MS&T Magazine - Issue 5 2014

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Volume 31 • Issue 5.2014

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Critical Thinking and Change C

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Matching Training and New Strategies YEARS

Language and Culture

Gearing Up for the Pacific Pivot LEBR

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The Army Aviation Centre at Middle Wallop 1984 – 2014

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Not just real, The Dog Days of Summer crazy real ISSUE 5.2014

Summer is receding in the northern hemisphere, and temperatures have not been particularly warm; however, it has been boiling hot from a global security perspective. Alarming developments in Europe and the Middle East prove once again the folly of believing that security threats can be accurately predicted, or mitigations always effectively planned. Last summer there was obsession with defence budget reductions and sequestration in the US, while this summer the narrative seems to be less about money and more about doing what is necessary to defeat a host of new and re-emergent threats.

Russian incursion into Ukraine, the downing of a passenger aircraft by so-called “rebels”, a new cycle of Israeli-Palestinian warfare, Islamic State terrorist activities in Iraq, and now renewed concern about home-grown “Western” citizens participating in terrorism and then returning “home.” The list is long, the issues enormously complex, the threat often ambiguous, and the dynamics changing daily.

Former British Prime Minister (1957-63), Harold Macmillan was once asked to describe the most difficult thing about his job: “Events, dear boy, events.” Indeed, he might as well have uttered his famous reply today. Welcome to defence and security in the 21st century.

General Philip Breedlove, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) has voiced warnings about the infiltration of sovereign territory by anonymous foreign forces, stating that the big problem facing NATO today is a new type of warfare that the alliance is trying to prepare for. In a recent interview with Germany’s Die Welt, Breedlove said: “To be honest, it’s of utmost importance that NATO be ready for so-called ‘little green men.’ Armed military personnel without sovereign insignia, who create unrest, occupy government buildChris Lehman Editor-in-Chief ings, incite local populations, train and provide…advice to separatists and in doing so, strongly contribute to the destabilization of a country.”

The new reality facing NATO is now a type of hybrid warfare referred to as DIME: Diplomacy, Information, Military and Economy, and according to Breedlove, in the case of Ukraine we can see Russia using all of these

Former British Prime Minister

(1957-63), Harold Macmillan was once asked

to describe the most difficult

thing about his job: “Events, dear boy, events.”

Editorial comment

instruments of power. Diplomatic – the false argument that Ukraine is the problem, not the aggressor; Information – a disinformation campaign aims to mask the intentions of the aggressor; Military – the daily troop movements, cross-border shelling, and all manner of military methods; and finally, Economic warfare through the manipulation of energy supplies.

A report from a British defence committee, ahead of the NATO summit the country is hosting in September, said that NATO must take swift action to transform itself, particularly in light of these unconventional attacks. “An… unconventional attack, using asymmetric tactics, designed to slip beneath NATO’s response threshold, would be particularly difficult to counter,” said the report. “And the challenges, which NATO faces in deterring or mounting an adequate response to such an attack poses a fundamental risk to NATO’s credibility.”

Breedlove had earlier warned that the alliance needed to redefine its core commitment to defend its members – and allies – from aggression by factoring in new and unconventional threats such as cyber warfare and irregular militia operations. “We need to mature the way we think about cyber, the way we think about irregular warfare, so that we can define in NATO what takes it over that limit by which we now have to react.” Clearly, the impact of irregular warfare and its impact on the trigger point for implementation of Article 5 – the collective response clause – is the challenge of the decade for NATO. Getting it right has immediate and long term consequences for the credibility of the entire alliance, and indeed, the security of the planet.

If there’s been a perennial editorial topic on the pages of MS&T these past few years, it’s been to emphasize the importance of critical thinking skills. While the current global challenges remind us of the necessity for leaders at ALL levels – both military and political – to cultivate a culture that improves decision making in these complex and ambiguous environments, it’s abundantly clear that decisiveness, leadership and resolve are also required.

Chris Lehman Editor-in-Chief

e

chris@halldale.com MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

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Contents

ISSUE 5.2014

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08 USMC Builds on Amphibious Roots. The USMC is adjusting the focus on the complexities of modern amphibious operations. Group Editor Marty Kauchak explains.

12 Army Aviation Centre. Middle Wallop, the largest grass airfield in the UK, is home to the Army Aviation Centre. MS&T’s Europe Editor Dim Jones reports.

16 Critical Thinking and Change. The USCG Leadership Development Center has infused critical thinking into its leadership programs. The key players tell the story.

20 Environment and Training. The USAF School of Aerospace Medicine’s extensive research program addresses cockpit environmental and training issues. Chuck Weirauch reports.

24 A New Focus. US military language and culture centers are shifting focus to the Asia-Pacific region. Chuck Weirauch reports.

26 I/ITSEC 2014 Preview. Managing Editor Jeff Loube sees positive signs as the preparations for I/ITSEC 2014 continue.

29 EUROSATORY 2014. MS&T’s Europe Editor Dim Jones walked the floor at what is billed as “the largest…” defence and security show in the world.

30 2014 AUVSI. MS&T’s Chuck Weirauch reports on the 2014 AUVSI annual conference and trade show.

32 Games and Simulations. Some Marines like them, and some don’t.

Michael Peck explores the findings of a recent NPGS thesis.

33 Seeking Improvement. ITEC 2015 Conference Chair Tess Butler is engaging stakeholders in her goal of making the next ITEC conference better than ever. She shared her thoughts with Europe Editor Dim Jones.

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Editorial

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

e. jeff@halldale.com

Europe Editor Dim Jones

e. dim@halldale.com

Group Editor Marty Kauchak

e. marty@halldale.com

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

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05 A Long Hot Summer. Editor-in-Chief Chris Lehman makes a plea for decisiveness, leadership and resolve in the face of this summer’s “events”.

34 Seen & Heard. Updates from the training and simulation community.

Compiled and edited by Fiona Greenyer.

MS&T Magazine Military Simulation & Training Magazine

On the cover: Cadets and crew members climb atop the fore mast aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle.

Image credit: Walter Shinn/USCG.

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National Focus

Matching Training and New Strategies The US Marine Corps is focused on a more diverse set of amphibious operations for future missions, with implications for the service’s training and education community. Concurrently, the simulation community is providing new products to help the service meet its shifting requirements, reports Group Editor Marty Kauchak.

T

he message is clear: amphibious operations remain the US Marine Corps’ specialty and comparative advantage. Indeed, while some media observers have suggested the Marine Corps drifted from its mission specialty during the Iraq-Afghanistan era, Marine Corps Major General Richard L. Simcock II, the deputy commanding general at Marine Corps Forces, Pacific said otherwise. It is “not completely accurate to imply we must return to our amphibious roots, as one could argue we never left, especially in the Pacific. The Marine Corps devoted considerable resources to maintaining and exercising this capability even during the decade plus of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

With fewer mission distractions the service can focus more intently on amphibious operations in its fleet training and schoolhouses. Simcock continued, “Amphibious operations are an interconnected series of complex skills that need constant practice.” That practice is coming, in part, from more rigorous

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and challenging fleet exercises and similar events. [Editor’s note: see accompanying sidebar articles on Bold Alligator 2014 and the amphibious portion of RIMPAC 14.]

USMC also has a blended strategy to strengthen its learning programs. While training and education courses will be supported by enhanced technologies, curriculum innovation is also entering Marine Corps classrooms. Future training and education will permit the US’s “other sea service” to move beyond simply learning and perfecting ship-to-shore movements from 12 nm over the horizon – to more complex operations from mobile sea bases, an increased forward presence in Australia and other overseas locations, and other strategies.

As MS&T learned at the June National Training and Simulation Association’s Training & Simulation Industry Symposium in Orlando, the Marine Corps will have few “new” S&T programs in the budget out years. Rather, the service will focus on strengthening its heritage programs. One effort is the roadmap for the Ground Range Sustainment Program. The investments will repair and upgrade existing USMC ranges throughout the Marine Corps to include: Kangaroo Flats/Mt. Bundey, Australia and Okinawa, Japan – supporting the US’s “Pacific Pivot”.

The RQ-11B Raven, RQ-12A Wasp and RQ-20A Puma make up USMC unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) weighing less than 20 lbs. [9.1kg]. They are becoming ubiquitous throughout the operating forces providing intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and target acquisition to the warfighter on the ground.

In another instance of aligning learning to strategy, The Basic

Above The RQ-11B Raven. Small UASs are becoming ubiquitous.

Image credit: Reece E. Lodder/ USMC.

School’s (TBS) curriculum at Quantico, Virginia was evolving this summer to train Marine officers to utilize the capabilities that these UASs bring to the task force and to incorporate that into their mission planning and considerations.

Industry Responsiveness The simulation and training industry is responding to the service’s changing learning landscape.

As significant, US-based S&T community members are raising their profile around the globe. Brandy Castle, Cubic Defense’s senior business development manager, observed that as Marines look to expand multinational operations with US allied partners throughout the Pacific Rim, her company has the capability and experience to support joint integrated training environments for multinational training exercises. The San Diego-based company official added, “Cubic has a strong presence, as well as offices located throughout the Pacific Rim, providing air and ground combat training systems and support services.”

Cubic’s significant portfolio supporting its USMC customer includes two active programs for delivery of training systems, Instrumented Tactical Engagement Simulation Systems II (I-TESS II) and Squad Immersive Training Environment (SITE). The I-TESS II systems placed on order so far will have completed delivery as of fourth quarter of this year.

The Marines have accepted delivery of the I-TESS II system at: Camp Pendleton, Camp Le Jeune, Marine Corps Base Quantico,

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Marine Corp Base Hawaii and Marine Corp Base Okinawa.

Saab is another brand familiar with Marine Corps training audiences. Steve Parrish, the director of business development in the Training and Simulation division of Saab Defense and Security USA, told MS&T that his company is in the last few deliveries of the Range Training System (RTS)-I Contract with Program Manager for Training Systems (PMTRASYS) and is entering the period of performance for RTS -II, the follow on contract. “For RTS-II we are the materials and targets supplier to General Dynamics,” he added.

Above Future training is moving beyond learning the strategy of ship-to-shore movements to more complex operations and better supporting forward basing and rotations.

Image credit: Nathan Hanks Jr./ USMC.

Atlantic Perspective: Bold Alligator ’14 Preview Exercise Bold Alligator will be the largest amphibious exercise conducted along the Eastern US seaboard in 2014 with training locations from Virginia to Florida. The event will serve as a capstone event for the Navy’s Air-Sea Battle and the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Force 21 concept. 1st Lt. John Parry, the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) Public Affairs officer, pointed out the exercise scenario will reflect a complex and uncertain operational environment, to provide the Marines and sailors of 2nd MEB, Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 2 and partner nations with the opportunity to operate and exercise command and control of a Marine Air Ground Task Force.

Bold Alligator 2014 will consist of three phases according to Parry.

Phase I is the detailed planning phase from September 3-October 2. Phase II is scheduled for October 28-November 1 with the initial structuring of forces off the US East Coast under the fly-in command element (FICE), which is composed of the Navy’s Expeditionary Strike Group 2 and the Marines’ 2nd MEB. Phase III is the continued establishment of forces and

will occur from November 1-7. During this final phase, the FICE will become a Forward (FWD) Command element, and main subordinate elements will grow in size and capability.

The 2014 Bold Alligator continues to refocus the Navy-Marine Corps team on crisis response. “We are reshaping our training to operate in an environment where forces respond more rapidly by addressing requirements as they arrive on-scene allowing engagement of multiple, dispersed objectives during crisis response. As such, we are reinforcing our capability to operate from a sea base in order to provide mobile and flexible options to support combatant commander requirements in a range of scenarios,” LCDR Candice Tresch, the public affairs officer at ESG 2, told MS&T. Beyond a Large Amphibious Assault In this fourth Bold Alligator exercise, there will be significant “firsts” for the training audience.

The 2014 BA is the first time the training audience will move past the typical

large amphibious assault to a scenario and training that involve the aggregation of forward deployed forces with follow-on forces in response to a crisis.

Additionally, participants will employ the FICE concept and operate with a Joint High Speed Vessel.

BA-14 will be conducted throughout the live-virtual-constructive training domains.

Eighteen US and three coalition ships were scheduled to get underway to support the live portion. Carrier Strike Group 8 will make up the majority of the “virtual foot print” for BA-14, exercising via Battle Force Tactical Trainer from a shore-based facility. In addition, a constructed adversary will be represented through White Cell injects from Carrier Strike Group 4 (formerly Commander Strike Force Training Atlantic).

BA-14 planners expect forces or personnel, though subject to change, from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the US. – Marty Kauchak MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

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National Focus

Pacific Perspective: RIMPAC ’14 Summary RIMPAC 2014 was conducted June 26 through August 1 on Eastern and Mid-Pacific training venues. Twenty-two nations, 49 surface ships, 6 submarines, and more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel participated. The exercise’s dedicated amphibious forces included: US 3rd Marine Regiment and 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment; company of 3rd Battalion of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry; Charlie Company of 5th Royal Australian Regiment; platoon from Korps Marinir of Indonesia; platoon from Republic of Korea Marine Corps; platoon from the Royal Tongan Marines; and a platoon from Mexican Naval Infantry Force.

The rigorous amphibious warfare scenario used the Hawaiian Islands as a backdrop. The training exercises allowed the international, naval-Marine training audience to exercise its amphibious capabilities in non-combatant evacuation operations, humanitarian assistance/disaster response (HA/DR), amphibious raids, assaults, and landings (permissive and non-permissive) and other events.

A Case for Multinational Training Major General Richard L. Simcock II, the deputy commanding general, Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, told MS&T on July 24 the RIMPAC scenario permitted his service and its US and overseas partners to work through a series of relatively simple to more difficult planning exercises and movements. “An obvious but often overlooked aspect of the RIMPAC amphibious exercises is the interaction between ground forces and naval forces. This is indispensable to successful amphibious operations, but is easily taken for granted. The efficient, symbiotic, relationship between the US Marines and sailors on display during RIMPAC is eye-opener for some of our partners, and hopefully gives them and their respective navies something to strive for.”

The US Marine Corps two-star general further noted RIMPAC training

>>

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MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

Product Developments Parrish further noted that Saab just completed a new mortar simulator which is reported to be “extremely realistic in tactile feel and high fidelity in appearance.” But the real training value is in a six-round rotation hub which catches the mortar round after being dropped in the tube and rotates it out of the way allowing for the next round to be dropped immediately thereafter, the training expert pointed out.

Saab is also focused on two initiatives in the next two years.

“Our targets business, which has been a very successful product line – we supply high quality products and our customers are very loyal. Also we are making strides with blended training so that units can train drivers, gunners, dismounts and command and control all in the same training environment.” While the company executive acknowledged this latter training construct has always been “somewhat possible,” recent innovation in networks and wireless technology have brought it to a level of reality where Saab can connect multiple systems with much greater success and finally at a reasonable price. Of particular interest, Parrish added, “The key is teaming. Rather than try to do things all by ourselves we are welcome to team with other companies and bring the ‘best in show’ to the customer.”

