are within the DoD," said JKO Program Director Joe Camacho. "However, we looked at all of the security requirements and restrictions and figured out away to do it.

There are at least 500 unclassified courses on JKO. I know that this is the future, but I can't afford to convert them to mobile apps without more funding."

The Services Another way to overcome mobile app security issues is to load mobile apps directly onto the mobile devices. This is one of the approaches being taken by the Technology Integration Branch

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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Standards and Security

of the Army's Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM)'s Sustainment Center of Excellence for Mobile (SCoE Mobile) at Fort Lee, VA. This organization has created and distributed more than 70 apps on a wide range of mobile devices, including iPads and Android smartphones for the five Army schoolhouses it supports, as well as other Army organizations.

The SCoE Mobile organization's instructional designers have produced such mobile applications as the DoD Compensation and Benefits Handbook, the Social Media Handbook, the Watercraft Operations, Joint Mortuary Affairs and Explosive Ordnance Disposal, just to name a few. While some apply only to CASCOM supported schoolhouses, others were developed for use for the entire Army. According to Matt McLaughlin, Chief of the CASCOM Technology Integration Branch, the Army is now primarily interested in having his organization produce apps for leadership development.

Because the SCoE Mobile unit has developed a best practices process for app development, approval and distribution, other services, including the Navy's Naval Education Training Command (NETC) has asked for its assistance creating mobile applications. The CASCOM group is also a member of and works with the Army's Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications (CSDA) initiative.

According to John Lasseter, NETC's Distance Learning Project Lead, the Command is developing a number of pilot mobile apps along with other service commands and organizations, such as the Center for Security Forces Crew Served Weapons app. The primary use of this app is for a means to "reach back" to review schoolhouse courseware and serve as a mobile publication reader and as a mobile job aid.

operation, attentiveness

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and/or confusion during

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the iPhone training applications. Patriot missile crew members practicing on iPhone applications are able to rehearse simulated launch station, radar, engagement control, antenna mast, electrical power, missile reloading and maintenance exercises.

The Patriot training apps were created as a part of the Army’s Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications (CSDA) program. The CSDA recently launched the prototype Army Software Marketplace: soldiers can purchase twelve Apple-iOS based mobile training apps online. Once this market place becomes fully implemented, applications for Android and other mobile devices will also be provided.The CDSA prototype is a first step in establishing and exercising new submission and approval processes that will eventually enable Army members, organizations and third-party developers to release applications for Army-wide distribution.

task performance.

www.iscaninc.com

Tel: 781-932-1199 email: info@iscaninc.com

Training Technology

Lasseter also described NETC work with the Naval Postgraduate School to develop a pilot program that incorporates the Sakai Common Collaboration and Learning Environment (CLE) mobile application to enhance mobile learning effectiveness. The Sakai CLE is a free, community source, open source educational software platform employed for teaching, research and collaboration.

The US Air Force has also moved into the mobile app arena, with the launch of its Make-it-Fly app, available through the Apple App Store. This app is designed a recruitment tool, and challenges potential recruits to build and fly their own aircraft via the software. The goal is to inspire an association of science, technology, engineering and math disciplines with the Air Force, with the view that the social media realm is a viable recruiting medium.

Another Air Force mobile phone application developed by the service's Air Education and Training Com-

mand (AETC) is focused on preparing new recruits for basic training, with an emphasis on physical conditioning. This app is available for download from the iTunes Store and the Android Market.

DoD App Store Planned to open on a pilot basis this year is the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)’s DoD App Store. It is intended to operate as a storefront for all US armed services in a manner similar to the Apple App Store or Google's Marketplace. The App Store is a major part of the DoD's mobile device strategy. It will manage delivery of the latest mobile applications and their updates, as well as mobile device configurations for DoD users.

"You're going to see things coming out of my office fast and furious," said Bruce Bennett, DISA's Program Executive Officer for Communications. "Our goal is to have a complete infrastructure up within the next 15 months. And we'll

have usable enterprise mobile capabilities up and running within the next quarter."

Mobile Future One thing that is clear is that the US military and government are going mobile in a big way that is sure to expand the field of mobile learning. The Digital Government: Building a 21st Century Plan to Better Serve the American People digital roadmap strategy document released by the White House in May of this year places a major emphasis on moving towards mobile, stating “New expectations require the Federal Government to be ready to deliver and receive digital information and services anytime, anywhere and on any device."One part of this strategy calls for the creation of a Digital Services Innovation Center and Advisory Group, with one of its initial actions to be the launch of a national shared mobile application development program. ms&t

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A Mobile Defense Language Institute

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According to Steve Koppany, Assistant Provost of the Defense Language Institute's Foreign Language Center's Language Science and Technology Directorate, the Institute has found that mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones can provide learners with the kinds of interactive audio, video and graphics needed to help students achieve adequate language and cultural proficiency. So the organization has been converting "quite a bit" of its current online courseware for mobile use and soon will be developing new materials that target those devices, he said. The new mobile technologies will provide potential learners with the capability to achieve some level of proficiency or maintain or enhance their already achieved proficiency in locations where they are difficult to reach and have a hard time connecting with the Institute's resources, he explained.

"Most of our online courseware development effort in the past was to focus on the PC user. Now we have been looking at ways to make those products useful with mobile devices. Our online Language Survival Kit courses are fairly easy to convert for mobile use, for example. This is part of our effort to provide a broad array of platforms to accomplish learning in both resident and non-resident programs while trying to reach everyone that DLI has not been able to reach before."

While the Language Survival Kit courses are a part of required pre-deployment training, there is currently very limited opportunity to make these courses available to personnel once they are deployed. Providing the courses in an accessible mobile format that can be downloaded to hand-held devices will allow armed service members to refresh their language and basic cultural knowledge wherever they are located.

The DLIFLC is also moving from PCs to iPads and MacBook Pro computers for distribution to faculty and resident students.

This change is a part of the Institute's goal of achieving a com-

pletely paperless environment. Along with an expanded wireless network, the goal here is to provide the greatest mobility for these personnel, allow students a wide variety of sources and improve communication with faculty members. With all textbooks downloaded onboard, the iPad will soon be the "weapon of choice" in the classroom, Koppany said, with the implication that it is possible that these mobile devices could become available to instructors overseas as well.

Another move to make online language and cultural learning courseware available to a wider audience is the DLIFLC's ongoing transition from a dot-mil Internet domain to the dot-edu one that is employed by public educational institutions throughout the world. Currently 30 percent of the Institute is now on the dot-edu network, while the rest of the agency is "working feverishly" to make the full conversion, Koppany said. He was unable to provide a final date as to when the work would be completed.

The Naval Postgraduate School, also located in Monterey, is one of the few military institutions in the dot-edu domain. The School made the dot-edu site available to the DLIFLC through a partnership agreement, According to the DLIFLC, the dotmil domain is too restrictive to make proper use of a language course.

"One of the problems that hindered us in making better use of mobile was the fact that we were on the NIPRNET Department of Defense secure network," Koppany explained."Now that we are transitioning to a dot-edu environment, we are looking at vast improvements in connectivity. We are going to have much greater flexibility and greater opportunities to make use of mobile devices by increasing accessibility and connectivity to our products through this change."