Back at Cubic, Castle noted the SITE program requires delivery of weapon simulations integrated with the I-TESS II system, which rely upon cutting-edge technology for accurate placement of weapon effects on targets. “The program includes the following weapons: SMAW, TOW, JAVELIN, MK19, Claymore Mine and M107. All except for the M107 are surrogate engagement simulators, which look and feel like the real weapon. Some of them include day/night sight simulation and visual display for fall-of-shot to provide realism on the training battlefield. The first systems will be delivered April 2015,” the company executive added.

FlightSafety International, a provider of S&T crew training, advanced technology training devices, support for simulators and computer based training workstations, has operations at 15

Above FlightSafety International's VITAL 1100 system uses commercial off- the-shelf hardware.

Image credit: FlightSafety International.

US military bases. The company’s portfolio includes delivering training for aspiring and seasoned Marine Corps aviators in the Bell Boeing MV-22/V-22 Osprey and other aircraft.

Dan Myers, director of marketing at Visual Systems, said his company is developing, or taking advantage of, new technologies to further advance the training experience for Marines operating from the sea or from remote groundbased operating stations. For example, FlightSafety is designing systems to improve the visual acuity in simulator environments. “This includes visuals with a dynamic resolution capability that eliminates object motion artifacts.

This will support future Marine Corps and the other services’ requirements for improved visual acuity, especially in areas such as targeting, search and rescue, and formation flight,” Myers said, certainly resonating well with the USMC’s expanding mission envelope.

Elsewhere, the company’s VITAL 1100 system, introduced in 2013, uses COTS hardware. “This allows us to focus our development activities entirely on what the aircrew ‘sees’ out the window.

Our ability to advance the state of the art is, therefore, much more expedient.

We believe this will help support the USMC mission for on-going combat readiness in a changing world,” Myers commented. Another key component of the VITAL 1100 is its physics-based simulation.

Myers also told MS&T that FlightSafety’s all-new design and advances in technology incorporated into the FlightSafety FS1000 simulator significantly

enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of training.

Nidal Sammur, PhD, director of engineering, Simulation, pointed out the FS1000 simulator was designed and developed to outperform current generation flight simulators in virtually all aspects. “FlightSafety worked with representatives from aircraft manufacturers and its government and commercial customers to ensure that the new FS1000 simulator would exceed their requirements and offer unprecedented value and reliability. The design also benefitted from the experience gained by FlightSafety’s 1,800 instructors who provide more than one million hours of training each year to pilots from around the world,” he added.

FlightSafety’s Crewview glass mirror optical system enhances visual clarity and brightness while eliminating image degradation and distortion in the critical boundary areas inherent in many traditional display systems – allowing an expanded field of view up to 300 degrees by 70 degrees and other features. “Our UH-1N Flight Training Device features a seven channel visual system with a glass primary mirror with a field of view of 220 degrees by 60 degrees. This simulator also includes a seven channel scanner dome equipped to contain a gunner position in the future,” said Myers Among other performance improvements FlightSafety is incorporating into its training devices, is an Improved Ground Reactions (SimIGR) (model). Dr. Sammur noted this model represents an enhancement to its existing Level D performance model. mst

<<

is mutually beneficial “as we [the US] also benefit from training with our allies and partners. Amphibious training and the ability to conduct complex joint/ combined operations - especially in a littoral environment - builds confidence, not least in one's ability to defend one self. Multilateral training even serves as a 'linking mechanism' - creating a number of practical relationships and closer bonds between quite different militaries - and even a degree of interoperability.

An amphibious exercise like RIMPAC's does more than just add a tactical capability. Rather, it can have a strategic effect, a ‘game-changer’ if you will, in terms of building and strengthening ties between partners and allies. Capable and willing nations cooperating in the sphere of amphibious operations sends an important message.”

Amphibious training “firsts” for RIMPAC ‘14 included: Japanese Ground Self Defense Force involvement with the landing component; USMC Warfighting Lab's advanced warfighting technology that was included into the training package – the LS3 (robotic mule) and the UHAC (Ultra heavy-lift amphibious connector); and other milestones.

Simcock noted that one looks forward to future RIMPACs with an even more robust amphibious portion in which even more partner nations participate. “Indeed, in the future a 'Pacific' version of our Bold Alligator amphibious exercise held on the US's East Coast might be feasible.”

– Marty Kauchak

MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

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National Focus

The Army Aviation Centre at Middle Wallop The AAC provides training for Army Air Corps personnel of all ranks.

Europe Editor Dim Jones recounts his visit to the Centre.

E

ven in the early 90s the threat of the armoured hordes roaring across the North German Plain continued to exercise the minds of those in charge at the UK MoD. Advances in the armour of modern tanks and air defence systems had outstripped those of, respectively, the opposing weaponry and the means of delivering it. There were fixes to be had but, sadly, they were costly, and the Treasury was demanding its ‘peace dividend’. The Defence Procurement Minister of the day, an interesting gentleman by the name of Alan Clark (of ‘Diaries’ fame) devised a wheeze which he called the ‘Anti-Armour Wedge’ whereby, instead of allocating funds separately to the Army and the RAF, all money for anti-armour systems would go into a pot, to be competed for on merit.

The RAF’s contenders were, unsurprisingly, air-delivered weapons (SWAARM and Brimstone) and the Army’s MLRS III and Attack Helicopter (the competitors were Eurocopter Tiger, Apache AH-64A and D, AH-1 Cobra, A129 Mangusta and Rooivalk). SWAARM and MLRS III were eliminated as contenders, and Brimstone eventually entered RAF service in 2005; however, it was the deployment of Apache in the late 90s that radically transformed the role and capability of the Army Air Corps.

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The Army Aviation Centre at Middle Wallop, a picturesque airfield in Hampshire in the South of England, is still the largest grass airfield in the UK, and possibly in Europe. Its role is to provide training for Army Air Corps personnel of all ranks. It comprises two AAC regiments: 2 Regt, which provides support, administration and ground training; and 7 Regt, which provides flying training. The Commandant has a dual chain of command, being responsible to the DirectorGeneral of Army Recruiting and Training (DGART), and also to Commander Joint Helicopter Command (JHC), a tri-service organisation. Indeed, for some administrative purposes, he also has a ‘dotted line’ to Commander 11 Brigade, a regional organisation. In the case of aircrew, the Centre takes Army graduates of tri-service rotary-wing (RW) training, and provides 6 months Army tactical training (the Operational Training Phase or OTP) before converting them to their frontline aircraft types and, with the exception of Apache, to their operational roles.

Groundcrew are also trained here in the 2 principal roles of aircraft refuelling/rearmament and communications, and training of reserve personnel in ground trades also started this year.

The Centre and Middle Wallop are heavily contractorised; indeed, civilian

contractors significantly outnumber the 350-or-so MoD personnel, comprising military and civil servants, and the only military aircraft engineer on the base is the Chief Aircraft Engineer, whose role is to monitor the various contracts and ensure compliance. A significant proportion of flying instructors are also civilian.

This contractorisation works well, and produces significant savings; in the view of the Commandant, there is scope for further civilianisation in areas such as bulk fuel supplies and the Quartermasters’ departments.

Recruitment Recruitment of Army aircrew differs slightly from that of the RAF and RN in that, although they enlist as AAC, they train to be officers and soldiers first, and only then do they progress to aptitude testing, which is conducted by the RAF at Cranwell. The Army accepts slightly lower overall test scores than the other 2 services, but analyses performance in critical modules carefully and in detail.

A successful Army pilot candidate then undergoes 13 hours of flying grading on the Grob Tutor at Middle Wallop, the aim of which is to assess the ability to learn in the air and, therefore, suitability for further training. There follows Elementary Flying Training (EFT), also on the

Tutor, at RAF Barkston Heath, and Single-Engine Basic and Advanced Rotary Wing flying training on the Squirrel at the Defence Helicopter Flying School (DHFS) at Shawbury. The tri-service aspects of this training are important in that, although personnel join a single Service, and are rightly proud of it, JHC is a joint organisation, and major operations (such as Op Herrick in Afghanistan) will almost invariably be joint; early exposure to the other Service elements of the helicopter force is, therefore, valuable.

On return to Middle Wallop, the next phase for the pilots is OTP on 670 Squadron, still on the Squirrel, but concentrating on tactical applied flying and airmanship. This includes training in both right- (handling pilot) and left-hand (nonhandling pilot/mission commander) seats for all 5 Army Aviation roles – Offensive Action, Control and Direction of Firepower, Command Support, ISTAR and Tactical Mobility – and their various subsets. At the end of OTP, pilots will receive their AAC Wings, and will be streamed to their operational type, which will be one of 6: Apache, Lynx, Gazelle, Bell 212, Islander (fixed-wing) or Wildcat. The AAC is acutely aware of the training gap between the Squirrel (single-engine, analogue and no weapons) and the front-line types (twin-engine, glass cockpit, digital, complex systems, sensors and armament), and does its best to bridge it, since upload of training to front-line types (the cost of operating an Apache is comparable to that of a Typhoon) is expensive.

To this end, the OTP Squirrels are NVGcompatible, and are fitted with the MX-10 camera, as used in the Lynx, a dummy Defensive Aids Suite, and Sentinel, a stand-alone digital cockpit information system, which allows off-board mission planning and data transfer, on-board mission management, and the transponderbased Traffic Avoidance System (TAS).

Lastly, aircrew carry the Inzpire GECO kneepad tablet, which embodies both the Aviation Moving Map and Wires Avoidance System (AMMWAS).

671 Squadron converts pilots and trains ab-initio crewmen (who have graduated from specialist rear-crew training courses) to Lynx, Gazelle, Bell 212 and Dauphin N3. For Lynx and Gazelle, conversion is to type (CTT – how to fly the

aircraft) and to role (CTR – how to fight the aircraft), for 212 and Dauphin to type only, role training being accomplished on the front line.

The Lynx is in operational service in Mk 7 and Mk 9a variants, although both are being progressively withdrawn from service (by 2015 and 2018 respectively), to be replaced by the Wildcat. Ab-initio Lynx training will cease, Lynx 7 aircrew will be converted to 9A on the front line, and ab-initio students will go to the Wildcat. The standard Lynx crew is 3: pilot in the RHS, mission commander in the LHS, crewman manning the M3M or GPMG in the door. All 671 Sqn Lynx graduates are qualified aircraft commanders; crewmen may also qualify in winching. Lynx aircraft provide support for all front-line roles, by day and night (using Gen3 NVG). The Gazelle undertakes operations in Northern Ireland and in Canada, and the Bell 212 supports training in Kenya (25 Flight) and Brunei (7 Flight), where duties include range clearance, CasEvac and limited troop movement. The Dauphin is employed on communications and VIP duties.

Above Trainee AAC groundcrew work on the Apache Rearmament Trainer.

Image credit: ATIL. Opposite Army Aviation Centre, Middle Wallop.

Image credit: Army Aviation Centre/MOD.

Apache Bound Aircrew bound for Apache leave OTP for 673 Squadron, where they will convert to type only, CTR being conducted at Wattisham in Suffolk. The course is intended to give a functional grounding in aircraft handling, formation and operation of all the systems by day and night; tactical application is the province of CTR. The course is intense and the content comprehensive. Originally delivered for a preponderance of experienced aircrew from other operational types, the current course is 100% ab-initio. There is a drive to reduce the course length from 8 months to 6, in order to align with other courses. The AAC variant of the Apache, the AHMk1, is a capable aircraft, equipped as it is with the Longbow millimetre-wave target acquisition radar, and the Modernised Target Acquisition & Designation System/Pilot Night Vision System (MTADS/ MPNVS), as well as a comprehensive self-defence suite. Weaponry includes AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, CRV-7 70mm unguided rockets, and the M230E1 30mm chain gun, which can be fixed in a forward-firing position, directed by the FCR, MTADS, MPNVS or slaved to the pilot’s helmet-mounted sight. Any impression that attack helicopters should be small does not survive a first close-up view of the Apache, whose length from rotor tip to tail is 57ft. The Apache crew comprises a pilot in the rear cockpit and a mission commander in the front. The pilot’s job is flying and platform protection, normally using the chain gun; the mission commander’s to operate the systems and fight the platform. Most systems can be operated from both cockpits, but a few from only one or the other. The mission commander is usually, but not always, the aircraft MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

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National Focus commander – there is some pressure to qualify officer aircrew (who are affected by career profile constraints which do not apply to their NCO colleagues) early, at which point they may not have the requisite experience for aircraft command, and may well be crewed with an ‘old-and-bold’ NCO pilot.

673 Sqn students will practise all roles in both seats, and will leave for Wattisham with a recommendation for either front seat or back; CTR training is seat-specific. Following a 6-week groundschool, the CTT course is divided into 4 phases: day, instrument, the ‘bag’ phase, and night, which is half the course. The ‘bag’ phase allows for the blackout of the rear cockpit to allow a controlled familiarisation with the monocular vision system. In the monocular vision system one eye sees the ‘real world’, and the other looking through the monocle sees the FLIR view of that world. This can give rise to problems, such as ‘binocular rivalry’, where one eye fights the other for control of the brain. As someone who has never had to cope with such difficulties, I found the whole concept literally eye-watering. The Final Handling Test profile includes pairs close and tactical formation down to 2-rotors’ separation, and both lead and wingman, approach to a holding area, nap-of-the-earth flying, threat detection (but not reaction), general handling and emergencies. Planned enhancements to Apache include an image intensifier, which will be sensor-fused with the FLIR to provide the optimum picture under all light conditions.

Synthetic Training Synthetic training is integral to all courses at Middle Wallop, and accomplished in a variety of devices, ranging from desktop trainers through part-task trainers to full mission domed simulators. Each phase in the Lynx and Apache courses is a blend of synthetic and live; indeed, there are only 2 live sorties in the Apache instrument phase – a familiarisation sortie and the rating test. The Lynx Aircrew Training Service (LATS) has been operated and maintained by Thales since 2001, and the FMS, now the sole remaining Lynx simulator in AAC service, is equipped with ThalesView graphics, and can be cockpit-reconfigured between Mk 7 and Mk 9a. The Attack Helicopter Training Service (AHTS), run by Aviation Training International Limited (ATIL) a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) joint venture between AgustaWestland and Boeing, addresses aircrew, groundcrew and maintenance training in a purpose-built facility. The front and rear seats of the Apache FMS are housed in separate domes. Both Apache and Lynx simulators have received recent upgrades, and are regarded by their users as first-class.

The Aviation Command and Tactics Trainer (ACTT) is an Army-owned and -run simulator is comprised of linked Lynx and Apache (front only) cockpit mock-ups with visual displays served by various terrain databases, of which the Afghan model is particularly accurate. The ACTT is about 20 years old; funded by an underspend it has since been upgraded on an opportunity basis from further underspends, such as that accruing from the footand-mouth outbreak of 2001, which temporarily precluded live flying. Supported by SME role-players, and run from a comprehensive instructor control station, the ACTT is a procedural mission command and tactics trainer, not a flying simulator. It is used extensively by students on the OTP course at Middle Wallop, and 14

also on CTR courses for front-line aircraft, and is available for use by front-line units for bespoke and pre-deployment training. Normally operated stand-alone, it can connect to other devices and networks, such as the Air Battlespace Training Centre (ABTC) at RAF Waddington (see MS&T 4-2010), and the Medium Support Helicopter Aircrew Training Facility (MSHATF) at RAF Benson (see MS&T 5-2010), although differing operating systems and databases render this less than straightforward. Rockwell Collins maintains the ACTT, under a contract that runs until 2021.

Turning to ground training, 2 Regt’s 668 Sqn provides specialist training, and runs more than 50 different courses. 676 Squadron supervises the Phase 2 training of groundcrew personnel, following their basic Army (Phase 1) training elsewhere. Consequent on the Deepcut inquiry, soldiers at this stage of training must be closely supervised by vetted personnel and, indeed, the unit is subject to OFSTED inspection. They graduate from Phase 2 as Class 3 groundcrewmen or communications specialists, which qualifies them to work under supervision. They will, in time, progress to Class 2 (unsupervised) on their front line units, and Class 1 (supervisor), for which they have to return to Middle Wallop. Running alongside this Phase 3 training are a series of command and leadership courses associated with promotion to JNCO and SNCO ranks, for which basic infantry tactics are used as the training medium, since they provide a better framework for assessing leadership qualities and robustness of character.

The Warrant Officer’s course is more focused on the particular skills required in that rank. All Apache groundcrew undertake an intensive course at ATIL, which includes practical training on sophisticated refuelling and rearming simulators.

The Future So what of the future for the Army Aviation Centre? The Bell 212 will shortly go out of service, with a replacement about to enter the assessment phase of procurement, and Wildcat training will take place at RNAS Yeovilton. The next generation of Apache could be the AH-64E purchased directly from the US, with training provided in the US, or could be built in the UK under licence, with training provided in the UK. As regards groundcrew training, reductions in the size of the AAC have resulted in a loss of flexibility associated with early streaming to groundcrewman or communications. Studies are being conducted into the resource and training-time implications of reversing this trend, and reintroducing an element of dual qualification. In the S&T arena, the Defence Operational Training Capability (Air) (DOTC(Air)) study is addressing the issues of the defence-wide requirement and the connectivity and interoperability of systems. Lastly, Middle Wallop itself could be vulnerable to estate rationalisation measures associated with the implementation of the Military Flying Training System (MFTS), although JHC aspires to develop it into a centre of excellence for battlefield helicopters across the Services, ideally placed as it is at the heart of Low Flying Area 1 (LFA1) and close to the combined army activity conducted on Salisbury Plain. Whatever the imperatives and advantages of joint operations, there is limited commonality between the operational RW roles of the 3 services, and there is still a need for single-service esprit; the Army Aviation Centre provides that focus for the Army Air Corps. mst

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Transformation

Leading Change: A Critical Approach to Instruction Dr. Anne Niccoli, Captain Dante Vinciguerra, and Master Chief Kevin Leask tell the story of three initiatives at the US Coast Guard Leadership Development Center (LDC) in New London, CT to infuse critical thinking: a senior enlisted course, a command preparation course, and a service-wide leadership resource portal.

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hese three examples illustrate the methods for infusing critical thinking in both online and classroom instruction; however, they are also a lesson about Coast Guard members as innovators and change agents.

Challenging Senior Enlisted Leaders “I gained much from the Critical Thinking segment. Utilizing the references and providing the scenarios I was able to better understand the thought patterns and apply steps to make good sound decisions keeping with my values and the CG's. It was a benefit to see how others in Senior Leadership from various rates and backgrounds look at the CG and its people.” [SELC student reflection, 2014] In 2012, not long after MC Kevin Leask became school chief of the Senior Enlisted Leadership Course (SELC), he was on a mission to make course corrections to deepen students’ understanding of their role in the organization. More 16

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important, he wanted his students to have more time to explore ideas, immerse themselves in different experiences, and apply new concepts.

It was the right time with the right people that led to a high-quality change in course design. When MC Leask sought assistance of the instructional support staff, he could not evade Dr. Anne Niccoli’s soapbox on critical thinking. While Dr. Niccoli offered data from education and organizations to support the urgent call for critical thinking, MC Leask was also keenly aware that the military also valued critical thinking. The enlisted and officer Joint Professional Military Education Continuum programs are clear about expectations: Professional Military Education should develop members’ learning from how to do to how to think.

Thus, the mission was clear: redesign the SELC course map, in content and delivery, while also providing new conditions for enduring skills.

However, the first step was defining what critical thinking means to the Coast

Guard: “Critical thinking is a habit of mind characterized by the comprehensive exploration of issues, ideas, artifacts, and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion”.

Together with the instructional support staff, the team extended course foundational learning by developing a blended course; one that leverages the flexibility of online tools with classroom instruction. Moreover, the blended model afforded students an opportunity to acquire basic concepts prior to resident classroom experiences. The new course was deliberately designed to include three distinguishing features.

First, four of the five online topic modules were purposely designed to repeatedly interweave throughout the course. Although students read, explored, and engaged in graded discussions about Coast Guard Core Values, history, traditions, and leading change, these topics continued to permeate throughout classroom experiences. For example, while at the resident class, the students

Aboard the historic tall ship EAGLE, where officer candidates further develop their seamanship, teamwork and leadership skills.

Image credit: Lauren Jorgensen/USCG.

continued their learning on Coast Guard history and values through immersive experiences, such as visiting the Coast Guard Museum and by touring the historical tall ship, the Barque EAGLE. Furthermore, while at the campus, students completed a graded assignment in which they each proposed a plan to lead change in the Coast Guard, demonstrating application of foundational concepts learned online.

Second, principles of critical thinking framed the discussion board topics and expectations. But more essential, MC Leask guided the discussion by crafting follow-on questions and responses to prompt critical thinking. Moreover, student reflection discussions provided another entry point for fostering critical thinking. This supports ideas by John Dewey who espoused that we do not necessarily learn from experience, but rather by reflecting on experience.

Researchers continue to uphold this view, and that reflection also enhances learning, self-efficacy, and performance.

Lastly, the third distinct feature ensures that student discussion board responses are graded using critical thinking criteria. Students’ reflections illustrate higher order thinking, synthesizing new ideas, and extending learning.

“This lesson contained several things that I will take with me back to the fleet, including the Critical Thinking segment and looking at problem solving in a more structured way to improve upon. I enjoyed reading Character in Action and look for-

ward to receiving the actual book. I also had to revisit several CG manuals for a refresher. I obtained 11 new references in my personal library and got to know a little more about my shipmates that I will be meeting in a few weeks. I would say most of classmate’s views are all generally aligned with one another as well as my own with a few things that I didn’t take into consideration especially with the Values Conflict (recreation).” [SELC student reflection, 2014] But an essential question is how do we know these design and instructional strategies make a difference in learning and performing? As evidenced by statistical data analysis of student grades, we can point to the discussion boards, designed and assessed using critical thinking criteria, as a significant contributing factor to the student’s final grade. In addition, students must apply critical thinking skills to other graded assignments, such as their requirement to develop an organizational change proposal.

Preparing Commanding Officers Within months of launching the redesigned blended SELC course, another new course was introduced: the Command Assignment Preparation Training (CAPT) course. The purpose of this course is to prepare officers for their first assignments as commanding officers ashore. This afforded another opportunity for infusing critical thinking and rigor in the ethics module. The Command and Operations school chief, Captain Dante Vinciguerra, was convinced of the potential value and quickly endorsed the idea because this deepens understanding about complex situations and enhances decision making skills required of commanding officers for nuanced situations they will encounter.

Prior to arriving at the LDC, students completed pre-work by reading ethical legal cases. Students interpreted allegations and applied fundamental learnings from pre-work in order to complete independent and group assignments that demonstrated critical thinking. Through classroom discussions,

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Transformation instructors guided and prompted students to engage in critical thinking. Student survey comments stated overwhelmingly the most valuable portion of the course resulted from classroom discussions.

Similar to SELC, the CAPT course also interweaves topics throughout the length of the course such as Coast Guard Core Values, accountability, decision making, and relationships with a goal of improving unit command climate. Likewise, the CAPT course instructors continuously impart reflection questions and challenge students to examine cognitive chains of errors. This technique initiated in-depth and thoughtful conversations, inspiring one student to reflect, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The command climate discussions really brought everything home for me and I will bring the lessons back to my unit.â&#x20AC;?

A New Portal The most recent innovation is a new online tool, the Leadership Development Resources (LDR) portal, which deploys resources Coast Guard-wide for unit-based training. Dr. Niccoli developed a library of over 50 resources with examples of questions and key points to engage members in meaningful, "round table" group discussions. The central aim is to deliver resources that nudge quality conversations to stimulate thinking, deepen understanding, and develop leadership skills.

The LDR homepage is simply organ-

ized with links to topic folders that include Core Values, Inspiring Leaders, Teams, and Communications. Each resource contains a one-two page facilitation guide sheet that includes links to short videos, summaries, and suggested discussion questions.

To further assist with facilitation, the portal site includes a job aid for guiding discussions. The framework for developing discussion questions draws upon critical thinking criteria (1 - 4).

More specifically, the questions seek to uncover assumptions, expand perspectives, take into account the situational context, and advance consideration of long-term implications and ethical consequences.

Akin to the preceding course examples (SELC and CAPT), the LDR infuses critical thinking by framing discussion questions to increase cognitive complexity and reasoning. Moreover, the LDR also interweaves Coast Guard Core Values across several topics.

SELC students connect with history at the Coast Guard Academy museum.

Image credit: Cory J. Mendenhall/USCG.

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real time distribution of terrain deformation (caused by excavator, artillery shells, etc.) rich and detailed geospecific and geotypical virtual worlds www.kmwsim.com |

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Interweaving Themes and Anchors We highlighted three innovative ways of infusing critical thinking to structure our approach using different deliveries and formats that encompass face-to-face and online experiences. But just as important, we illustrate the significant value of interweaving concepts throughout a course of study. We deliberately selected topics to create interconnections in course maps, such as core values. The interweaving is evident by the activities, questions, and reflections that guide not

experiences in core values and traditions within and between courses.

Keys to Success While the notion of integrating critical thinking does not meet resistance from instructors, the challenge we encounter relates more to the “tactical” approach.

MC Leask was the first to embrace change by deliberately integrating the critical thinking model. Other LDC programs also adopted the facilitation model and incorporated critical thinking more deliberately in their lessons.

Essential Critical Thinking Elements Assumptions Perspectives Evidence Missing Information Context Conclusion Consequences Recommendations Ethics only instruction, but also student learning as indicated in assignments. More crucially, we anchor students’ learning

We believe an illustrative simple model hooks instructors because it is easy to adopt, yet, it represents the essentials

of critical thinking. Instructors can use these key elements to frame discussions, craft questions, and design assignments.

Moreover, this approach offers a greater chance that instructors and students will draw upon critical thinking skills throughout their Coast Guard careers.

We are expanding our efforts to provide instructors with the tools and skills they need to lead change while maintaining a steady course. In the near future we will create brief demonstration videos and offer workshops with the LDC’s Instructor Development Program. mst About the Authors Dr. Anne Niccoli: Instructional designer at the LDC; CAPT Aldante Vinciguerra: The head of Command and Operations School (recently posted out); and Master Chief Kevin Leask: The Senior Enlisted Leadership Course Chief. Contact Dr. A. Niccoli at Anne.M.Niccoli@uscg.mil; CAPT A. Vinciguerra at Aldante.Vinciguerra@uscg.mil; and MC K. Leask at Kevin.L.Leask@uscg.mil

References 1. Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU). (2010). Critical Thinking VALUE Rubric. Washington, DC: Author.

Retrieved from http://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/pdf/CriticalThinking.pdf 2. Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU). (2007). College learning for the new global century. Washington, DC: Author.

3. Brookfield, S. (2011). Teaching for critical thinking. Tools and techniques to help students question their assumptions.

San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

4. California State University. (2002). General education scoring guide for critical thinking. California State University, Fresno: Author.

Available at http://www.fresnostate.edu/academics/policies-forms/general-education/rubrics.html 5. Di Stefano, Gino, F., Pisano, G. & Staats, B. (2014, April 11). Learning by thinking: How reflection improves performance. Working Knowledge.

Harvard Business School. Retrieved from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7498.html

TRAINING & SIMULATION Wegmann USA, Inc., Training & Simulation mailto: simulation@wegmannusa.com Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG, Training & Simulation mailto: info@kmwsim.com

Human Performance

Environment or Training: Sometimes Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Both Working at the intersection of cockpit environment and training USAFSAM leverages research to develop environmental and training solutions for optimal pilot performance. Chuck Weirauch reports.

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he US Air Force F-22 Raptor advanced interceptor fleet is scheduled to receive new automatic backup oxygen systems by the second quarter of 2015 and it would seem that pilot hypoxia problems with that aircraft will be finally resolved. The current pilot-activated backup oxygen systems were installed earlier in response to a 2012 investigation of pilots experiencing hypoxia-like oxygen deprivation symptoms leading to a fatal crash in 2011 and a grounding of the F-22 fleet.

The new system won't call for any action by the pilot.

The failure of the original F-22 oxygen system emphasizes the point that a cockpit environment issue thought to be to be fully understood and researched still needs more study, with a potential need for more hypoxia training for aircrews.

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Hypoxia Training Dr. Ryan Mayes, Senior Epidemiologist for 711th Human Performance Wing's School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM), Department of Aeromedical Research, at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio was one of the Air Force's investigators involved with the F-22 oxygen system failure study. He pointed out that one area of current research in his department is to investigate whether Reduced Oxygen Breathing Devices (ROBDs) are successful training analogs for a true hypobaric exposure in an altitude chamber.

But Mayes also feels that training and research should not simply focus on hypoxia and oxygen deprivation. Other aspects of human respiration at altitude need to be studied as well, such as high and low levels of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream that are a result of strained

breathing under G-loading. That is because one of the major contributors to pilot distress that was found during the F-22 investigation was the actual work of breathing under G-loading, Mayes explained. A related finding was that the pilot's upper pressure anti-G garment was retaining air, and that made it more difficult for the pilot to breathe, he added.

"Asking an impaired pilot to determine whether he is impaired because of hypoxia or oxygen deprivation is like asking a drunk driver whether he is too drunk to drive," said USAFSAM Senior Research Physiologist Dr. Bruce Wright.

"We need realistic training, but we also need to do some research to provide the pilot with a reliable indicator with an objective measure of his physiological state. Training is good, but it has to be realistic, and my take is that an altitude

NASTAR Center chamber is not realistic. We need to go to other methods."

Monitoring Oxygen, CO2 levels

Above The USAFSAM utilizes a range of environmental and health surveillance tools to maximize operational health capabilities.

Image credit: Krystal Ardrey/USAF.

The pilot oxygen and CO2 level indicator system that Wright referred to is currently under development at the USAFSAM Department of Aeromedical Research. He said that the system will feature maskmounted sensors that would provide a color-coded alert to pilots that would warn them when the concentrations of O2 and CO2 in their breathing mask air supply were at safe, intermediate or dangerous levels. These sensors would also be located in the cockpit. Initial testing of these sensor systems is scheduled to begin this summer, Mayes said. Preliminary plans are to place these sensors in test jets next year.