The full range of programs available at DLIFLC can be found at http://www.dliflc.edu

Training Technology

Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Today and Tomorrow Using artificial intelligence to adapt learning to each trainee’s needs, tailoring coaching and saving money. That is the potential for ITS. Bob Pokorny explains.

Above Digital Tutor, which the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency developed for computer network technicians.

Image credit: US Navy/Gary Nichols.

dictable scenarios, followed by reviews which feed subsequent instruction. The Army Learning Concept 2015 embodies this vision and recommends experiential instruction in which remediation adapts to each trainee’s needs. ITS technology provides immersive, complex practice environments in which assessment of trainees’ performance guides individually adapted remediation.

At the recent Training & Simulation Industry Symposium (TSIS) in Orlando, Brian Hicks, director of cross warfare programs at the Naval Aviation Warfare Center Training System Division, said Navy commands will seek to “optimize progress with intelligent tutoring systems. The goal is to use advanced tutor concepts for scalability, repeatability and training – to deploy the technology.”

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mance gains, proving the value of individualized simulation-based training.

The Navy tested ITS in schoolhouses.

The Office of Naval Research developed automated tutors in the late 1990s to support sailors who read below Navy minimum standards. Tests with sailors in basic training and with high school students at risk of dropping out revealed that students with a history of reading difficulty improved their ability by two grade levels (e.g., from 6th to 8th grade) in 40 hours of ITS instruction. More recent examples of proven ITS include physics tutors used at the U.S. Naval Academy, the Digital Tutor, which the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency developed for computer network technicians, and the Tactical Language and Culture Training System, which trains ground forces to effectively communicate with host nation civilians in foreign lands.

ITS technology can address current training delivery goals. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said the military needs training with realistic, complex, and unpre-

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magine having your own personal instructor, who is finely attuned to your needs and progress, and can provide meaningful feedback at the appropriate time. Well, Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) have the potential to provide this kind of learning support; however, that potential may not be easily realized. Currently exotic, Intelligent Tutoring Systems need to become routine.

To meet the military requirements within fiscal constraints and make ITS commonplace, developers need practical, cost efficient and replicable processes for constructing and delivering ITS. Then the business case will emerge for program managers. Currently ITSs are effective but expensive.

The Air Force Research Laboratory demonstrated the promise of ITS in the late 1980s. The Sherlock maintenance tutor trained technicians to troubleshoot faults that were not solved by documented procedures. Thirty-two hours of instruction at technicians’ work sites resulted in four years’ worth of perfor-

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As it stands, scientists and researchers are hand-crafting ITS for each new program, which causes costs to skyrocket. ITS are built individually for specific domains – different skills are best learned in different ways. Some skills that require snap judgments, such as visually recognizing friend or foe (is a jet fighter a MiG-25 or an F-15?), or where to spray a fire retardant, are trained with repeated samples and immediate feedback. Other skills that require deliberation and application of doctrine or principles, such as mission planning, are best taught with in-depth reflection of cases that highlight factors critical for making decisions.

In today’s budget climate, handcrafting each ITS by top flight research scientists cannot be sustained. Winston 'Wink' Bennett, technical advisor for continuous learning and performance assessment research at the AFRL’s Human Effectiveness Directorate, said, "ITS today and tomorrow need to use models that are more easily crafted by subject-matter experts and instructional specialists so that they can be more cost-effective to create, maintain, and update."

ITS can be developed affordably. Alan Lesgold, principal investigator of AFRL’s Sherlock family of tutors, pointed out that while the first generation of instructional components underlying Sherlock cost millions of dollars, subsequent cycles of ITS that trained chip manufacturing technicians in the private sector were developed for less than $100,000.

Costs were reduced as the developers improved the efficiency of their methods.

The future of ITS for the military needs to follow two tracks: one is to use best current practices to build tutors that are practical, cost-efficient and ready now. The second is to improve ITS. This division is similar to the development of planes, ships, and guns. Engineers apply current technology and practices for creating products now while scientists research better capabilities for tomorrow.

Deploying ITS Now For current applications, developers need guidelines that drive the process for efficiently constructing ITS. The guidelines should specify how to collect and structure the information needed for a program’s development. For example, the designer needs to know whether a task

Above Tactical Language and Culture Training System in use by the Marine Corps.

Image credit: USMC/Ruben Maestre.

must be learned so that it can be done in a few seconds, minutes or hours. The guidelines will consist of questions that developers use to efficiently create an ITS. Once the guidelines are established, they will shave analysis and development time – and therefore money – off the development cycle.

Guidelines will assist the development of the two major components of an ITS, the simulation and the coaching. The simulation provides the practice environment. For trainees who maintain equipment, the simulation mimics the equipment maintained and the relevant work environment, including technical documentation. For front-line soldiers, the simulation is the battlefield.

ITS can use existing systems’ simulations in two ways. First, many simulations do not have instruction. These simulations can provide adaptive coaching by adding the ITS coaching component.

Second, when new simulations need to be built, the developers should examine existing simulations as a base for further refinement. For example, a driving simulator for new vehicles could be more easily designed by adapting existing vehicle simulators. Just as traffic engineers can look at current interchanges to design a new interchange, applied tutor develop-

ers should look to previous simulations for insight.

The second component is the instruction. This includes three elements: the expertise that needs to be taught, the “expert model;” the assessment of what the leaner knows and does not know, the “student model;” and the instructional approach, the “pedagogy,” to teach the trainee.

Before delving into these three elements, the developer must have a vision of the end product and its elements. For example, if the remediation only follows one of three paths, the student model need only select one of those three paths; finer diagnosis will not improve remediation. Efficient ITS development requires an integrated view of the elements within the final design.

The expert model can be created by applying the appropriate expert interview techniques. Many techniques have been studied and developed. Selecting an efficient method depends on the specifics of a domain: How accessible are experts?

Who are the best experts? Is there an existing simulation? How much student data is available for review? How complex is the expert’s knowledge? All of these questions are part of the guidelines.

The student model assesses trainee performance, captures trainee capabilities, and guides future remediation. The student model can take many forms and can answer many questions, such as what is a trainee’s present capability, and how does the trainee compare to other performers. Its fundamental purpose within an ITS is to serve as a bridge between the expert’s knowledge and a student’s understanding by informing remediation.

The pedagogy applies current learning science. The guidelines will incorporate both learning principles that are general across domains and those that apply within a domain. Recent general learning principles address how to overcome student misconceptions, and the benefits of engaging students with interactions rather than just laying out the facts.

Currently, neither ITS sponsors nor developers have committed to developing general engineering guidelines for constructing ITS using current technology. The military has begun to collect guidelines and structures for efficient ITS construction. Robert Sottilare, director of the Learning in Intelligent Tutor-

While some developers will carry on the work of deploying practical, affordable systems, other researchers and scientists will proceed with improving future ITS. Research promises to make ITS more sensitive to student needs, and provide greater variety and more powerful instructional methods.

One major target of researchers is the use of physiological measures. EEG recordings, for example, can improve ITS assessment and remediation by discriminating trainees’ thoughts.