"We will have a number of larger efforts going on once the mask sensors are validated to look at the work of breathing in different aircrew environments," Mayes stated. “We also have been studying the effects of workup breathing in different configurations of air groups like the F-16.

We don't really have much baseline knowledge for how much is too much for workup breathing in an airspace environment."

The mask and cockpit sensors will also provide a means for measuring pilot breathing under G-loading, Mayes added. In one project, data from the mask sensors will enable the USAFSAM research personnel to look at the metabolic cost of a simulated aerial combat maneuver in a centrifuge. In the first phases of this research, pilots will be experiencing from five to nine Gs and back and forth, with their breathing work being measured while they perform the anti-g straining maneuver (AGSM). Later, Mayes hopes that such tests can be conducted in actual aircraft environments.

Testing of the sensor systems in actual aircraft is important, because the goal is to implement them in operational aircraft.

Currently the USAFSAM research team is asking the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base if they will allow the sensors to be put into the School's F-16s and have pilots perform actual sorties with the equipment aboard.

G- training One of the casualties of Department of Defense budget cutbacks is that the Air Force has been forced to cut back on the

Several recent and future aeromedical research programs at ETC's National Aerospace Training and Research (NASTAR) Center could well help the US Air Force in its constant efforts to improve aircrew performance and safety, as well as training, according to NASTAR Research Scientist Mike Newman.

For example, a just-completed study for MIT conducted in the Center's centrifuge investigated how hypergravity changes pilots’ perception of their orientation, such as when banking their aircraft at different angles under various G-levels, Newman explained. While the study for MIT was geared to crews in longduration space flights, the work relates to how long it takes train aircrews at various G-levels, he said.

Another research effort Newman cited is a just-begun project for Drexel University that focuses on monitoring pilot cognitive performance while under G-loading in the Center's 400 centrifuge. Pilots in the centrifuge will be wearing multiple body function sensors, including those that employ near-infrared spectroscopy to measure blood flow in the prefrontal cortex, the front of the brain, Newman explained. The goal is to see how the stress of g-forces changes pilots' performance of specific memory tasks in order to get an idea of pilot cognitive impairment under g-loading.

In an in-house study, ETC is looking at how pilots move their heads in various types of maneuvering and training environments, namely in non-motion and motion flight simulators, as well as ETC's ATFS-400 Model 31 high-performance centrifuge and in actual aircraft flight. What the company is interested in is how pilots change their behavior based on their training environment.

"We want to see if pilots who are training in a non-motion environment are moving their heads around much more than they would than they would if they were actually in an airplane," Newman said. "This relates to problems with head-mounted displays (HMDs) in flight helmets. So we can extrapolate that to the HMD problem and see how big an issue that would be, based on how these parameters change in the training environments."

"People assume that pilots move their heads the same way in the non-motion environment, but there is actually no data to prove that," Newman continued. "We want to quantify these movements, because we have had a lot of pushback that training in certain simulation environments alters the way pilots move their heads, and that this is going to translate to a degradation of training or a bad transfer of training."

This work will also relate to an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) pilot helmet research project that ETC Business Development Manager Ken Ginader has proposed to the Air Force. Although pilot workload and efficiency will potentially be enhanced with the use of HMDs, they might affect helmet weight and center of gravity, and the effect of wearing heavier helmets during longduration missions are not fully understood.

The added helmet weight could impose muscle fatigue and discomfort that might lead to pilot distraction, particularly under G-loading, Ginader speculated. He proposes that a pilot-in-the-loop, modern ground-based static and dynamic flight simulation technology-based research project will yield a comprehensive assessment of pilot endurance and physiological effects with a HMD-equipped helmet in an operationally realistic environment. – Chuck Weirauch M S & T MA G A Z I NE 5 . 2 0 1 4

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Human Performance amount of flight time service pilots can log. Although all fighter aircrew must undergo G-training in a centrifuge to learn and practice the AGSM, less flight time can keep them from retaining their AGSM training. Improper practice of breathing techniques that make up the AGSM under g-loading can lead to less oxygen reaching the brain, causing loss of visual acuity, disorientation and possibly G-force-induced Loss Of Consciousness (G-LOC). This is a major reason why USAFSAM medical personnel want to further study and document aircrew breathing and absorption levels of oxygen and CO2.

"As far as G-training, you need to be current, " Wright said. "It is very expensive to fly airplanes like the F-22. The problem is that pilots are just not flying very often. What these guys need is more currency. If we have to take them up in a T-38 to practice some of these techniques, then that might be a part of the solution, because practicing an anti-g maneuver on the ground or in the simulator just is not realistic. They need to fly, and they also need oversight presumably with the flight surgeon or squadron mate. There are a lot of ways this is being addressed, but I think that we are at a point in our Air Force when we are allowing pilots not to fly because it is too expensive. So we have to find a way to address that."

While one other option might be to have aircrews take recurrent g-training in a centrifuge, according to USAFSAM's Dr. William "Buck" Dodson, with only one currently available it would be problematic to get pilots to it on a regular basis.

So he does not feel that this training option is one that has the most feasibility.

That centrifuge is located at Brooks CityBase in San Antonio, TX. ETC is currently installing an ATFS-400 Model 31 highperformance centrifuge at the new 711th Human Performance Wing complex at Wright-Patterson, but that system is still under development.

Cognitive Testing Since a reduction of oxygen to the brain under g-stress can affect aircrew cognition, the USAFSAM Department of Aeromedical Research has started to look into ways to test cognitive states of pilots in 22

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operational environments, according to Dr. Dan Van Syoc, Deputy Chief of the Aeromedical Consultation Service at USAFSAM. The question is how to find out if aircrew members are making good decisions under operational conditions, since currently cognitive testing can only be done in an office setting, he pointed out.

At this point, there is no way to test cognition in the aviation environment and pilots are not interested in wearing some of the equipment that would monitor and support cognitive testing, but this may be possible in the near future, Van Syoc said.

Other research While the Department of Aeromedical Research conducts an extensive number of studies related to high- performance aircraft environments, its personnel are involved in a number of other areas of that are focused on human performance and resultant aircrew safety that look at such factors as aircrew fatigue. Van Syoc said that several studies are being conducted concerning Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) operators who may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and similar conditions as the Air Force places more emphasis on the deployment of unmanned aircraft. Another area is improving the performance of medical personnel serving on aeromedical evacuation aircraft.

"What we do in human performance sometimes also gives us a payoff in safety as well, for example on the issue of fatigue," Dodson said. "With less fatigue, performance will be higher and at the same time safety-wise aircrews also will be less likely to be involved in a mishap incident. And if we can optimize the physician's medical judgment during those aeromedical flights, we are helping him directly and the patients indirectly if we want the best outcomes."

The USAFSAM is an internationally renowned center for aerospace medical learning, consultation, aerospace medical investigations and aircrew health assessments. For more information on USAFSAM research, go to www.wpafb.af.mil/afrl/711HPW/ usafsam.asp mst

ETC is currently installing an ATFS-400 Model 31 highperformance centrifuge at the new 711th Human Performance Wing complex at Wright-Patterson.

Image credit: Environmental Tectonics Corporation.

Language and Culture

Gearing Up for the Pacific Pivot As the US turns its attention to the Pacific, the Services language and cultural centers are adjusting programs to reflect changing priorities. MS&Tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chuck Weirauch writes.

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here seems to be much debate lately as to when or even if the US foreign policy shift to the Asia-Pacific region, dubbed the "Asia-Pacific Pivot" as outlined by President Obama and the Pentagon, will take place. Regardless, the DoD and US services clearly recognize the need for improved language and cultural training for personnel deployed to that region.

For example, some leaders of the primary service centers for language and cultural training are reporting that they have been receiving increasing numbers of requirements for enhanced and expanded curricula and training tools focused on Asian-Pacific languages and cultures.

Military budget reductions, the crisis in the Ukraine, increasing renewed turmoil in Iraq and US political factors reportedly could reduce and/or delay US efforts towards the Asia-Pacific shift.

However, with China and other countries increasing their influence in the region, there certainly is a need for the US to reassure its allies, as President Obama has recently done, about the certainty of more of the country's military presence in the region.

But perhaps US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell put it best when

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he recently spoke with Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) Director Robert Kagan. "The pivot to Asia and the Pacific will not be completed in a few years, but will require a sustained and different allocation of diplomatic and military resources," Campbell reportedly said.

Asia-Pacific Challenges The Air Force Language and Culture Center (AFCLC) is the service's primary organization for the management and coordination of the service's language and cultural training activities. This ranges from courses offered through the Air Force Professional Military Education (PME) system to various levels of pre-deployment training programs. The AFCLC main page at http://culture.af.mil offers links to many region and cultural resources provided by organizations such as Joint Knowledge Online (JKO), the US Department of State, Central Intelligence Agency Fact Book, and many more. The AFCLC has worked closely with the Defense Language Institute (DLI) to incorporate familiarization training during professional military education as well as in preparation for deployment.

According to Lt. Col. Julie Solberg, acting director of AFCLC, the service is gearing up to support more language and cultural training for personnel planned

The Air Force Culture and Language Center strives to increase cross-cultural competences â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a critical warfighting skill.

Image credit: Scott Ghiringhelli/USAF.

for deployment in the Asia-Pacific region.

"As the Air Force turns its attention toward the Pacific region, Air Staff program guidance will transform to reflect this priority shift," Solberg said.

"We expect priorities to be updated in the annual Language Enabled Airman Program (LEAP) selection guidance and a re-prioritization of languages in the AF Strategic Language List (SLL).

Updated Air Staff guidance will directly impact the types of skills selected into the program and the languages chosen for cross-training for those participants who have already achieved a high level of fluency in their original selected language. By increasing our inventory of Chinese, Tagalog, Indonesian, and other foreign languages of the Pacific region, the AFCLC will be better positioned to offer qualified language-enabled Airmen to meet mission demands."

The difference between a shift from Middle Eastern languages and cultures to those of the Asia-Pacific region is more than just geopolitical differences, Solberg said. That is because the challenges of the Pacific are different than those faced

in recent Middle Eastern conflicts, with the US interest in the Pacific region more strategic in nature and more focused on working toward building partnerships and increasing global cooperation, she explained.

"This requires a deeper understanding of many unfamiliar and unique Asian cultures," Solberg pointed out. "Additionally, many of the Pacific region languages are varied and diverse, while the capacity of these regional languages within the US forces is rather modest.

Although Chinese Mandarin, Cantonese and Tagalog are all considered prevalent in the Forces and the AF has deemed the capacity to be sufficient to meet the mission, it is unclear if this USAF inventory of Asian speakers is prepared to engage at the level necessary to improve our longterm interest in the Asian geo-political environment."

Field Guides According to Mary Newbern, director of the AFCLC's Expeditionary Skills Training, program, in fiscal year 2012 the Center started development of a series of Asian-Pacific Expeditionary Culture Field Guides (ECFGs) for US Pacific Air Force's top six priority countries and has completed two of the six – those for the Philippines and South Korea. The ECFGs have become the primary focus of the Center. Plans are underway to develop additional guides for Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and India within the next year or so, she said.

The ECFGs are portable, pocketsized booklets that are designed to complement cultural awareness pre-deployment training for the Air Force, which is delivered online via the Advanced Distributed Learning Service (ADLS), Newbern explained. The first two ECFGs developed at the Center were for US forces deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan.

In early CY2011, AFCLC partnered with USAFRICOM’s air component, AFAFRICA, to contract for the development of a series of ECFGs for US forces deploying into priority countries on the African continent. Since then, a total of 24 ECFGs have been developed for AFAFRICA. Next up, Newbern noted, is an ECFG for Columbia, the country that is a top priority for US SOUTHCOM.

The AFCLC is planning to field an application for delivering ECFGs on mobile devices within the next year.

The concept would allow the Center to make all or an exclusive selection of the ECFGs available to individual airmen or total units, depending on the need. An AFCLC team will be assigned to mobile app management.

Navy CLREC The People's Republic of China's Liberation Army Navy participated in the Rim Of the Pacific (RIMPAC), the biennial international naval exercise hosted by the US Pacific Fleet, for the first time this year and US commanders and sailors employed new translation aids, etiquette guides and other cultural education tools to help them interact with Chinese crews.

Those language and culture aids were developed and provided by the Navy's Center for Language, Regional Expertise and Culture (CLREC) for the Third Fleet's Vice Chief of Naval Operations. The CLREC is the clearinghouse for all of the service’s cultural awareness and language training at both the career professional and pre-deployment levels.

"This was a good opportunity for language and cultural training for some of the officers who were involved, and a good news story for us," said CLREC Director Chris Wise.

But while the CLREC did see an "uptick" in training requests and requirements generated by RIMPAC, the Center did not notice a significant slack-off in calls for such support for other regions either, Wise reported.

"The kind of requirements that we saw increase in the Pacific were for the Foreign Area Officers," Wise said. "There is more interest for continuing education, professional development in regard for their specific focus languages and cultural and regional interests over there. In concert with that; the training has been stepped up, as well as the educational opportunities."

Although Navy Asia-Pacific language and culture training requirements are up, they are still mainly focused on where the Navy has strategic forward basing, such as in Japan and Korea, Wise elaborated.

The primary languages in both countries

are "extremely challenging " for our officers and enlisted men and women, he added.

To help service personnel overcome these challenges, the CLREC and its program office, the Navy Language and Culture Office, have recently taken a two-pronged approach. One is to establish contracts with native Japanese firms and organizations to provide instruction for Navy squadrons based in that country, an effort that is expanding. Another is to expand language and cultural training for Navy personnel who are working with Japanese Foreign Area Officers assigned to duty in the US. Sometimes native Japanese instructors have gone on US carriers with deployments – an international exchange even of itself, Wise added.

Another CLREC initiative begun this year was with the Naval Postgraduate School and Johns Hopkins University.

The Strategic Studies Seminars Summer Program offered jointly by these institutions was opened up this year to the Navy, along with pilot Asian Strategic Studies Program in Washington, DC. In the cultural training arena, the CLREC staff has worked with the Joint Knowledge Online (JKO) organization to develop the Virtual Cultural Awareness Trainer (VCAT) for Southeast Asia and make it available to Navy personnel via JKO.

Positive Outlook In spite of DoD budget cutbacks, Wise said that CLREC funding has not been significantly reduced. In fact, just recently his organization has been given approval to hire more personnel. This increasing support from the service will hopefully allow the Center to provide more individualized training support to the Fleet, he said.

"I think that in the Navy there is a good, solid buy-in for language and cultural training, and an attitude that it really does matter at some level if you do it right, Wise summed up."It can make liberty more fun and the mission go much more smoothly. I think that we are going to have the requisite staff to make sure that we have a regular communication with each of our individual customers so that no one is falling through the cracks." mst M S & T M AGA Z I NE 5 . 2 0 1 4

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Show Preview

I/ITSEC 2014 I/ITSEC 2014, the premier military simulation and training conference and exhibition is taking place 1-5 December in Orlando, FL. Preparations are proceeding apace and all signs point to a successful show and conference.

Managing Editor Jeff Loube reports.

S

ince I/ITSEC 2013, the world political situation has not improved, with some pundits calling this summer the “summer from hell” citing ISIS in northern and western Iraq, continuing strife in Syria, the degeneration of Libya into a civil war, Chinese muscle flexing, and the Russian provocations in the Ukraine. While not quite at the state of Thursday’s Nelsonian toast of the day “A bloody war or a sickly season”, certainly this is not the time to clip the coupons on the defence dividend. The turbulent times we noted last year continue and the times are arguably even more turbulent, making the theme of this year’s I/ITSEC, “Trained and Mission Ready: Deter – Defend – Defeat” most apropos.

In a recent Q&A focused on I/ITSEC 2014 with NTSA President RADM James Robb, USN (ret) (see the full Q&A in the 15 October issue of the NTSA Newsletter), MS&T asked him to comment on the turbulent times in the context of I/ITSEC 2014. “[The] Turbulent times continue. The budget deal for 14/15 helped stabilize government programs quite a bit this year and we expect there to be some relief in the 16 budget related to readiness. While the US has a strong desire 26

MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

to reduce spending on defense, world events continue to point to the need for a strong force that is trained and mission ready. With a peace dividend unlikely from the last twelve years at war, it is likely that investments supporting national security will be at fairly high levels for the foreseeable future. I sense the nation will demand sustained vigilance and occasional direct action against many of the rogue actors that are threatening our way of life. Turbulent times require innovative, agile and economic solutions and I/ITSEC is where the Training and Simulation Industry chooses to present them and put them on display.”

Robb goes on to note that in the circumstances, both global political and US fiscal, he finds an “emphasis on Training and Simulation capabilities especially relevant”. Core capabilities need to be sustained, and new capabilities developed in concert with the evolution of military and political needs. He states “The current austere fiscal environment puts a premium on cost-saving yet effective means of accomplishing training requirements, which plays directly into modeling and simulation's strong suit. NTSA’s principal message this year is that we should be investing in these technologies, not cutting them.”

We have seen a reduction in defence budgets in North America and Western and Central Europe; however, Eastern European, Middle Eastern, and Asian budgets continue to grow. For example, according to the latest SIPRI fact sheet, www.sipri.org, Russia has doubled its defence budget since 2004, and China has done likewise. In fact 23 countries have doubled their military spending in real terms between 2004 and 2013. The Global military expenditure was $1,747 billion in 2013, a fall of some 1.9% from 2012: excluding the US, there was an increase of 1.8%. The marketplace is changing and the growing international participation in I/ITSEC is reflective of this changing marketplace, as Robb puts it, “they see the value of one stop shopping”.

Slow Return Organisers report that delegate registration is up 10 percent over this time last year and that they expect a slow return to historic attendance levels as organisations adjust to the current fiscal climate.

All the services are actively staffing their approval packages with the expectation of approval. RADM Robb noted “We have had a large turnover in the systems commands but all the new commanders are

committed to I/ITSEC as a critical mission event.” He added, “Exhibit sales are doing very well this year. We have the normal churn of companies’ upsizing and downsizing but see a very stable and loyal base coming to the floor this year. We have many new companies and countries exhibiting this year including trade representatives from Australia and an increase in international companies from Europe, South America and Asia.”

Conference Chair Ron Smits, Engility Corporation, reports, “The Conference planning for 2014 is coming along very well”. The working groups have selected almost 150 papers as well as over 20 tutorials and 7 professional development workshops.

He explains “We will have an indepth look at how Live, Virtual, and Constructive training, from planning, through execution and assessment, will enable Combat Readiness going forward. That ties directly in with this year’s theme, Trained and Mission Ready; we’ve made a concerted effort to ensure that the Pro-

Future Leaders Pavilion The Future Leaders Pavilion is always worth a visit and I make it a regular stop every year. It is a pleasure to meet bright young students, and their mentors, who are so enthusiastic about their projects.

Smits agrees, stating, “The Future Leaders Pavilion remains one of my favorite special programs at I/ITSEC. The enthusiasm and talent these youngsters have is reflected in top-notch programs they developed while in high school and showcased at I/ITSEC. It is a great testament to our efforts to promote STEM for our future workforce and is an important objective for our industry.”

The Serious Games Showcase and

Challenge continues to be a significant activity at I/ITSEC. A serious game must, at its core, have clearly defined and measurable learning objectives and provide players with a clearly identified challenge and for the Challenge, be original!

Game submissions close 15 September, and finalists will be notified October 15.

Finally Ron Smits is very excited about this years new 5K Charity Run/ Walk/Roll, an opportunity to network and to support two worthy causes. 100% of the proceeds of the Run will go to these two 501 (c)(3) charities, Operation Giveback for Wounded Warriors and the I/ ITSEC STEM Initiative. Smits says that in addition to individuals, they would like “teams to sign up and engage in a friendly competition, not only on the athletic front, but also on the fundraising front”. There will be more details to come.

All signs are pointing to a successful I/ITSEC; however, MS&T expects that value and ROI will remain an underlying theme as militaries work to close the capability/budget gap. mst

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gram contributes to the ongoing discussions about mission readiness in a time of austerity. We will also talk about Cyber and the big ideas that are out there to help us secure our infrastructure, the role modeling and simulation will play in that, as well as how we better train all our operators for tomorrow’s challenges.”

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n aT i o n a l T r a i n i n g a n d s i m u l aT i o n a s s o c i aT i o n T H e w o r l d ’ s l a r g e s T m o d e l i n g & s i m u l aT i o n e v e n T

I/ITSEC

InTErSErvICE/InduSTry TraInIng, SImulaTIon & EduCaTIon ConfErEnCE TRAINED AND MISSIoN READY: DETER • DEFEND • DEFEAT

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Albania • Algeria • Argentina • Australia • Austria • Bangladesh • Belgium • Brazil • Bulgaria Canada • Chad • Chile • China • Colombia • Costa Rica • Czech Republic • Canada • Denmark Ecuador • Egypt • El Salvador • Estonia • Finland • France • Georgia • Germany • Ghana • Great Britain • Greece • Hong Kong • India • Indonesia • Ireland • Israel • Italy • Jamaica • Japan • Jordan Kuwait • Lebanon • Libya • Lithuania • Malaysia • Mexico • Morocco • Netherlands • New Zealand Nigeria • Norway • Pakistan • Papua New Guinea • Peru • Philippines • Poland • Romania • Russia Saudi Arabia • Singapore • Slovakia • South Africa • South Korea • Spain • Sri Lanka • Sweden Switzerland • Taiwan • Thailand • Turkey • Ukraine • United Arab Emirates • United Kingdom • Uruguay • Yemen w w w . i i T s e c . o r g u d e c e m b e r 1 - 54 , 2 0 1 4 u o r l a n d o , F l o r i d a

Image credit: EUROSATORY.

Show Report

EUROSATORY 2014 It was mostly ‘heavy metal’, but with an S&T sanctuary. Europe Editor Dim Jones writes.

E

UROSATORY 2014 took place at the Parc Des Expositions, north of Paris, between 16 and 19 June. Billed as ‘the largest exhibition of Land and Air-Land Defence and Security in the world’, Eurosatory alternates year-and-year-about with its UK counterpart Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) in much the same way as the Paris and Farnborough Air Shows. There is much similarity between them, with the exception of the lack of a maritime strand at Eurosatory, there being no handy waterway outside the Parc Des Expositions in which to tether the boats. They are both essentially ‘heavy metal’ exhibitions, at which manufacturers display their most eye-catching hardware; S&T content is hard to find, even on stands whose owners have significant interest in this area, the emphasis appearing to be on the provision of training services to support the hardware. That said, there were nuggets to be had for the persistent forager: larger companies - RUAG, Thales, Saab, Kongsberg et al – all had some training displays; specialist S&T companies such as Havok, Antycip, Drew Defense (formerly Chemring Defence Germany) and MASA, were also well-represented,

some on national stands or pavilions.

Among many interesting exhibits, D-Box, in association with CM Labs, and using their Vortex technology, demonstrated a COTS-based ground vehicle driving simulator, which can be used in low-cost applications where cost would normally preclude a motion system.

At Eurosatory, two factors increased the visibility of the S&T community. The first was the grouping of most of the specialist companies into a ‘Simulation & Training Cluster’, thus making life easier both for those visitors who had an interest in this area, and for the exhibitors themselves, who were able to visit each other’s stands and exchange views with comparative ease. The situation of the ‘cluster’, at the far-flung extremity of one of the two massive exhibition halls, had its good and its bad points: the bad was that few were likely to find us by accident; the good was that the area was relatively cool, and ideally situated for refreshments, toilets, and – for those unable to contain their craving – a handy door to an outside smoking area.

On the subject of catering, I have never seen a show so well-endowed with food outlets to suit all tastes, ambiences and expense accounts. These clearly

reflected French priorities, and much business was conducted therein.

The other notable positive at Eurosatory was the overt support from the French Government – and, specifically from the DGA (the MoD Procurement Agency) for their national S&T industry.

This is characterised by the ADIS Group, a French corporate organisation formed in 1994, and gathering in the Armed Forces, DGA and the defence industry, about which my colleague Walter Ullrich wrote in some detail in the article ‘Two Views’ in MS&T Issue 3/4-2013. One of the strands of the Eurosatory conference programme was ADIS’s military simulation symposium, SimDef 2014, the 11th of its genre, which progressed from a Keynote Conference on the second day of the show, through various other presentations and meetings over the following 3 days. SimDef also promoted an Innovation Competition, for which a prize was awarded on the last day, and sponsored the VULCAIN demonstration of S&T technologies in the Simulation Cluster.

In sum, Eurosatory, although in S&T terms very different from the likes of I/ITSEC and ITEC, was a well-organised, friendly and interesting show. mst MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

29

Show Report Keynote speaker Lt. Gen. Kevin Magnum, Deputy Commanding General of the US Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

Image credit: Author.

2014 AUVSI UAS use and airspace integration issues were a focus of the 2014 conference. MS&T’s Chuck Weirauch writes.

W

ith the US military having deployed more than 11,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) since 2002, one might expect that how the Department of Defense (DoD) and the services would employ such aircraft in the future would be a significant topic for discussion at the 2014 Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI)'s Annual Conference and Trade Show, and it was.

But the May 12-15 event held in Orlando also covered the gamut of current and future civilian applications for unmanned air, ground, and maritime vehicles as well. Nearly 600 exhibitors showed off everything from the latest mid-sized UAVs to the smallest sensor systems to more than 8,000 attendees.

One key category for discussion was the need for the integration of both military and civilian UAVs into the US National Airspace System (NAS), with both the FAA and NASA outlining their plans and progress toward this goal. The six public entities that the FAA approved in December to develop and test UAS, with a primary focus on the integration issue, were represented on the show's exhibit floor.

Jim Williams, FAA Manager of UAS Integration, told conference attendees

30

MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

that the agency is working with several industries to expedite some limited commercial operations of UAS before FAA integration rules are finalized. However, no small UAS integration rule will be made in 2015, contrary to The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 that directed the FAA to integrate UAS into the National Airspace System by that year, he pointed out. Instead, the US Congress has given the agency more time, and an FAA Notice of Public Rule Making (NPRM) may be announced for small UAS integration in November of this year, Williams clarified. Both the DoD and civil industry sources told convention attendees that small UAS are the most important class of such aircraft in the future.

Military Addressing the AUVSI convention as the opening day keynote speaker, Lt. Gen. Kevin Magnum, Deputy Commanding General and Chief of Staff of the Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), said that being able to operate in the NAS is a critical factor for the service. He also said that one of the most exciting and game-changing aspects of reorganizing Army Aviation is mannedunmanned aircraft teaming (MUM-T) operations that consist of Apache heli-

copters being networked with a variety of UAS. This operational concept will extend the range of the manned aircraft and together increase their range, situational understanding, lethality and overall effectiveness in providing ground support for soldiers and reconnaissance operations, Magnum said.

In the opening day's afternoon DoD Leadership Panel, Col. Ken Callahan, the Air Force’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Capabilities Division Director, discussed the service’s RPA Vector Plan document released this April. This document is the service’s vision for the next 25 years for an Air Force global RPA force. The Plan calls for faster and longerrange RPAs, with days-long capability integrated with a mobile command and control system, Callahan pointed out.

Col. Keith Hauk, Director of Material for the Army Deputy Chief of Staff, discussed the Army's strategy to provide MUM-T operations. He also said that the Army is looking for UAS with greater autonomy of operations, such as for automated resupply of ground forces, and smaller man-portable UAS for squads, with a push towards micro UAS with longer-range capabilities.

Navy Rear Admiral Mat Winter, Program Executive Officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons, cited the upcoming future concept of operations (CONOPS) for manned and unmanned helicopters aboard littoral combat ships with the MH-60R Seahawk and the MQ-8B Fire Scout operating together.

He also cited the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Strike and Surveillance (UCLASS) system, for which a restricted draft RFP was released April 17. The Navy's X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator was the prototype for the UCLASS system.

The X-47B completed its first carrierbased arrested landing in July 2013.

Training Sessions During technical sessions on Monday prior to the AUVSI conference official opening on Tuesday, training leads for

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both the Army and Air Force presented overviews of the latest training methodologies for their respective unmanned aerial vehicle programs. Air Force First Lieutenant Noah Schill, Program Lead for RPA Research at the Warfighter Readiness Research Division for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)'s 711th Human Performance Wing, described an interim prototype RPA simulator developed by the AFRL. This simulator is being employed by the AFRL's Integrated Combat Operations Training-Research Testbed (ICOTT) to evaluate RPA simulation-based training requirements, while actually providing initial training for new RPA pilots, Schill explained.

Major Jack Antedomenico, an MQ-9 Evaluator Pilot with the 11th Reconnaissance Squadron at Creech Air Force Base, described a new RPA Undergraduate Pilot Training program to certify pilots to fly UAS only. He reported that students graduating from the new training program performed better than students graduating from a traditional Undergraduate Pilot Training program for manned aircraft during an RPA takeoff and landing course. The Air Force has traditionally required that only pilots that have manned aircraft certifications beC E considered for RPA LEBR training and subsequent operation.

Victor Ingurgio, a Research Psychologist for the Army Research Institute1 9for and Social 8 4 –Behavioral 2014 Sciences at Fort Benning, outlined the Institute’s efforts to identify skills that are essential to the service's new MUM-T concept, and to develop the means of assessing the performance of aircrews involved in MUM-T operations.

CAE, promoting its UAS Mission Trainer, was the only industry UAS training provider on the show floor. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University was exhibiting to advertise its undergraduate and graduate Unmanned Systems degree programs. mst

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Image credit: Sarah Anderson/USMC.

Gaming & Training

Games and Simulations Want to know what Marines like and don't like about games? Then take a look at the master's thesis of a U.S. Marine officer. Michael Peck did.

F

loy A. Yates, Jr., now a Marine modeling and simulation officer, chose to examine the use of computer-supported military training simulations for his thesis [http://calhoun. nps.edu/public/handle/10945/37746] at the Naval Postgraduate School's MOVES (Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation) Institute. Though Yates focused on Marines, his findings seem applicable to game-based training across the military.