Gwendolyn Campbell, senior research psychologist at the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division and her collaborators monitored brainwaves of trainees while they were identifying tanks. Some mistakes were trainees’ intended selections – they truly could not identify the tank. Other mistakes were just slips – trainees realized they had made a mistake. Brainwaves identified when trainees knew they had made a mistake.

By monitoring brainwaves, the ITS will better understand what caused a trainee’s error, and respond accordingly.

Brainwaves and other physiological measures have been used to study emotions and learning. Since students learn better when they are engaged than when they are bored or frustrated, researchers have been investigating how to assess and respond to students’ emotions while learning. Researchers funded by the National Science Foundation have divided the important learning emotions into different categories: engagement, delight, surprise, boredom, frustration and confusion. These can be assessed by brainwaves, but simpler methods are being investigated, including recognizing facial expressions and measuring posture. Once an emotion is known, a tutor can address it.

Researchers also work on integrating Natural Language Processing in ITS. For many skills, trainees need to practice say-

About the Author Bob Pokorny is director of education and training technologies at Intelligent Automation Inc., and has been working on ITS since the mid-1980s.

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ISSUE 5.2012

Developing ITS for the Future

ing the right words to another person. For example, a Forward Air Traffic Controller must convey the right content in the right format. To be maximally effective, the ITS needs to understand what a person is saying. Understanding structured speech, such as from a sailor on Deck Watch or an Air Traffic Controller, is relatively easy, because the statements follow a standard format.

It’s harder if the trainee’s speech is unstructured, such as when a commander is briefing a mission. ITS will be more realistic and effective as natural language processing improves.

As the military builds detailed personnel records of each warfighter’s history and competencies, these data inform what the ITS needs to train. Similarly, performance demonstrated in ITS should be included in trainees’ personnel records, and could factor into assessing a warfighter’s capabilities. Specifying how much data will be stored and how it will be used must be discussed and standardized as long-term personnel records are developed.

Researchers are also applying more powerful artificial intelligence to ITS. Improved artificial intelligence techniques from programs such as DARPA’s Cognitive Agents that Learn and Organize can be used to construct expert models, student models, and potentially generate instructional content.

ITS can improve warfighters’ training and will do so sooner or later. The military needs ITS capabilities to individualize training now. ITS proponents need to engage in both the fun research which improves future ITS and the hard work of fielding them with currently available technology. ms&t

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ing Environments Laboratory at the Army Research Laboratory, Human Research and Research Directorate, has sought collaborators to contribute to Army Research Laboratory’s Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring. Such frameworks need to be developed for currently deployable ITS technology.

Decisions to deploy ITS will require program managers to make the business case that ITS save resources. This decision should be based on analyses that compare ITS with alternative approaches to improving readiness. LCDR Joseph Cohn, division deputy of the human and bioengineered systems at the Office of Naval Research and Dexter Fletcher, a researcher at the Institute for Defense Analysis, recently developed a decision analysis framework that goes beyond assessing a training system’s effectiveness – it integrates assessed effectiveness with economic theory. In addition to reporting Return on Investment, their framework uses Net Present Value to estimate the costs and benefits of implementing a training system over time. When applying Net Present Value to DARPA’s Digital Tutor, the implementation of this program would save the Navy $2B over 12 years.

Critical to any business case is the assessment of training on performance in the field. But field measurements require recording a performer’s actions, and the situations in which those actions are taken. Collecting these data is expensive and difficult. As mobile and video technology enable data to be more easily collected, using field data to assess the effectiveness of different training methods will become feasible. Guidelines for ITS should include not only how to build ITS, but how to assess the benefits of ITS.

Training Technology

Constructive Enhancements This June’s U.S. Army III Corps Warfighter Exercise, helped its training audience move beyond the decade-long Iraq and Afghanistan training paradigm, and unveiled several technology firsts, reports Group Editor Marty Kauchak.

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onstructive simulation remains a vital training tool to prepare staffs, unit leaders and other upper echelon leaders for the rigors of field operations.

This June, more than 5,500 military and civilian personnel from the Army, and other services and organizations, participated in the Army's first corpslevel, full-spectrum unified land operations training exercise in 10 years, at Fort Hood, Texas. The exercise expanded the capabilities envelope for the constructive simulation domain. Senior echelons of a joint training audience rehearsed for missions that are taking the U.S. DoD beyond its decade-long experience of supporting counterinsurgency-centric, stability operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the same time, new technology underpinnings supported a complex and challenging scenario.

The Army is quickly transforming its training programs to support the farreaching tenets of the new DoD military strategy issued this January – in part, through constructive simulation.

The III Corps Warfighter Exercise (WFX) utilized a Caspian Sea scenario.

It offered a variety of terrain and a robust, near-peer opposition force that challenged the training audience across the full range of military operations – offensive, defensive, and stability/civil support. The exercise “emphasized high-intensity as well as asymmetric warfare. It clearly supported the new DoD strategy by allowing the training audience to improve staff skills and functions in a scenario unfamiliar to them. Most importantly, the rigor of the exercise allowed the commander to improve staff processes, work through the decision-making process, and build his team,” Roy J. Whitehead, assistant project manager for Joint Land Component Constructive Training Capability (JLCCTC) production at PEO STRI, told MS&T. Indeed, the scenario play supported missions consistent with the missions the Pentagon expects its forces to increasingly support throughout the warfare domains. While not all of the

Above The III Corps Warfighter Exercise at Fort Hood, Texas, was a computer-driven, simulation-based exercise.

Image credit: U.S. Army/Dave Larsen.

play was supported within the simulation, Whitehead noted as part of the overall exercise-design, cyber operations were conducted by utilizing a Red Team whose mission was to attempt to disrupt operations through the infiltration of networks. “Missile defense was a key training objective that was successfully accomplished. Space operations (and other national assets) were successfully replicated,” he added.

Lockheed Martin’s Warfighters' Simulation (WARSIM) technology was used to train the WFX’s military personnel and civilians.

WARSIM remains part of the Army's Joint Land Component Constructive Training Capability (JLCCTC). The technology has evolved to become a suite of software and hardware that simulates

Technology Enhancements Weitzel also described the more specific technology enhancements of this major constructive simulation event.

For the III Corps exercise, the Army used a training system called the MultiResolution Federation – WARSIM (MRFW), a combination of simulations and models used to help create the training environment for command and staff training.

Lockheed Martin also developed several key technical firsts for this exercise: • Interoperability with the U.S. Air Force

simulation (AWSIM). This capability allowed the Air Force to participate in these large scale exercises using its own simulation. AWSIM increased the realism of the training and allowed the Air Force to use its own validated simulation; • Gateway auto re-connect. This capability improved the availability and stability of the simulation by reducing the impact of DoD network interruptions; • Technical control improvements (Big Green Button). The technical manipulation and control of a system of systems training tool like MRF-W is very complex.

Big Green Button further automated and simplified some of the aspects of technical control, improving the reliability and stability of the system; and • Intelligence collection improvements.

For this version Lockheed Martin further increased the realism of the intelligence information the simulation provided to the analysts and staff, required to analyze the battlefield. This increased realism also provided better situational awareness to the commander and his staff, allowing him to make decisions in a timely manner.