Yates surveyed some 220 trainees (including company and battalion officers) as well as 35 unit leaders (those responsible for setting training requirements, including company commanders), 28 trainers, and 11 base simulation instructors at MCAGCC, Twentynine Palms, CA. What emerges is a fascinating snapshot of the likes and dislikes of Marines.

Some noteworthy findings: • The most popular aspects of simulations were the realism of the simulations, followed by the chance to improve their military occupational skills and a gamelike atmosphere. For unit leaders, it was the chance to save on valuable training resources, followed by the ability to practice multiple events. For trainers, it was the ability to improve skills, followed by the ability to train in a safe environment and preparation for real exercises. Simulation instructors valued realism and the ability to improve skills.

• The biggest gripe of more than a quar32

M S & T MA G A Z IN E 5 . 2 0 1 4

ter of the trainees and 29 percent of unit leaders was that the games were unrealistic, and 16 percent were unhappy with buggy software and technical glitches.

Trainers pretty much felt the same way.

However, the biggest complaint of almost a quarter of the simulation instructors was that Marines were not taking the simulations seriously.

• A whopping 73 percent of Marine trainees in the survey owned a game console, and 40 percent used it daily.

About 65 percent of unit leaders owned a console, but only 3 percent used it daily, suggesting a wide disparity in console use and the implications of designing training games for console platforms.

• Just over 50 percent of trainees used a laptop or a desktop every day, while for unit leaders, trainers, and simulations instructors, the figure was more than 70 percent.

Yates notes that trainees find it easiest to accept simulations that teach procedural skills, such as the Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer (ISMT), the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Tactical Warfare Simulation (MTWS) and flight simulators. "The tactical decision-making simulations such as VBS2, are much harder to sell to the training audience as the tool’s overall usefulness and effectiveness are not so easily identified and perceived by the users," according to Yates. "This category of computer-supported training simulations need a lot more attention in the areas of advertis-

ing, dissemination, and during any types of actual training instruction for the systems i.e., Initial, Refresher, Train-theTrainer, etc."

In fact, the Marine Corps' Deployable Virtual Training Environment (DVTE) contains a whole suite of game-based training systems, including VBS2, Close Combat Marine and TacOps. Yet 84 percent of trainees and 74 percent of unit leaders have either never heard of DVTE, or never used it.

One positive note is that the belief that Marines look down on training games as mere toys isn't true. When asked if they support game-based training, 71 percent of unit leaders and 44 percent of trainees agreed, compared to only 18 percent of unit leaders and 9 percent of trainees who disagreed.

Dr. Amela Sadagic, Yates's thesis advisor, noted that the use of simulations is mandatory for pilots but optional for ground troops. "The question of what happens when the use of training simulations is optional is at the crux of our interest. What elements in unit decision-making contribute towards changing their training practice and including training simulations in their training regimen, and what makes other units not opt for the same training simulations. This is what we would like to understand more thoroughly."

Yates suggests the military more aggressively advertise game-based training in venues such as training schools and simulation centers. "The best type is where successes of peers are advertised, as a large number of users look for the opinion of their peers; the data acquired in this study suggests that number is approximately 47%."

Yates also believes that "change agents" familiar with simulations, and who can explain their strengths and weaknesses to a training audience, are also vital.

Sadagic wasn't surprised by the prevalence of digital devices, but she was surprised at the extremely high percentages – ranging from 73 to 90 percent - of young Marines that own smartphones, laptops, desktops and consoles, and that have an Internet connection. "This is a potential that is just waiting to be tapped in, both resource-wise and skill-wise," she added. mst

Image credit: Bohemia Interactive.

Interview

Tess Butler Tess Butler, ITEC 2015 Conference Chair shares her thoughts with MS&T's Europe Editor Dim Jones.

I

t is only a few months since ITEC 2014, but preparations for the 2015 event are already well in hand.

Next year’s Conference Chair, Tess Butler, PR Director for Bohemia Interactive Solutions, is focussed on making the event even more responsive to the needs of exhibitors, visitors and conference delegates.

MS&T: How do you see ITEC’s role in the S&T Industry?

Tess Butler: ITEC has important role to play in Simulation and Training. It’s the one place in Europe where a conference and exhibition provides a forum for more than 50 countries to freely exchange ideas, practices and technologies and discuss the latest developments with Industry.

MS&T: How do you feel about being the ITEC Chair for 2015?

TB: ITEC 2015 will mark 20 years of involvement for me in Simulation and Training. I have been involved in ITEC for 15 years and I am honoured to be asked. I really feel responsible in ensuring that we deliver the most relevant and dynamic conference and exhibition yet.

MS&T: What changes are you making for ITEC 2015?

TB: The main differences for ITEC 2015 are the early and year-long engagement with all stakeholders before the show.

Ideally, attendees of the conference and exhibition should already know what

they want to go and see, whom they wish to hear speak, and what they are going to demonstrate, and can have meetings set up whilst leaving enough flexibility to find the new. These changes are all about driving engagement and value for those attending and exhibiting. We all recognise that budgets are tight, and will continue to be, so it is of the utmost importance that ITEC delivers – delivers to the conference attendees, Military, Academia and Industry. I have been actively engaging all stakeholders since last February - before ITEC 2014. With the support of the organisers, Clarion, and the ITEC Committee, I have sought engagement from these areas by setting up Advisory Panels; we need everyone’s inputs to address the issues that are important to them. There are 3 panels: the Military Advisory Panel (MAP); the Academic Advisory Panel (AcAP); and the Medical Advisory Panel (MedAP).

We have already had a meeting of the MAP, and this has driven the Conference content and structure. After all 3 have met and delivered content, I will be providing a briefing to Industry at I/ITSEC on this information, to help them shape and deliver customer-relevant and exciting demos and content in the ITEC 2015.

MS&T: Tell us about the Military Panel.

TB: I set up the Military Advisory Panel as a result of discussions I’ve had over

the last decade at Simulation and Training shows – specifically that there hasn’t been a clear and simple conduit for the Military to communicate their needs and issues to the conference organisers and to Industry prior to each event – this goes for all shows, not just ITEC. Also, Industry really needs to know and act on the problems that their existing and future customers are trying to address and solve.

The members of the MAP had free rein, and an open forum without any outside influence, to raise the issues that matter to them. The MAP had 2 evenings and a very full day of discussing these issues, and delivered outcomes to be included in the Call for Papers and the Industry briefing later this year at I/ITSEC. MS&T: What do you want to achieve at next year’s ITEC? TB: I want the team to deliver the best possible conference, and the content, debate and presentations to be of the most relevant and highest quality. The Militaries who have contributed to the MAP have all said that they want their problems and future planning to be addressed; this means that papers shouldn’t have to provide ‘solutions’, but should leave room for debate - or indeed provide ideas for further exploration and experimentation. No technology can deliver a fix for every training challenge, just like no training deliverer has all of the best practice. Presenters will be invited to take part in more panels in the conference so that, rather than being ‘stand-alone’, they will work with other panellists and the audience on a subject.

MS&T: Do you think the changes at ITEC 2015 will translate to future ITECs, and what are you hoping to achieve with this change of approach?

TB: The S&T Community will change the future of ITEC, by being more proactive throughout the year in finding speakers and contributors, and creating an exhibition which is committed to addressing present and future training and research needs.

It’s not so much a change in approach as a call to action for everyone to deliver the best they possibly can in a positive environment.

MS&T: We wish you the very best in your leading role at ITEC 2015. See you in Prague, 28-30 April 2015. mst M S & T MA G A Z IN E 5 . 2 0 1 4

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World News & Analysis

Seen&Heard A compendium of current news from the military simulation and training industry, compiled and edited by news editor Fiona Greenyer and the MS&T editorial team. For the latest breaking news and in-depth reports go to www.halldale.com.

ROTARY WING TRAINING

ARMY TRAINING

Cooperation Agreement

Virtual Clearance Training Suite

AgustaWestland has signed a cooperation agreement with the Italian Air Force for training services aimed at further strengthening their already well-established cooperation through the future set up of joint training services.

The partners intend to co-develop rotary-wing training services by leveraging on the capabilities and synergies between the AgustaWestland Training Organization facility located in Frosinone and the Italian Air Force's 72nd Wing (72° Stormo). Through this cooperation, AgustaWestland will further expand the range of services it can offer in the training sector, while the Italian Air Force will enhance the level of training for its personnel.

The partners envisage the development of an integrated training solution based on the state-of-the-art AW139 helicopter model for twin engine/IFR/NVG conversion training for crews of the Italian Air Force's HH-139A and VH-139 helicopters, and the HH-101A which will primarily be used for personnel recovery and special forces operations. The Italian Air Force shall provide its extensive experience and assets for ab initio training.

MEDICAL TRAINING

Mobile Tablet Engineering & Computer Simulations (ECS) has designed a mobile tablet for training called Medical Training Command and Control (MTC2) that will help save the lives of soldiers wounded during combat. The tablet operates a network of devices that simulate a battlefield within the Armyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Medical Simulation Training Centers (MSTC). MTC2 controls and triggers explosions, smoke and flashes of light as soldiers race to administer aid to the wounded (in this case injured, but realistic, mannequins).

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MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

FAAC Incorporated has received an Engineering Change Order from the US Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) valued at $36 million. The change order to FAAC's Virtual Clearance Training Suite (VCTS) program reconfigures the previously contracted 28 training suites to match the US Army's current operational concept for Route Clearance companies and includes options for continued contractor logistical support of the fielded systems. VCTS simulates the wide array of large and small technical devices, purpose-built mine-protected security, detection, and clearing vehicles to train the ever-evolving tactics and techniques used by the US Army to combat improvised explosive devices. The reconfiguration effort will commence immediately and continue through 2016.

ARMY TRAINING

Supporting KBSC Cubic Applications, Inc. has been awarded a contract to operate the Korea Battle Simulation Center (KBSC) in providing battle simulation training support to the United States Forces Korea, the Eighth US Army, other US units and partner nations. The contract includes a six month base year and four one-year option years, and is estimated to have a value of up to $57 million with all options exercised. The Cubic team includes BAE Systems, Booz Allen Hamilton, CyberTech, Inc. and Sonalysts.

TRAINING DEVICE

TRAINING DEVICES

Full Mission Bridge Simulator

Altitude Chamber Acceptance

The Mexican Navy has selected VSTEP to supply a Class A NAUTIS full mission bridge (FMB) simulator and 24 NAUTIS desktop trainer stations for the Naval Academy in Veracruz. The simulators will be installed at the new simulator training wing of the Heroica Escuela Naval Militar set to open in Q4 2014.

The full mission bridge simulators have a 240° horizontal field of view and are fully compliant with the Class A DNV Standards for Certification No. 2.14 for Maritime Simulator Systems and IMO model courses 1.22 and 1.32. The simulators will use the NAUTIS Naval Task Force software module, which is specifically designed to meet the training requirements of navies and coast guards and include tactical communications, amphibious landing, replenishment at sea and Anti-Piracy Training. VSTEP has also developed and integrated different Mexican naval bases for implementation into the simulators.

COMPANY NEWS

Change of Company Name The Shareholder's Meeting of Reiser Systemtechnik GmbH has resolved to change the name to Reiser Simulation and Training GmbH. The family-owned company with its headquarters located close to Munich in Southern Bavaria, Germany, is providing ground breaking training technology and the entire scope of simulation and training for commercial, civil and military customers.

TRAINING DEVICES

UH-60L Trainers L-3 Link Simulation & Training (L-3 Link) has been awarded a contract from the US Army’s Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation to build three UH-60L Operational Flight Trainers (OFTs) and associated training systems for the Royal Saudi Land Forces Aviation Command.

Delivery of these trainers marks the first time L-3 Link’s RealitySeven™ full flight simulator technology solution will be used in support of a military training program. The first OFT will be delivered to the Royal Saudi Land Forces Aviation Command training facility and will be fully operational during the second quarter of 2016. The second and third OFTs will begin training pilots during the third quarter of 2016.

Under a teaming agreement, Advanced Electronics Company (AEC), headquartered in Riyadh, will provide L-3 Link with systems integration, device assembly and installation, and repair and maintenance services. AEC will support L-3 Link on the first UH60L OFT and lead the assembly and integration on the other two simulators.

Environmental Tectonics Corporation (ETC) has announced the final acceptance of two altitude training and research chambers provided to the Spanish Air Force (SPAF) and installed at their aerospace medical training center (CIMA) in Madrid, Spain. The first contract required moving the original chamber, first sold by ETC to the SPAF in 1978, from its initial location to the new CIMA, located at Torrejon Air Force Base.

The second chamber, a new Falcon altitude chamber, Model 12/4, was delivered, integrated, man-rated, and commissioned into service at the new CIMA location. The Falcon family of altitude chambers provides the most current technology available in altitude simulation. Both systems are able to support a host of research and operational missions.

TRAINING SERVICES

Training in African Countries Engility Holdings, Inc. has been awarded a $10.2 million contract to train and prepare military battalions from Benin, Senegal and Niger as the units ready for participation in the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Mali. Through this contract, which was awarded under the Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) program operated by the US Department of State, Africa Bureau, Engility will provide 12-week courses of intensive training for soldiers and battalion leaders. The company will also ship and provide the units with non-lethal military equipment, including helmets, vests, uniforms and boots.

Conference Proceedings

Conference Proceedings

CONTINUE YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTINUE YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACCESS CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS Continue your professional development with a wealthPROCEEDINGS of ACCESS CONFERENCE information available through Continue your professional our conference proceedings. development with a wealth of information available through If you were unable to attend our conference proceedings. one of our conferences but would like to access the latest If you were unable to attend research and key findings, our one of our conferences but conference proceedings are would like to access the latest now available in online format, research and key findings, our where you can access papers, conference proceedings are presentations and speaker now available in online format, audio*. where you can access papers, presentations and speaker www.aerosociety.com/proceedings audio*.

For more information please contact the Conference & Events department on

www.aerosociety.com/proceedings 020 7670 4345 or by email at conference@aerosociety.com

For moreview information please the Conference & Events department * Please our website for contact conferences that have associated proceedingson and associated costings.

020 7670 4345 or by email at conference@aerosociety.com * Please view our website for conferences that have associated proceedings and associated costings.

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World News & Analysis MEDICAL TRAINING

SOFTWARE

Medical Training in Hyper reality

Terrain Database Solution

The US Air Force Medical Modeling and Simulation Training, or AFMMAST, at Joint Base San Antonio - Randolph, Texas, is improving medical training by adding hyper reality and high fidelity with the new Tactical Combat Casualty Care Cut Suit. The suit is a learning tool that simulates the look, feel and smell of severe traumatic situations on a live human and gives medical providers a safe training environment to perform real procedures.

The cut suit gives medical providers a training platform to focus on the three primary causes of death on the battlefield: uncontrollable haemorrhaging, airway compromise and tension pneumothorax (an abnormal collection of air or gas in the space that separates the lung from the chest wall).