Lockheed Martin subcontractors on WARSIM are: SAIC, a contributor to the

The new online

software team; GDC4S, a provider of subject matter expertise and software development on the intelligence model; Raytheon Virtual Technology Corporation, a provider of JLCCTC systems engineering support and the WARSIM commercialoff-the-shelf technical control tool; and SimSoft Training Systems, which delivers mission command interoperability expertise.

Bright Future for Constructive Simulation PEO STRI’s Whitehead pointed out that constructive simulations remain the most cost-effective way to train commanders and their staffs on the decisionmaking process from brigade to theater level. He continued, “Given potential constraints on resources, simulations (both constructive and virtual) continue to provide opportunities when live training is either too costly or infeasible. With the explosion of information management capabilities over the last decade, constructive simulations remain the best option to produce the kind of rigor necessary to test and exercise those mission command systems in support of commander and staff training.” ms&t

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the complex interactions of the battlefield. The system integrates ground, air, ballistic missile and intelligence models with mission command systems to provide a realistic training environment.

The WFX scenario included more than 130,000 simulated organizations replicating the actions of coalition forces, the civilian population and opposing forces during the full range of military operations - the largest scenario incorporated into WARSIM to date, according to Jim Weitzel, vice president of training solutions for Lockheed Martin's Global Training and Logistics business.

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Conference Report

Mr. Dustin Clingman, CEO of ZeeGee Games, talks about game design for education.

Image credit: US DoD/ADL.

2012 ADL iFest Developing human capital through distributed learning. iFest explores the issues. Chuck Weirauch reports.

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eld on July 31 – August 2 in Orlando, this year's event drew a smaller crowd than in past events; however, the smaller crowd still received a good overview of the technologies and methodologies that are advancing ADL beyond e-learning and into more on-demand, individualized learning approaches in the near future.

Intelligent tutors, the next generation of SCORM, mobile learning and providing support for the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) initiative were just some of the major topics at the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative's 2012 iFest. Other topics included game design, virtual worlds and future learning technologies.

Keynote speaker Frank DiGiovanni, the Director of Training Readiness and Strategy for the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, told the ADL audience that the development of human capital, not an emphasis on technological advances, is the key to providing US forces the key advantage to success in the 21st century.

"What we really have not focused on enough is the development of the mental capacity of our service members, including the combat decision-making," DiGiovanni said. "This is about adaptive education and training, and how we institutionalize our lessons learned into education and training."

Kristy Murray, Director of the ADL Initiative, described the progress of the ADL effort by informing the audience that US forces combined had completed more than 17 million online courses in fiscal year 2011. She also provided an overview of one of the organization's future learning tools, the Personal Assistant for Learning (PAL). The intelligent tutorbased PAL currently under research and development will provide a persistent capability for learners to access effective, personalized learning content and job performance aids via links to several learning environments, including virtual worlds, games and simulations.

Murray's presentation also highlighted mobile learning research and development, another major focus for

the ADL Initiative. One newly developed tool is the Mobile Application to Supplemental Learning Objects (MASLO). This software program is designed to make it easier to create mobile learning content as a publishing system. She also outlined the recently updated ADL Mobile Learning Guide.

LCdr Remi Trembly of the Canadian Defense Academy and the Canadian ADL Partnership Lab provided insights into how his agency is providing direction for the Canadian Forces modernization of its Individual Training and Education (IT&E) system, with an emphasis on distributed and mobile learning courseware. Some of the elements of the redesign are a Mobile Strategy, virtual worlds, intelligent agents and augmented reality, Trembly explained.

The show's focus on intelligent tutoring provided a look at how this technology might be applied to the PAL concept, with experts in the field providing an overview of the state of the art.

JD Fletcher of the Institute of Defense Analysis provided an example that showed how the Defense Advanced Research Programs Agency (DARPA)'s Digital Tutor reduced training costs in schoolhouses over traditional learning methodologies by more than $1 billion over time while providing more effective training.

Jonathan Poltrack, the lead for the ADL Initiative’s Technical Team, pointed out the need for the next generation of SCORM. One problem with the current SCORM is that it cannot launch and track mobile applications, track informal or self-guided learning courseware and a number of other such problems, Poltrack explained. He showcased a demonstration of the new ADL Training & Learning Architecture (TLA) that will incorporate and improve the global SCORM standard and move to addressing the current issues. The first project under the TLA umbrella is the Experience API, a new way to track learners’ progress using popular social web technologies.

The White House and DoD effort focused on improving STEM education

Left Keynote speaker Mr. Frank DiGiovanni addresses the audience.

Image credit: US DoD/ADL.

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Matt McLaughlin, Chief of the Combined Arms Support Command's Technology Integration Branch, told how his organization has become one of the leading developers and providers of mobile apps for the DoD. John Lassiter, lead for the Navy's Naval Education and Training Command (NETC)'s Mobile Technology Initiative, gave the audience a look at how

the Navy is integrating mobile apps to enhance its distributed learning courseware.

The research and development of future learning was also one of the themes at the 2012 iFest. Rich Dininni of the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) described that institution's work to create more lifelike virtual humans to provide a more realistic immersive learning experience for students and users. This technology will be employed for medical education and training, as well as other applications. He also announced that the ICT is about to launch a Portable 3D Immersive Environment that is based on an iPhone and features an inexpensive attachment that can provide students with a 360-degree field of view of a synthetic environment for training.

The 2012 iFest proceedings are available at www.adlnet.org/ifest-2012. ms&t

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was also an area of considerable discussion at the 2012 iFest. DiGiovanni moderated a STEM panel made up of Marilee Fitzgerald, Director of the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA); Randy Shumaker, Director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Simulation and Training (IST) and Steve Midgley, a Senior Advisor for the US Department of Education. Some areas for discussion were how to harness intelligent tutors and the latest in ADL technologies and methodologies to enhance the STEM effort.

Mobile learning, or mLearning as it is often referred to, was a major theme for iFest 2012. Jason Haag, ADL Mobile Learning Team Lead, provided an overview of the latest apps and other courseware being developed by the US military.

Joe Camacho, Program Director of the Joint and Coalition Warfighting Office's Joint Knowledge Online (JKO) organization, told the iFest audience that mobile has been one of JKO's primary goals. He outlined how his organization has overcome security restrictions, a major issue for mobile applications, and has just made the first DoD approved mobile apps available via its online portal.

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Show Report

The Simulation Showcase was placed in a highly prominent position.

Image credit: Elke Ullrich.

Eurosatory MS&T’s Europe Editor Walter F Ullrich visited the Simulation Showcase at the world's largest defence exhibition.

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he 2012 edition of Eurosatory, which was held at the Villepinte Exhibition Centre on the outskirts of Paris from 11 to 15 June, attracted a total of 53,480 mostly international visitors and 152 official delegations from 84 countries. A total of 1,432 exhibitors – 8% more than in 2010 – from 53 countries set up stands on the exhibition area that covered 163,523m². Despite the difficult economic environment, Eurosatory once again pulled off a strong performance, as defence and security remains a dynamic sector.

Although 240 exhibitors (17% of all those attending) claimed to have it in their portfolio, Simulation & Training only played a minor role at Eurosatory. It was barely noticeable outside the specifically designated Simulation Showcase. That was the key reason why 36 companies specialising in simulation to set up their booths in a cluster that was placed in a highly visible and prominent position.

No big simulation news can be expected at an event like Eurosatory.

One is more likely to come across French companies that do not show up at other events held abroad, such as Ayotle, a provider of computer vision software, Gavap, a company specialising in simulation systems and equipment for firing instruction and training, or the VR specialist Laster Technologies. In fact, one

good reason to go to Eurosatory is to learn more about the French military’s involvement in ongoing simulation and training programmes, and to see how the military and industry interact.

As always, there were some interesting conferences held in parallel to Eurosatory. This year’s Military Simulation Symposium was combined with the annual Symposium on Simulation for Defence (SimDef). The combined symposium was supported by ADIS, the French Defence Simulation Alliance, which comprises the French Army, the DGA, as well as defence and M&S industries.

Major speakers included Brigadier Gen-

Exhibitors S&T companies exhibiting in the Simulation Cluster: Agenium; Alyotech Technologies; Antycip Simulation AS; Ayotle; Bionatics; Boston, C2AIR (CATOD); CAE; CASPOA; CMI Defence France; CS Communication & Systemes; Diginext; EADS GDI Simulation; Gavap; Genesis Acoustics; Geosystems France; Global Media Applications Ltd.; Griffon (CATOD); Groupe ADIS; GTIA (CATOD); Halldale Media; HPC Project; ITEC; Laster Technologies; Magellium; MASA Group; NTSA; Pitch Technologies France; Presagis; Quantum3D; Robocortex; Scrome; Silkan; Sterela; Studec; Virtualsim SARL.

eral Pierre Chavancy, French Joint Staff, and the Engineer Generals Dominique Luzeaux and Alain Dohet from DGA, the French procurement agency.

The symposium examined the topic of “Simulation, a Key Enabler for Operations”. In actual fact, SimDef dealt with very current topics, such as lessons learned from the use of simulation during Operation HARMATTAN in Libya, simulation in urban terrain, and how simulation is used to train the Paris Fire Brigade.

Unlike past years, a number of foreign nations took part in the symposium this time. Colonel Walter Wiesner from the German Bundeswehr Transformation Centre and Colonel Guillermo Ortiz from the Computerized Tactical Training Centre of the Peruvian Army gave speeches on “Simulation among NATO Nations and Partners”, as did representatives from the UK (Navy – Maritime Composite Warfare Training System), US SOCOM, NATO and ETSA. “Since Eurosatory is not an expertonly event, but mainly targets operational international users, the Simulation & Training Cluster this year focused on the operational use of simulation: C4I training, embedded simulation, dismounted infantry training,” commented Emmanuel Chiva from Silkan (former HPC Project), who has been managing the Simulation Village/Innovation Showcase since 2008. For him, pooling SimDef with the Military Simulation Symposium was very smart decision.

The organisers were also very satisfied with the S&T showcase; stretching over more than 1800m² exclusively dedicated to simulation and training. Hundreds of visitors increasingly often come to Paris just for this simulation event, testifying that military trade fairs like Eurosatory have become important venues for promoting simulation and training. In terms of figures, there were around 100 S&T providers more at Eurosatory than at ITEC. Nonetheless, Eurosatory is not something ITEC need be afraid of, as the objectives of the two events are just too different.

Next Eurosatory will be held 16-20 June 2014. ms&t

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.

Air Force

based training system assets and an extensive logistics support and maintenance package.

The PC-21 will support the training of the QEAF's young aviators in the newly established Air Force Academy in Qatar.

The QEAF Air Academy will receive their first aircraft in the middle of 2014 and training will start mid-2015. Operations will be directly supported by Pilatus under a long-term performance based support contract.

EASA Design Organization Certificate – Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. (TAI), has been awarded by EASA the "Design Organization Certificate" for its trainer aircraft "HÜRKUS".

TAI applied to EASA in 2007 for Design Organization Certification, which certified that the aircraft design process was performed within the approved regulations and standards.

Since then, TAI has successfully passed all the audits that were performed by the specialists of the European and Turkish authorities, EASA and SHGM, and was awarded the privilege to design

Above TAI's HÜRKUS training aircraft.

Image credit: Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc.

an aircraft complying with international safety regulations. This authorization is the first of its kind to have been awarded to Turkey.

The certificate confirms that TAI complies with the international standards starting from concept phase to the flight tests until the type certification.

Advanced Trainer Aircraft – Alenia Aermacchi has signed a contract with the Israeli Ministry of Defence to supply 30 M-346 advanced trainer aircraft. The deal is part of a larger government-togovernment agreement between Israel and Italy that includes aircraft, engines, maintenance, logistics, simulators and training provided by other Israeli and international companies.

The new aircraft will replace the A-4 Skyhawks currently in service. Delivery of the first M-346 is expected in the middle of 2014.

ISSUE 5.2012

Training Centre – Saab is investing in an advanced training centre for experienced fighter pilots, initially from Gripen countries and its user air forces, at Air Force Base Overberg in South Africa.

The Gripen Fighter Weapon School is an initiative from Saab in co-operation with the Gripen Air Forces user group. It will hone the fighting skills of experienced Gripen pilots from all over the world, and the course will be run during the South African summer that offers favourable meteorological conditions. The training will focus on different multirole aspects every year and the advanced airborne exercises will be mixed with academia and survival training in an African continent. Supporting Gripen customers in Sweden, South Africa, Hungary, Czechia and Thailand, the first course is scheduled to take place in late 2013.

ATC for Royal Saudi Air Force – BAE Systems has awarded Micro Nav Ltd. a contract to supply the BEST Tower and radar Air Traffic Control (ATC) simulator for the Royal Saudi Air Force. The first simulator system will be ready for training in October 2013 with all deliveries completed by August 2014.

The flexibility of the BEST ATC simulator allows the user to design exercises that support differing levels of training from ab-initio training through rating and validation, as well as conversion and refresher training.

Micro Nav have also secured a software support contract with BAE Systems until the end of 2016.

Pilatus PC-21 Training System – The Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) has awarded a contract to Pilatus for the procurement of a complete PC-21 Training System, consisting of a fleet of 24 PC-21 trainer aircraft, a suite of ground

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World News & Analysis

Seen&Heard

World News & Analysis ISSUE 5.2012 MS&T MAGAZINE

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F-35 Pilot Training – Luke Air Force Base has been chosen as the location of the US Air Force's F-35A Lightning II pilot training center. The base will also serve as an F-35A International Partner Training site and will receive 72 aircraft for a total of three fighter squadrons.

Aircraft will begin to arrive at Luke AFB between late 2013 to mid-2014, although exact timing will depend on production schedules. Construction on base to prepare for the aircraft is expected to start almost immediately.

M-346 Advanced Trainer – The first M-346 advanced trainer for the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) has been rolled out in a ceremony held at Alenia Aermacchi's plant in Venegono Superiore, Italy.

In September 2010, ST Aerospace, as the prime contractor, teaming with Alenia Aermacchi and The Boeing Company, was awarded a contract to supply 12 M-346 aircraft and ground based training system for the RSAF's Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) programme.