TRAINING SUPPORT

Navy Fleet Training Services Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) has won a $21.6 million contract to provide specialized analytical training and technical services for the US Navy's Fleet Forces Command’s Fleet Deployment Training Program. This will include live, virtual and constructive training program support, fleet training academics and instruction support, and training exercise and event support.

TrianGraphics GmbH, has released Trian3DBuilder 5.1, the latest version of its terrain database generation and modelling solution. This minor release of Trian3DBuilder offers basic changes in the 2D view of the application. It marks the first step of upcoming releases, which are currently in development, with major releases including advanced roads editing and visual scripting at the end of the year.

Trian3DBuilder 5.1 has undergone a complete rewrite of its 2D view, in which all data is visualized and can be edited. This view now also reflects the output projection and provides a better preview of the results to be expected in 3D. The user can operate directly in the output projection unit or as before in lat/lon degree. Satellite imagery is no longer permanently reprojected to the target projection, but is reprojected on the fly during the terrain generation without performance implication. This new approach can save a lot of conversion time and also disc space.

TRAINING SUPPORT

Joint Force Development Support Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) is one of seven companies awarded the Joint Force Development Support Services (JFDSS) contract to provide training, education and exercise solutions and services in support of the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Joint Staff J-7 Directorate, Combatant Commands, the military services, US Government federal agencies, and multinational partners. The multiple‐award contract has a five-year period of performance and a total potential value of more than $800 million for all awardees. SAIC will provide adaptive support for training and real-world operations by offering combinations of education (academics), training assessment, concept development, experimentation and assessments (solutions for warfighters) to sharpen the force in preparation for future challenges.

TRANING SERVICES

TRAINING SERVICES

IED Training

Cyber Training System

Cubic Defense Systems has won a contract with the Italian Army worth more than $12 million to provide specialist Home Station Counter IED training and an Instrumented Collective Combat Training Centre with follow on maintenance.

SCALABLE Network Technologies, Inc. has released its Network Defense Trainer (NDT) cyber training system. NDT integrates realistic cyber effects into physical/kinetic mission planning and mission rehearsal exercises.

Looking Forward 2014...I/ITSEC to I/ITSEC I/ITSEC 2014...I/ Exhibitors are in the final stages of planning for the show floor at I/ITSEC 2014. Some of those exhibitors share their intentions.

After Ex-Ample Strike in the Czech Republic, Close Air Solutions (CAS) will be delivering the same fully immersive, synthetic training system to JTAC/JFO teams as part of the MetaVR booth at I/ITSEC. This unique and proven training will be delivered in an immersive environment incorporating MetaVR's North East Africa (Kismayo) terrain database. A Non-combatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) scenario combined with a team of accomplished FAC instructors and strike aircrew push the prospective students to the required learning objectives.

CAS specialise in developing and delivering synthetic systems and all-encompassing training scenarios to military customers. www.closeairsolutions.com Booth #1249 Bohemia Interactive Simulations is excited to announce 36

MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

the launch of VBS Tactics at I/ITSEC 2014. VBS Tactics is an intuitive, web-based constructive simulation software interface.

VBS Tactics allows users to conduct real-time tactical exercises by controlling company- to battalion-size AI entity groups in a 2D virtual environment. The interface allows users to configure doctrine-based orders of battle, plan a mission, run it in real-time, and review the results in after-action review.

With VBS Tactics, users can go beyond the typical mapand-pencil approach to training officers on conventional warfare tactics. Officer trainees can test their proposed tactical solutions in real time. VBS Tactics includes a timeline feature that allows users to synchronize maneuvers within the battlespace, so users practice tactics in both space and time.

MetaVR will showcase in Booth #1249 features and enhancements in its Virtual Reality Scene Generator™ (VRSG™), 3D terrain, and 3D models, focused on the recently released VRSG

MEDICAL TRAINING

COMPANY NEWS

Aeromedical Evacuation Training

Project Innovation Award

CAE has been awarded a contract through ADS Inc. and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Tailored Logistics Support (TLS) program to provide the United States Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) at Dobbins Air Force Base with a comprehensive Aeromedical Evacuation Training System.

CAE will provide a high-fidelity C-130 fuselage trainer configured for aeromedical evacuation missions. Within the fuselage trainer will be CAE Healthcare iStan human patient simulators, which feature internal robotics that mimic human cardiovascular, respiratory and neurological systems. When iStan bleeds, his blood pressure, heart rate and other clinical signs change automatically, and he responds to treatment with minimal input from an instructor. The overall training system provided by CAE will include courseware and curriculum, as well as a hand-held, wireless tablet instructor operator station to provide full control and customization of a variety of training scenarios.

Christie® has won the Simulation Australia Project Innovation Award for retrofitting the visual system of the Wedgetail E-7A operational flight trainer. The Project Innovation Award is part of the Simulation Australia 2014 Awards organized by Simulation Australia, and recognizes and celebrates innovation and excellence in simulation by project teams in Australia and New Zealand who have achieved outstanding results in delivering a new simulation capability or utilizing a simulation capability in a new and improved way.

Christie’s Matrix StIM™ LED illuminated simulation projection system was deployed to power the new upgraded visual system of the Wedgetail E-7A operational flight trainer, which is used for training Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) flight crew.

The new visual system enabled the flight trainer to retain the FSD-1 Level 5 standard, making it the first of its kind in the Australian simulation community.

SOFTWARE

TRAINING SERVICES

SOFTWARE

TerraTools 5

Repair & Maintenance Support

Virtual Simulation & Training Platform

Drumgrange has secured an additional four and a half years of repair and maintenance support for Bowman ComSim classrooms. ComSim is a computer controlled Radio Propagation Simulator allowing safe and realistic classroom training for the deployment of Bowman assets across an operational area.

Drumgrange have developed a complementary product to ComSim, Generic ComSim that is radio agnostic. Generic ComSim is currently in operation with radio manufacturers and government agencies in Europe and the Far East.

Intelligent Decisions, Inc. has acquired the rights, assets and intellectual property related to Quantum3D’s ExpeditionDI product line.Used in the original development of Intelligent Decisions’ Dismounted Soldier Training System (DSTS), ExpeditionDI is a man-worn, fully immersive, team simulation solution. Its open architecture platform for integrating simulation and game software enhances the capabilities of the DSTS and is what allows Intelligent Decisions to offer the US Army an end-to-end tactical training solution for dismounted personnel.

TerraSim has released TerraTools 5, the latest version of its terrain generation database software that uses cartographic source data to generate high-fidelity terrain databases. TerraTools 5 has more than 500 new features, bug fixes and maintenance. It also allows users to parametrically and automatically generate complex, multi-story interior buildings complete with rooms, walls, windows, doors, and stairs. Interior buildings can be exported to runtime specific interior model formats for placement in a terrain database and exported to multiple runtime formats.

...I/ITSEC 2014...I/ITSEC 2014... version 5.9. This release of VRSG contains several new features, enhancements, and 3D content related to distributed mission operations training. Demonstrations in the MetaVR booth will include: • MetaVR’s new high-resolution geospecific 3D terrain of the southern Somalia port city of Kismayo. This new virtual 3D environment, built to support US Africa Command (AFRICOM) and NATO training, contains varied terrain representative of important training environments, from a built-up port to dense urban streets to a sparsely populated outer region that includes a commercial airport.

• JTAC/FAC training classroom. MetaVR will team with business partners Battlespace Simulations and Close Air Solutions to provide a JTAC/FAC simulation classroom in the booth for conducting training exercises with MetaVR and Battlespace Simulations’ accredited JTAC simulator.

• MetaVR’s new VRSG Scenario Editor. This scenario-creation

and editing application provides a graphical interface with tools and content libraries you can use to build dense 3D scenes with realistic visual characteristics and scenarios to play back in VRSG. Scenario Editor is ideal for populating virtual worlds with 3D content quickly, and creating and sharing tactical training scenarios easily.

• New version of MetaVR Terrain Tools for ESRI® ArcGIS™. This ArcGIS plugin enables users to turn their geospatial data into real-time 3D terrain from within their GIS software. The latest release includes support for several new terrain feature types and a capability for generating instanced cultural features for creating a large area of culture quickly.

Many of MetaVR’s database demonstrations will contain 3D character animations and substantial cultural feature assets from MetaVR’s 3D content libraries. The total number of models in all of MetaVR’s model libraries is over 5,300.

MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

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World News & Analysis TRAINING SERVICES

Synthetic Air & Land Mission Training

QinetiQ has been awarded a ÂŁ33 million contract for the continued provision of synthetic air and land mission training for the UK military. The training programme, developed over the last five years by QinetiQ with the Ministry of Defence (MOD), will take place at the Air Battlespace Training Centre at RAF Waddington in Lincoln, UK. The contract will run for five years.

The Distributed Synthetic Air Land Training 2 (DSALT2) programme will be provided, maintained and supported by QinetiQ's Training business on behalf of the UK Defence Equipment & Support organisation, with support from sub-contractors Boeing and Plexsys, amongst others. DSALT2 is capable of reconfiguration and the training will evolve over the next five years to meet the future operational needs of the military.

SOFTWARE

TRAINING SUPPORT

Training Management System

Enhancing Training

Britannica Knowledge Systems has won the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tender to provide a management system to oversee training, resources, scheduling, competency, qualification, and learning. Britannica's Fox system will be implemented throughout the IDF and within a year for the army's training operation and the giant new military training complex in southern Israel (training tens of thousands of military personnel) set for completion in 2015. The estimated scope of the project is approximately $9 million.

The project, which will integrate force-wide training management into one comprehensive system, includes the delivery of professional services, implementation, customization, maintenance and support. The IDF will use Fox for training planning; multifaceted scheduling management; human/physical resource allocation; lodging and catering coordination; qualification, learning and course management; training evaluation and knowledge assessment; personal recordkeeping; and training analysis and control.

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) of the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) has appointed SEA, a subsidiary of the independent technology group Cohort plc, to deliver a ÂŁ4 million research programme as part of the Synthetic Environments Tower of Excellence (SE Tower). The research programme will focus on future training and experimentation environments, with the aim of developing, evaluating and enabling the exploitation of advanced Live, Virtual and Constructive simulation architectures, interoperability and management techniques.

The SEA-led team will investigate innovative ways to integrate and deliver live and virtual simulations for training and experimentation environments more effectively and efficiently, exploiting increasingly-realistic lower-cost synthetic environments where appropriate. SEA will be supported by its partners BAE Systems, Thales UK and QinetiQ, augmented by industry and academia specialists from across the SE Tower. The research programme is being commissioned as part of MOD's efforts to achieve efficiency savings, particularly in the area of military training.

Looking Forward to2014...I/ITSEC I/ITSEC .I/ITSEC 2014...I CAE is a world-class training systems integrator that offers training centers, services and simulation products designed to prepare defence and security forces for mission success. While most know CAE for its flight simulation and training capabilities, the company actually provides solutions across the air, land, sea and public safety market segments. At I/ITSEC 2014, CAE will feature a range of technology and capability demonstrations related to each of these segments, including a visual demonstration of its helicopter simulation and training leadership and new simulation-based solutions the company has developed for emergency management training and operations. In addition, CAE Healthcare will be demonstrating its human patient simulators, such as the Caesar trauma patient simulator for combat medic training.

L-3 Link Simulation and Training will demonstrate an immersive and adaptive training environment for the 21st cen38

MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

tury learner. Using maintenance training as an example, L-3 Link will demonstrate open architecture total training solutions which use existing content in a synthetic training environment. This environment permits the student to learn at their pace to master tasks more quickly and retain skills longer. Additionally, L-3 Link will emphasize the merger of virtual and constructive training domains into a single synthetic training environment, which simplifies interoperability.

D-BOX will be at I/ITSEC 2014 presenting its motion solutions in several live interactive simulation demos with its partners.

D-BOX launched a defense Training and Simulation division to answer the needs and requests from this industry. The Canadian based company delivers a pre-integrated motion solution ready to connect with several COTS software (including CM Labs Vortex, Bohemia Interactive VBS2 and VBS3, as well as others) based simulation application, allowing virtual training teams to

TRAINING DEVICES

SOFTWARE

Defence Contracts CAE has won a series of contracts valued at approximately C$110 million to provide a range of training systems and services for global defence customers. The Beechcraft Defense Company LLC awarded CAE a contract to develop and support a comprehensive T-6C ground-based training system (GBTS) for the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). The GBTS will be an integrated system that includes two T-6C operational flight trainers, computerbased classroom training systems, and courseware customized for RNZAF pilot training. The training system will be delivered to RNZAF Base Ohakea in 2015.

Germany's Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Tech-

nology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) has contracted CAE to replace obsolete components and upgrade the visual systems on the German Air Force's Eurofighter simulators. The visual system upgrade will include the addition of CAE's latest generation CAE Medallion-6000 image generator along with new highresolution projectors and dome display.

Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI) has contracted CAE to provide its CAE Medallion-6000 image generator for a T-50IQ full mission simulator that KAI is developing for the Iraqi Air Force. CAE will also provide a database modeling station and support KAI with integration and training services.

TRAINING SERVICES

PILOT TRAINING

€70 million Bundeswehr Order

Multi-Year Agreement

Rheinmetall AG has won a €70 million service contract from the German Bundeswehr to continue operating the German Army Combat Training Centre for four more years. Rheinmetall AG will be responsible for providing contractor support for the complete exercise and training operations of the military training facility in the Altmark region of SaxonyAnhalt. The actual value of the order will depend on the level of Bundeswehr utilization during the entire four-year lifespan of the contract.

Saab and the Empire Test Pilots’ School (ETPS), operated by QinetiQ, have strengthened their unique test pilot training partnership with the signature of a new multi-year cooperative agreement.

Saab will support ETPS flight operations with the Gripen D fighter over a four-year period, from 2015 to 2018.

The agreement is for the provision and use of Gripen D fast-jet aircraft and associated requirements, for the ETPS fixed-wing European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) compliant Test Pilot and Flight Test Engineer courses.

Preferred Studio Initiative Fast growing UK studio Real Visual is to be the first Partner in Unity Technologies new Preferred Studio initiative. The initiative is designed to connect enterprises in need of contractors with highly skilled development studios that have a long track record of creating excellent interactive experiences outside of traditional games development.

Real Visual, the first Premium Partner in the initiative, is best known for its work in the defence industry, interpreting complex CAD and 3D data of military assets, such as vehicles, into high-end training simulations for global contractors such as BAE Systems. Real Visual's technical capabilities has allowed the Plymouth studio to produce state of the art training simulations, marketing applications, and architectural visualisations, covering all vertical markets not usually associated with gaming technology.

TRAINING DEVICES

Training & Simulation Orders Raydon Corporation has won $99.4 million in orders from GSA Federal Acquisition Services to produce and field 101 commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS), highfidelity virtual training suites for the Army National Guard.