The rollout follows the obtaining of the type certificate and the first flight made by this aircraft in July 2012. The delivery of the first M-346 is scheduled for the end of 2012.

Air Force One Training – Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. through its Atlas Air, Inc. unit, has won a US Air Force contract to train the aircrews of Air Force One. Under the five-year contract, crews for Air Force One will receive ground and flight-simulator training at Atlas Air's training center in Miami, Florida.

Cirrus Aircraft – Cassidian Aviation Training Services (CATS) has chosen a fleet of Cirrus SR20s and SR22s for training France's Air Force and Navy pilots. A fleet of 13 Cirrus SR20s will be dedicated for training pilots at French Air Force Base Salon de Provence and seven Cirrus SR22s will be dedicated to training flights of navigating officers arm systems (NOSA) and liaison flights, in particular to accompany the French Air Force's aerobatic team. An additional fleet of three Cirrus SR20s will be dedicated to the students of the Ecole Navale at French Naval Air Station Lanveoc Poulmic. CATS will be in charge of maintenance and airworthiness of all fleets.

Future Trainer Program – Elbit Systems Ltd. has announced that TOR - Advanced Flight Training, its partner-

Above The roll-out ceremony for first RSAF M-346.

Image credit: Alenia Aermacchi.

ship with Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI), established in order to perform the Israeli Air Forces' (IAF) future trainer program, has reached an agreement with the Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) regarding a contract in a total amount of approximately $603 million.

In order to facilitate meeting the project's schedule, TOR received an interim purchase order and financing from IMOD, valued at approximately $27 million.

In the establishment phase of the project, Elbit Systems will establish an enhanced logistic support and maintenance infrastructure for the new trainer as well as an advanced ground training array. The new, advanced avionics systems to be supplied by Elbit Systems will improve the readiness of the IAF's pilots in operating next-generation aircraft.

During the operational phase of the project, Elbit Systems will provide logistics services for the trainer and the new aircraft array, valued at approximately $310 million, to be performed over approximately twenty years.

Army Live Training Contract – Saab Training USA has received a $14.4 million order for three exercised options of the Live Training Transformation Interim Range System (LT2-IRS) contract by the US Army Program Executive Office of

Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI).

Saab Training USA will produce and field three more range systems in 2013 at Fort Campbell and Fort Drum and an Exportable Training Capability (ETC) system that deploys to different training sites. Under the contract, Saab Training USA is fielding communication network systems with more than 5,000 radios to enable soldiers to engage in instrumented force on force training at the home stations.

Driving Simulators – FAAC Inc. has received a $6.1 million contract to supply its Military Operator Driving Simulators (ODS) to the US Army National Guard (ARNG). Eight trailer systems will be delivered to National Guard locations in Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, South Dakota, and Nevada. Each trailer will include two driving simulators capable of training operators of the M915, M939, FMTV, HEMTT, PLS, HET, M1114 HMMWV, MRAP Cougar and MRAP-All Terrain (M-ATV) vehicles.

Avionics Aeroskills Graduation – Aviation Australia has celebrated the completion of a 12-month Avionics Aeroskills training program for the Saudi Arabia National Guard (SANG). The group of 15 students commenced the program in July 2011 at Aviation Australia's Brisbane campus, following an initial English Language training program.

"The SANG training program is an ongoing initiative and a joint effort between Aviation Australia and Specialised Training Australia (STA) to provide

and training programs. The development will include an array of naval and air entity 3D models ranging from helicopters and fighters to ships and submarines and a handful of ground vehicles.

Simthetiq will include specific feature and options within each vehicle model, adding to the level of realism and functionality. Standard features (available with all Simthetiq models include multiple levels of detail, authentic texture schemes, precise material codes, distinct damage states and accurate thermal signatures. The addition of navigational, formation and obstruction light points will enhance day and night training scenario capabilities.

Above Rocketbox customizable 3D character.

Image credit: Rocketbox Studios.

C/KC-130T Operational Flight Trainer (OFT) undergoes major upgrades.

Product Announcements Navy Simulator Upgrades – The Marine Corps Reserve’s KC-130T aircrew procedures trainer at US Naval Air Station Fort Worth JRB is ready for training after undergoing upgrades to its visual system, reflective memory interface boards and night vision capabilities. The improvements, coordinated in conjunction with Naval Aviation Training Systems Program Office, Patuxent River; Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida; and prime contractor Aviation Simulation (AVT), also added 70 new databases consisting of runways and geographical information from across the country, to include the Fort Worth area.

The aircrew procedures trainer is one of two simulators available to Navy and Marine Corps Reserve students at NAS Fort Worth JRB. It is primarily used by the Marines but will be available to Navy Reserve students later this fall when their

3D Characters – Rocketbox has released a new prefab 3D character library that features customizable 3D models of soldiers and combat animations. The company has also released a special animation package, consisting of a large set of moves for combat situations, usable with all HD characters from Rocketbox Libraries. One of the key features of the soldier 3D models is the customizability of their textures and meshes, with various camouflage patterns, dirt and injury layers, removable equipment etc. A wide collection of facial expressions including emotions and phonemes for lip-synched speech are also delivered with each HD character model.

3D Military Models – Simthetiq has been awarded a contract by Sogitec Industries to develop military and civilian real-time 3D models for the French Army and Navy NH90 Helicopter full flight simulator (FFS) medium-range training devices (MRTD) and for future simulation

JTAC Simulator Accreditation – MetaVR, Inc.’s Joint Terminal Attack Control (JTAC) simulation system, developed jointly with Battlespace Simulations (BSI), has been granted accreditation by the United States Joint Fire Support Executive Steering Committee for JTAC training. The system is accredited to replace live controls (types 1, 2, 3) for day and night, and for laser target designation with simulated military laser – in accordance with the JTAC Memorandum of Agreement. Type 1 accreditation requires either a head-mounted display (HMD) or a 220+ degree FOV dome display. This JTAC training system is comprised of BSI's Modern Air Combat Environment (MACE) scenario/entity generator and MetaVR’s Virtual Reality Scene Generator (VRSG).

Instructor Training – Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) has installed a Helicrew simulator at Australia’s Oakey Army Aviation Training Centre to enhance the capabilities of BDA flight instructors.

The Helicrew, which is designed to replicate the Bell 206B-1 Kiowa, allows BDA Qualified Flying Instructors to hone and test their training procedures through a variety of simulated situations.

Missile Threat Simulation – MBDA Germany has supplied a missile threat simulation tool to the German Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB). The system enables the simulation of all types of missiles, particularly ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, with physical correctness and in great detail – from launch to impact.

Using this technology, technical

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Training Devices & Services

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high quality and internationally recognised aviation training to the foreign market, as well as to foster diplomatic relationships amongst the two nations," said Bill Horrocks, CEO of Aviation Australia.

MAST Trainers – AAI Test & Training has delivered 51 Man-Portable Aircraft Survivability Trainer (MAST) systems to the US Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI). These low-rate initial production (LRIP) units were delivered under the Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Omnibus Contract II. Aircrews use MAST to assess their responses to surface-to-air threats during live training exercises. MAST replicates significant launch characteristics associated with an infrared Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) using a light-emitting diode ultraviolet emitter threat simulator.

MAST can interface with a Weapon Effects Simulation System to emulate the visual launch signature of a MANPADS and signify the location where the MAST was fired. Interoperable with aircraft instrumentation systems such as the Multiple Integrated Laser System, the MAST system enables force-on-force and force-on-target training at Maneuver Combat Training Centers and aviation unit home stations.

World News & Analysis ISSUE 5.2012 MS&T MAGAZINE

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propositions regarding threats can be organised, narrowed and formulated with greater precision and threats to nations or to troops on deployment from proliferating theatre ballistic, short-range and medium-range missiles (TBMs) can be analysed.

SEAHAWK Training Support – CAE USA has selected IFAD as a preferred provider of training support services, and the two companies have signed a conditional Letter of Intent. If Denmark selects the MH-60R Seahawk helicopter, a future contract would make IFAD responsible for delivering a range of training support services in the training of Danish pilots and crews and would help the company develop its Defense training business.

CAE USA would furnish the necessary education and training of IFAD to establish the required in-country training support services capabilities, including simulator maintenance and contractor logistics support.

CBRN Simulation – Argon Electronics has delivered an advanced CBRN simulation system to the Irish Defence Forces.

Designed to provide a comprehensive CBRN exercise capability, the new order included Argon’s PlumeSIM system with military and civil radiological simulators for the RDS100-SIM Beta/Gamma and Alpha simulation probes; plus the RDS200 survey simulator, GPM11-SIM simulator probes and EPD-Mk2-SIM dosimeter simulators to permit comprehensive radiological survey, contamination and dosimetry training. The Argon systems will be used to train military CBRN teams and civil first responders during joint and individual exercises.

Contracts – CAE has won a series of military contracts worth more than C$55 million.

A C295 FFS will be designed and manufactured for the Royal Air Force of Oman. This will be the third C295 FFS CAE will develop through a strategic cooperation agreement with Airbus Military where CAE is the preferred provider of simulation and training systems for C295 aircraft programs worldwide. The RAFO recently ordered eight C295 aircraft for tactical transport and maritime patrol scheduled to be delivered in 2014.

BAE Systems has awarded CAE a five-year contract to provide maintenance and support services for India's Hawk synthetic training equipment.

CAE India will provide on-site mainte-

Above Royal Navy Lynx Mk8 full-mission simulator.

Image credit: CAE.

nance and support services at Indian Air Force Base Bidar, which has a Hawk flight training device, two Hawk cockpit procedures trainers and a Hawk avionics part-task trainer.

The UK Ministry of Defence awarded CAE contracts to perform major visual system and additional upgrades on the Royal Navy's Lynx Mk8 full-mission simulator as well as the RAF’s C-130J dynamic mission simulators.

As part of the RAF C-130J Hercules Synthetic Training Equipment upgrade program, CAE will replace the current visual systems on two C-130J dynamic mission simulators with the CAE Medallion-6000 image generator. CAE will also upgrade the visual system on the Royal Navy's Lynx Mk8 full-mission simulator located at Royal Navy Air Station Yeovilton with the CAE Medallion-6000 visual system.

Simulation Platform – SimiGon has signed a substantial contract to provide a South American country's armed forces with its SIMbox training and simulation technology platform.

SIMbox will be the baseline training technology used by its local partner, a newly formed government-owned company dedicated to the development of training and simulation systems.

This initial contract marks the first time a country's armed forces has cho-

sen SIMbox as the training system to be deployed across its entire armed services. The contract is expected to commence immediately, with delivery of hardware and training on the SIMbox system in the coming months and completion in early 2013.

Immersive Simulators – Fidelity Technologies Corporation has been selected by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the provider of three fully immersive simulators for training Joint Fires and Joint Terminal Attack Control.

The UAE PG Joint Terminal Attack Controller system will pair the first ever integration of Fidelity’s Fidelity Extreme (FidEX) product line and its customized training modules, with FidViewEX, its enhanced image generator. The UAE PG’s JTAC simulator falls under the FidEX product line’s Integrated Training Solutions package, combining part task training modules with immersive training systems to provide the warfighter with product line supportable solutions that evolve as training requirements change.

ADMS Training – Environmental Tectonics Corporation's (ETC) Simulation Division is to supply a Special Forces Organization in Asia with an Advanced Disaster Management Simulator (ADMS™).

The simulator is designed to facilitate realistic, multi-level command and control training. Individual rooms will be outfitted with simulation training systems specifically designed for the level of command participation, including field

Virtual Engine iOS App – The DiSTI Corporation has released the Virtual Engine app for the iPad. It features an immersive and highly interactive 3D maintenance training environment giving the user a spatial awareness of job procedures. Created with DiSTI’s GL Studio ES, the app includes a fully interactive 3D model of the Cummins 855 Diesel Engine, a list of job procedures with the ability to perform each one through simple touch gestures, and a color coding feature to clearly identify physical constraints when moving parts during a lesson. The app also provides a view of the parts table, allowing the user to closely inspect removed parts.

Maintenance Software – NGRAIN®, a provider of interactive 3D simulation software and solutions for maintenance training and support, has delivered its Virtual Damage Repair and Tracking™ software to Lockheed Martin for F-22

The signing of the MOU between AgustaWestland and Firstec Image credit: AgustaWestland.

maintenance. The interactive maintenance and repair tracking solution will be deployed on the US Air Force F-22 fleet in September, 2012.

Based on NGRAIN’s volume graphics technology, the solution allows aircraft maintainers to quickly and accurately capture damage information on a detailed digital exterior representation of the F-35 aircraft, and store and access that data on Lockheed Martin’s proprietary back-end logistical system.

Ventures & Partnerships Partnership Agreements – AgustaWestland has signed partnership agreements with Firstec Co. Ltd., and Dodaam Systems Co. Ltd. Both companies are committed to offering the highest level of support services to military in the Republic of Korea. The signing of the MOU’s is the first step in providing dedicated service and training centres for military helicopters in Korea. Geoff Hoon, AgustaWestland’s managing director for International Business said “the MOU’s covering integrated logistics support and training services provide opportunities for AgustaWestland to deliver enhanced through life support to operators such as the ROK Navy.”

Investment – The Government of Canada is investing in flight simulation tech-

ISSUE 5.2012

Maintenance

Above

nologies to support the effective training and preparation of Canadian Forces personnel with a contract for simulation technical investigation and engineering services (SIM TIES) awarded to CAE Inc.’s Professional Services division in Ottawa. The contract covers support for experiments, mission rehearsals, demonstrations, exercises, as well as operational and maintenance training.

The initial three-year contract carries a value of $22.6 million, and includes two one-year extension options worth $8.47 million each. Exercising both extension options would result in the ultimate ceiling value of $39.55 million over five years.

In addition to mission training, SIM TIES may support existing simulation infrastructure, the generation of learning content, and assessment of simulation practices’ effectiveness.

The Canadian Forces’ Canadian Advanced Synthetic Environment (CASE) project, a key part of the Canadian Forces’ efforts to modernize its training methods, will be a majority user of the contracted services, as it develops a nationwide network of simulationbased synthetic environments for mission rehearsal, tactics training, and force development.