...I/ITSEC 2014...I/ITSEC 2014... simply integrate simulators with an efficient hardware and software motion solution. Dedicated to supporting the missions of the training and simulation community, D-BOX delivers controlled, efficient, and adapted motion solutions to any virtual training environment. This gives trainers the ability to stimulate operator muscle memory, developing reflexes and preparing them for real life. For more information, contact: Sebastien Loze, director Training and Simulation, D-BOX, sloze@d-box.com GDIT has submitted (late) a request to make a Plenary Session presentation on the topic of “Improving Military Health System Quality and Patient Safety through Medical Modeling and Simulation.” GDIT will be staffing a booth at the I/ITSEC Conference - Defense Solutions Division (DSD) representatives will be discussing "Enhancing Military Training through Simulation," and Healthcare Solutions Division (HCSD) representatives will be discussing how GDIT can provide comprehensive Medical Modeling

and Simulation support to MHS customers.

Additionally, DSD and HCSD representatives will be collectively discussing how the DSD (who are experts in supporting Warfighter Simulation and Training) and HCSD (who are experts in Medical Modeling and Simulation) have partnered to potentially integrate and provide support for a combined WarfighterOperational Medical Simulation support package designed to train deployable forces.

Barco is redefining the concept of lamp-based, single-chip simulation projectors. Looking for a projector that makes your simulation- and collaboration suites a true success? Meet Barco’s compact F50. The projector seamlessly combines a wide range of resolutions - native WQXGA, Panorama, WUXGA or full HD – with high frame rates and active 3D stereo. In addition, it is totally reliable, silent and boasts a low total cost of ownership!

Read more at www.barco.com Booth #2435 MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

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World News & Analysis

Farnborough 2014 The 2014 Farnborough International Air Show took place between 14th and 20th July, and was blessed with mostly fine, dry, warm (and humid) weather. The halls were busy, and most exhibitors declared themselves satisfied with the volume and quality of visitors. Many large contracts were announced although, in common with Paris, FIA merely acts as a showcase for business which has been concluded some time before. Despite the fairly public spat between the UK and Russia over Ukraine (the UK Government actively discouraged Russian participation, invited no Russian government guests, and declined to take delegates to meet Russian companies; the Russian government advised the withdrawal of their delegation and complained of visa restrictions), Russian aerospace was prominently and enthusiastically involved.

For the military modelling and simulation enthusiast, and in common with Eurosatory the previous month, there were things

to see, but they were generally not ‘front of house’. Again, many of the big companies had S&T content on their stands but, it was mostly connected with training provision in support of wider contracts.

The air display, during the trade days at any rate, was fairly low key, the more so because the Star of the Show, the F-35B, failed to appear due to a fleet grounding following an engine fire in the US. I did find some of the displays by civil aircraft, such as the A380, most impressive, both for their amazing lack of noise – in contrast to the Typhoon’s and Super Hornet’s surfeit of it – and for the fact that such a large aircraft really ought not to be flying, let alone manoeuvring, at what appear to be double-figure airspeeds.

In sum, FIA 2014 was a well-organised event and, in terms of things to see and networking opportunities, clearly achieved the aims of exhibitors and visitors alike. - Dim Jones

PILOT TRAINING

M-346 Delivered to IAF The first two advanced trainer M-346 produced for the Israeli Air Force (IAF) have been delivered to the Hatzerim Israeli Air Force Base, which will gradually replace the TA-4s currently operated by the IAF. In July 2012, Alenia Aermacchi was awarded a contract from the Israeli Ministry of Defence (IMOD) to supply 30 M-346 advanced jet trainer aircraft and to include ground based training systems in collaboration with other Israeli and international companies.

All 30 aircraft are expected to be delivered by the end of 2016.

TRAINING SERVICES

CAE USA Selects AQT Solutions CAE USA has selected AQT Solutions’ ATMS (Aviation Training Management System) to manage their training programs for the MQ-1 Predator and the MQ-9 Reaper.

CAE USA has been using ATMS at its C-130 Tampa Training Center to support the aircrew and maintenance training as well as providing training management for US Coast Guard crews, and other military operations.

In addition to ATMS, CAE USA will leverage several of AQT Solutions other products to provide the military training programs the ultimate training solution. ATMS Web will provide military trainees with immediate access to training schedules, qualifications and launching e-learning content. ATMS Mobile will provide instructors with disconnected, touch grading on mobile devices with the ability to upload results quickly to the main system.

Index of Ads AgustaWestland www.agustawestland.com IFC Bohemia Interactive www.bisimulations.com 15 CAE www.cae.com OBC I/ITSEC www.iitsec.org 28 KMW – Krauss-Maffei Wegmann www.kmwsim.com 18 & 19 L-3 Link Simulation & Training www.L-3com.com 7 JVC www.jvc.co.uk 23 MS&T Magazine www.halldale.com/mst 27 & 31 RAeS www.aerosociety.com 35 Raydon www.raydon.com 4 SAAB www.saabgroup.com 3 TerraSim www.terrasim.com 17 TrianGraphics www.triangraphics.com 11 Tru Simulation + Training www.trusimulation.com IBC

TRAINING SERVICES

Managed Training Service Saab and the UK Ministry of Defence have signed a three year new contract for a managed training service for British Army Overseas Training Exercises utilising Saab's DTES system. The order amounts to MSEK 200 (US $ 28M). Saab's Deployable Tactical Engagement Simulator (DTES) system provides the infrastructure, instrumentation and resources to enable force elements to conduct realistic, live, force-on-force training while the movements and combat performance of individuals, vehicles and equipment are tracked and monitored for After Action Review. This solution is structured for light-role Infantry Battle Groups training. The exercising troops conduct collected training from Platoon level to Brigade HQ. 40

MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

Advertising contacts Director of Sales & Marketing Jeremy Humphreys [t] +44 1252 532009 [e] jeremy@halldale.com Sales Representatives USA & Canada: Justin Grooms [t] 407 322 5605 [e] justin@halldale.com Europe, Middle East & Africa: Chris Richman [t] +44 1252 532007 [e] chrisrichman@halldale.com South America: Willem-Jan Derks [t] +1 954 406 4052 [e] willem@halldale.com

Supplier SPotlight Correction In the article ‘ITEC 2014’, MS&T issue 3/4, 2014, the author stated that the UAS-MTT from Airbus Defence and Space is based on the product Solus Air from eurosimtec GmbH, which is not in accordance with the facts. The UAS-MTT is a configurable system suitable for the overall training of UAS operators including the joint training aspect. The system was developed by Airbus Defence and Space (former Cassidian) in cooperation with eurosimtec GmbH and is based on easy to swap individual components. Airbus Defence and Space provided the UAV platform itself, the operator workstations for command and payload, communication links, and the tactical environment and sensor imagery generation. The Instructor Operator Station is supplied by eurosimtec GmbH.

Calendar Simulation & training events organised by Halldale Group 23-24 September 2014 APATS 2014 – Asia Pacific Airline Training Symposium Centara Grand Convention Centre Bangkok, Thailand www.halldale.com/apats 28-29 October 2014 EATS 2014 – European Airline Training Syposium Estrel Hotel, Berlin, Germany www.halldale.com/eats 10-11 February 2015 AAETS – APATS Aviation Education & Training Symposium Hyatt Regency Hilton Incheon, Republic of Korea www.halldale.com/aaets 21-23 April 2015 WATS 2015 – World Aviation Training Conference & Tradeshow Rosen Shingle Creek Resort Orlando, Florida, USA www.halldale.com/wats

Supplier Spotlight Aegis Technologies The AEgis Technologies Group is a small business prime contractor headquartered in Huntsville with offices in Orlando, Albuquerque and Washington, DC. AEgis is an internationally recognized leader in Modeling and Simulation (M&S), supporting various industries through our engineering services, hardware and software products, and professional training. Our global client base includes aerospace, defense, automotive, biomedical, chemical, and other process industries that use M&S. AEgis serves customers in several technology areas, including Simulation Products & Training Systems, Geospatial Programs, Hardwarein-the-loop Simulation Systems, Warfighter Exercise Support, Systems Engineering, Verification Validation & Accreditation and Test & Evaluation.

Contact: Del Beilstein Email: dbeilstein@aegistg.com Web: www.aegistg.com AgustaWestland Finmeccanica – AgustaWestland, a leading rotorcraft manufacturer, is also an established provider of training services and solutions to a wide range of commercial and military customers around the world. Examples of the training capabilities offered to meet and maintain operational effectiveness include military flying, conversion and mission training solutions.

Contact: Geoff Russell Email: geoff.russell@agustawestland.com Web: www.agustawestland.com Bohemia Interactive Founded in 2001, Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim) is a global software company at the forefront of simulation training solutions for military and civilian organizations. BISim develops high-fidelity, cost-effective technologies for tactical military training. We apply gamebased technology to a range of breakthrough, military-specific training and simulation software products. For more information, visit our website at www.bisimulations.com.

Contact: Tess Bulter Email: tess.butler@bisimulations.com Web: www.bisimulations.com CAE CAE is a global leader in providing training solutions based on worldleading simulation technology. CAE offers defence and security forces training centres, training services and a comprehensive portfolio of simulation products across the air, land, sea and public safety market segments.

Other simulation & training events 22-23 September 2014 Military Flight Training London, UK www.militaryflight-training.com 20-22 October 2014 International Urban Operations Conference Berlin, Germany www.urban-operations-conference.com 21-23 October 2014 Military E-Learning & Smart Devices London, UK www.militarysmartdevices.com 1-4 December 2014 I/ITSEC Orlando, Florida, USA www.iitsec.org

Contact: Chris Stellwag

Email: milsim@cae.com

Web: www.cae.com

Concurrent Real-Time Concurrent Real-Time is the industry’s foremost provider of high-performance Linux® realtime computer systems and software solutions for commercial and government markets worldwide.

The company’s core competencies include hardware-in-the-loop and manin-the-loop simulation, high-speed data acquisition, process control and low-latency transactions processing for a wide range of markets. For more information, visit www.real-time.ccur.com.

Contact Name: Ken Jackson Email: info@real-time.ccur.com Web: real-time.ccur.com MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

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Supplier SPotlight

Supplier Spotlight JVC Professional Products Co. JVC Professional Products Company, a division of JVC Americas Corp., manufactures high resolution, super contrast D-ILA projectors for simulation and advanced visualization. D-ILA projectors, available at resolutions of 4096 x 2400 and 1920 x 1080, and were the first LCOS technology projector to achieve Level D certification for flight simulation.

SAAB

Contact: Tom Stites Email: tstites@jvc.com Web: www.pro.jvc.com/visualization

Contact: Claes-Peter Cederlof Email: market.training@saabgroup.com Web: www.saabgroup.com

L-3 Link Simulation & Training L-3 Link Simulation & Training is a world leader in providing intelligent total training solutions for operators and maintainers across a wide range of military, civil and commercial platforms. L-3 Link provides a full range of pervasive, persistent and accessible training options designed to produce mission-ready personnel. These solutions can include high-fidelity immersive simulations, as well as distributed academic and interactive courseware. L-3 Link’s solutions are supported by comprehensive life cycle support services that reduce risk and costs while achieving a return on training investment for our customers. Our training system solutions have been delivered to customer locations throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim.

Servo Kinetics Inc. MOTION & SERVO SPECIALISTS

Servo Kinetics Inc. (SKI) has provided quality hydraulic motion system repair and refurbishment support to military simulation for 35 years. ISO-90012008, An appointed Hydraulic Motion System Actuator Repair Provider for CAE Military Customers. Recent Military Projects: USAir Force B-2, E-3, KC-10, C-130, Marine Corp.

EH-6B, AH-1W, NAVAIR MH-53E, Mission Accomplished!

Contact: Frank Casano Email: Frank.casano@L-3com.com Web: www.link.com

Contact: John Kokalis

Email: jlkski@suddenlink.net

Web: www.servokinetics.com

TerraSim Inc. TerraSim develops and supports software systems for advanced, automatic terrain database generation; supporting multiple formats across visual, constructive, and serious game runtime simulations. TerraSim will demonstrate the latest capabilities in TerraTools 5 and Batch Mode Manager, and preview future enhancements to our suite of source data preparation products.

A BOHEMIA INTERACTIVE SIMULATIONS COMPANY

Contact: Spencer Huff

Email: marketing@terrasim.com

Web: www.terrasim.com

TRU Simulation + Training

MetaVR MetaVR develops PC-based commercial 3D visualization software, 3D content, and tools to create networked virtual worlds using geospecific, real-world data. MetaVR visual systems are used for applications such as UAS trainers, flight simulators, mission planning/rehearsal, JTAC simulation training, aerial refueling boom operator training, urban operations training, and disaster management training.

Contact: W. Garth Smith

Email: sales@metavr.com

Web: www.metavr.com

NTSA NTSA is the premier organization representing the interests of the training, modeling and simulation community worldwide. NTSA serves as a constant point of contact for government, academia, industry, research organizations and the military to exchange information, share knowledge, align business interests and in general stimulate growth and overall advancement of the industry.

Contact: Debbie Langelier

Email: dlangelier@ndia.org

Web: www.trainingsystems.org

The Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society is the world's only professional body dedicated to the entire aerospace community. The Society organises an extensive programme of training Conferences across the calendar year, aimed at stimulating discussion and the exchange of ideas within the aerospace and aviation sectors.

Contact: Emma Bossom Email: emma.bossom@aerosociety.com Web: www.aerosociety.com Raydon virtual training systems

www.RAYDON.com

Contact: Cory McAndrew

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Saab is a high-technology company with its main operations in defence, aviation and civil security. In the training area Saab develops world leading systems and services for military training and homeland defence. We provide training systems that creates optimum conditions for soldiers and officers to improve their abilities.

Raydon has been at the leading edge of simulation training technology for more than 26 years. By anticipating changing needs and new challenges, Raydon rapidly provides relevant, affordable training solutions to improve performance and achieve success. For more information on Raydon and its family of products and training solutions, visit www.RAYDON.com Email: cmcandrew@raydon.com

Web: www.RAYDON.com

TRU Simulation + Training delivers full-spectrum solutions, superior technical support and customer service to the civil and military aircraft simulation and training markets. TRU’s custom-built, true-to-life flight training solutions are trusted by both commercial air transport and business aviation customers, while the company’s comprehensive, end-to-end aircrew and maintenance training solutions keep military customers mission-ready. TRU Simulation + Training Inc., a Textron Inc. company, is headquartered in Goose Creek, S.C. Contact: Andrew Morris

Email: amorris@trusimulation.com

Web: www.trusimulation.com

Bohemia Interactive Simulations introduces VBS IG Bohemia Interactive Simulations introduces VBS IG, which leverages VBS3 technology to create an image generator ready for the simulation industry.

The U.S. Army contracted BISim to upgrade its legacy image generator with a high-fidelity, game-based image generation solution for its Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT) system. After two years of development and testing, VBS IG will be ready as an image generator for CCTT training and will be available as a COTS product in early 2015.

Using the CIGI standard, VBS IG will be suitable for ground, rotary, fixed-wing, and maritime simulations. BISim has optimized the VBS3 engine, which is based off a commercially successful game engine, to ensure high frame rates for rendering scenes with real-world view distances and large numbers of moving entities. VBS IG also provides massive terrains, weather support, sensor support, and shared content with VBS3.

VBS IG is a capable and cost-effective solution for the defense industry’s training and simulation needs.

For more information go to www.bisimulations.com

MS&T MAGAZINE 5.2014

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