Night Vision Advisory Council – In August, in response to an open invitation to industry, a group of Night Vision Goggle (NVG) industry professionals convened in Dallas, Texas. Hosted by FlightSafety International, the purpose of the meeting was to develop a council of NVG subject matter experts to provide recommendations on safety, education, standardization, and other issues pertinent to the NVG industry.

These recommendations will be provided to government entities to include the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other entities engaged in night vision oversight.

The formation of the Night Vision Advisory Council (NVAC) is in response to an FAA request at NightCon 2011 for industry specific night vision recommendations. The NVAC will function as a tier-based, industry driven council.

The NVAC is divided into seven industry segments to include: Air Medical/135, A/C Integrators/Maintainers/145, Firefighting/133/137, Law Enforcement/91/ Public Aircraft, Maintenance (NVGs) 145/43, OEM (NVG), STC Holders/ PMA/21, and Training 61/141/142.

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units, incident command, and command post levels. ETC will develop multiple customized safety and security operation scenarios, including hostage situations, VIP convoy, public order, active shooters and CBRNE incidents.

Helicopter Flying Training – FB Heliservices has been awarded a two year contract to provide helicopter flying training to the Albanian Ministry of Defence. A series of courses on multiengine type conversion, glass cockpit familiarisation, instrument flying and Search and Rescue will be provided to 12 Albanian Air Force pilots and SAR training to four helicopter crew members.

Training will be delivered on a combination of the FB Heliservices Agusta A109 and Bell 412 HAR2 aircraft. This contract is the first between the Albanian Ministry of Defence and a British company.

Contract Extension – FAAC Incorporated has received a contract modification from the US Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training & Instrumentation (PEO STRI) exercising options on its Boom Operator Simulator System (BOSS) contract, increasing the contract funding to $22.9 million. The exercised options include 16 production units, a demonstrator retrofit and the initial 12 months of Contractor Logistical Support.

World News & Analysis

NVAC is now seeking additional members with a desire to aid in shaping the future of the night vision industry.

Collaboration – The US Joint Forces Command's (USJFCOM) Joint Training Directorate/Joint Warfighting Center (J7) will partner with the NATO Modelling and Simulation (M&S) Centre of Excellence (COE) in Rome. According to Col. Francesco Mastrorosa, Director of the COE, a US American will become Deputy Director of the centre.

"Within the NATO M&S community, there is significantly more work to do than there are available resources," said Wayne Buck, an M&S analyst from NATO's Allied Command Transformation (ACT). "ACT is keen to have the NATO M&S COE in Rome as a fully participating and contributing partner in the M&S community."

In July 2012, the North Atlantic Council accredited the NATO M&S COE as the 17th NATO Centre of Excellence.

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Training Centres

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MBDA Simulation Centre – MBDA Germany, the leading missile systems company in Germany, has opened a new simulation and integration centre for air defence systems at its Schrobenhausen site. The building offers a modern infrastructure and sufficient space for integrating large end items such as radar systems, launchers and command posts, and for installation in vehicles. It also houses a new simulation centre enabling, amongst other things, the simulation of air defence scenarios. The hall is a key part of the air defence centre of excellence. In addition to the new simulation and integration centre, the company's facilities also comprise the test centre in Freinhausen and the laser weapons test facility.

Addressing Operational Needs – The new Bluedrop Training and Simulation Centre (BTSC) has been opened in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is designed to host and develop some of the world's most advanced training and simulation technologies to address the operational and maintenance needs in civil and military aviation.

The BTSC is a training technology collaboration centre strongly supported from the Government of Nova Scotia and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. The facility will be a hub for

other industry suppliers, partners and government agencies to provide globally advanced capabilities based in the Atlantic Region that will be exported worldwide.

Visual Systems NVG Projector – Designed for use with the industry’s leading Night Vision Goggles (NVG), the FS33 IR infrared ReaLED™ projector from projectiondesign® is now shipping. The second generation LED projector offers brighter and more realistic illumination levels for day and nighttime vision, 24/7 operation and 100,000 hours of typical service life.

The second generation solid-state ReaLED illumination engine used in the FS33 IR projector offers users 50 percent more light than other LED projectors, enhancing eye-limiting resolution and the projector’s optics increase eye-limiting resolution. Even in pitch black, it’s possible to locate light points from various light sources in the image due to its 0-100% light adjustments on the visual RGB display device.

A fully scalable and systems compatible projector, the FS33 IR is available in HD (1,920 x 1,080) or WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200) resolutions. ms&t

Index of Ads CAE www.cae.com OBC Forth Dimension Displays www.forthdd.com 9 I/ITSEC www.iitsec.org IBC ISCAN www.iscaninc.com 19 ITEC 6 www.itec.co.uk L-3 Link Simulation & Training 4 www.L-3com.com Laser Shot www.lasershot.com 17 MS&T Magazine www.halldale.com/mst 14 RAeS Conference www.aerosociety.com/events 23 Raydon www.raydon.com IFC RGB Spectrum www.rgb.com 13 SAAB www.saabgroup.com 3 Simulation & Training Directory 25 www.halldale.com/directory T3 – Low-Cost Training Trends & Tech. Seminar www.t3web.org 27

Calendar Simulation & Training Events Organised by Halldale Media 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 17-18 September 2013 APATS 2013 – Asia Pacific Airline Training Symposium Bangkok Thailand www.halldale.com/APATS

Simulation and Training Events MS&T Magazine: Supporting Media 28-31 October 2012 2012 Conference on Defense and Military Modeling & Simulation San Diego, California, USA www.scs.org 30 October 2012 3rd Low-cost Training Trends & Technology (T3) Westminster Conference Centre, London, UK www.t3web.org 28-29 November 2012 Autumn Flight Simulation Conference London, UK www.aerosociety.com 3-6 December 2012 I/ITSEC Orlando, Florida, USA www.iitsec.org

Advertising contacts Director of Sales & Marketing: Jeremy Humphreys [t] +44 (0)1252 532009 [e] jeremy@halldale.com Sales Representative, USA (West): Pat Walker [t] 415 387 7593 [e] pat@halldale.com Sales Representative, USA (East) & Canada: Justin Grooms [t] 407 322 5605 [e] justin@halldale.com

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technology leadership It’s true… no company invests more in research and development and innovation specific to modeling and simulation than CAE. And this investment means the company is at the forefront of simulation technology leadership, ensuring quality and concurrency in the training devices used throughout a training program.

We have delivered more than 500 Level D simulators – the benchmark for quality and fidelity – which is more than any other company. We have developed the “first” simulator for more than 40 aircraft types, so we know about working closely with an aircraft OEM to ensure training system concurrency during development. Simulation technologies such as electric motion, visual and display systems, and distributed mission operations training capabilities are second nature to CAE. Our manufacturing processes and capacity help ensure we deliver proven training technology to reduce cost and risk.

The USAF’s new multi-mission KC-46 tanker is based on proven commercial platforms that offer the latest technologies. For the KC-46 Aircrew Training System, trust a company who is a simulation and training technology leader to deliver the proven, high-quality training systems required.

Trust CAE USA to be your simulation technology partner.

CAE is a world-class aircrew training system provider for tanker aircraft, offering expert instructors, high-fidelity aircrew training devices, and comprehensive training services.

cae.com/tanker