MS&T 1/2022

T H E

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

D E F E N C E

T R A I N I N G

J O U R N A L

Volume 39 • Issue 1.2022

Now incorporating

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PATROLLING WITH POSEIDON

The Kipper Fleet Rises Again

IT2EC LONDON PREVIEW

Journey to Resurrection MATURING REALITIES

The Edge of the XR Envelope GEOPOLITICAL TENSION

The Bear, the Dragon and the Eagle

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Training the next generation at the US Air Force Academy Geospecific 3D terrain | Joint & strategic mission training | Networked environment The US Air Force Academy uses 100 MVRsimulation Virtual Reality Scene Generator (VRSG®) licenses on RPA and fixed-wing aircraft simulators at its new Multi-Domain Laboratory (MDL).

VRSG is used as part of ZedaSoft® Zuse fixed-wing and RPA Mockingbird Drone simulators at the MDL. The flight simulator has a three monitor out-the-window configuration, featuring VRSG visuals and 3D content. The UAS/RPA Drone simulator includes ZedaSoft’s Mockingbird software with VRSG providing the HUD camera and sensor ball (EO/IR and SAR) simulation.

Top: High-resolution (0.15 mpp) VRSG imagery of Buckley Air Force Base.

Bottom Left: Simulators showing VRSG in use at the MDL (USAFA MDL image).

Bottom Right: VRSG real-time scene of an MQ-9 Reaper entity in flight over geospecific virtual terrain of Hajin, Syria.

MetaVR has changed its name to MVRsimulation to align more closely with its growing suite of simulation products.

The MVRsimulation logo and Virtual Reality Scene Generator © 2022 MVRsimulation Inc.

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EDITORIAL COMMENT

ISSUE 1.2022

Training Exercises Matter Four years ago, in “All’s Not Quiet on the Eastern Front,” I wrote about the quadrennial Zapad exercise in Belarus, Kaliningrad and Russia involving as many as 100,000 troops, which some viewed as a rehearsal for an invasion of the Baltics, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and bombing of Germany. Riho Terras, commander of the Estonian Defence Forces, alleged that Zapad simulated a “full-scale conventional war against NATO in Europe.” One naysayer called that “alternative history... being passed around Twitter.” And yet, Russia had followed a similar scenario in 2008 in Georgia and 2014 in Crimea, using the guise of ‘snap drills’ to amass troops on the border they were about to violate.

I had inquired about becoming an embedded journalist at Zapad 2021, which grew to as many as 200,000 participants; I would have liked to observe the massive exercises from the Russian point of view. I was especially interested in the attitudes and discipline of the troops, less so the posturing of the generals.

But we couldn’t make it happen.

The invasion of Ukraine demonstrates that large-scale military training exercises are not, as some think, merely an excuse to fire up the afterburners, chew up farmland with tank treads, and feign interoperability because you purchased weapons from the same sources.

Training exercises are only as beneficial as the intensity of effort and desire that goes into them. If the troops are merely going through the motions, little of value will be learned.

If, however, there is a willingness to learn, to make mistakes, to adapt, those lessons can be carried over to a real-life battlefield.

If numbers of troops and firepower were the decisive factors in battle, Russia would have certainly overwhelmed the smaller Ukrainian force in a few days, as they expected.

Rick Adams But motivation matters. The heart Editor-in-Chief that is defending family and homeland beats a different tune than the one which is palpitating from orders to attack by officers they fear but don’t trust.

“Clearly the Ukrainians have tremendous fighting spirit at the individual soldier level,

“The heart

that is defending

family and homeland

beats a different tune…”

at the small unit level. They feel that right is on their side,” noted Gen. Kenneth Franklin (Frank) McKenzie Jr., Commander, US Central Command.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger added, "I think they're proving to be very disciplined, very well trained, very well led, and now very inspired.”

In contrast, Jack Watling of the Royal United Services Institute noted Russian forces continue to surrender, abandon their vehicles, and show little initiative in areas they control: “this is not a force that is well motivated.”

US Gen. David Petraeus (Ret.) said the Russians are "just surprisingly unprofessional. They clearly have very poor standards when it comes to performing basic tactical tasks such as achieving combined arms operations, involving armor, infantry, engineers, artillery and mortars.

They are very poor at maintaining their vehicles and weapon systems. They are also poor at resupply and logistical tasks."

In the classic Hemingway tradition, tens of thousands of volunteers have joined the impromptu Ukrainian Foreign Legion, eager to see action in a romanticized defense of the underdog. Some have combat experience, most do not, and after one early skirmish the survivors were summarily dismissed. If they manage to make it to Lviv, those without military experience are put through a four-week training course, hardly qualifying as competency-based training. An unknown number of legionnaires were at a camp near the Polish border which was destroyed by Russian Tupolev bombers.

I would suggest as an alternative to “war tourists” that more nations follow the example of the Swiss, the Israelis and others... to require military service (or civil service) of all young men, young women too, and that they continue in reserve service with refresher training for a decade or so (to age 60 in Finland).

Some things, I think, you can train, such as procedure and discipline. But motivation, courage, honour... these must come from within.

Rick Adams, FRAeS Editor-in-Chief, MS&T

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rick.adams@halldale.com MS&T MAGAZINE 1.2022

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CONTENTS

ISSUE 1.2022

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13

MS&T Magazine Military Simulation & Training Magazine

Editorial Editor-in-Chief Rick Adams, FRAeS rick.adams@halldale.com Group Editor Marty Kauchak marty.kauchak@halldale.com Europe Editor Dim Jones dim.jones@halldale.com Procurement Chuck Weirauch

chuck.weirauch@halldale.com Industry Reporter Amanda Towner

amanda.towner@halldale.com Production Editor Fiona Greenyer fiona.greenyer@halldale.com Special Andy Fawkes Correspondent andy.fawkes@halldale.com

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03 Training Exercises Matter. Russia followed a similar scenario in 2008 in Georgia and 2014 in Crimea, comments Editor Rick Adams, FRAeS. 06 The Bear, the Dragon and the Eagle. The US has re-entered an era of peer competition with Russia and now China as well. Group Editor Marty Kauchak reviews some DoD training developments.

10 Getting ‘Prickly’ in Asia Pacific. Defence forces in the Asia Pacific region are taking note of European developments, and interpreting them for their own situations. Atul Chandra and Rick Adams survey the volatile landscape.

12 Russia & China: Who's in Charge? To face the challenge of Sino-Soviet solidarity, the West needs unity beyond the NATO partnership, notes Rick Adams.

13 The Edge of the XR Envelope. The most advanced eXtended Reality technologies and applications for military training. MS&T Special Correspondent Andy Fawkes reports.

14 Alt-Reality Experiences. From Australia to Alaska, training professionals are implementing AR, MR, VR and XR technologies to enhance knowledge and skills at reduced cost. Compiled by MS&T Editors.

16 Government and Innovation – Oxymoron or OTA? The need for rapid adoption of technologies often poses challenges for the US government; Ken Storey describes a Central Florida-based technology accelerator designed to change that.

On the cover: All post-delivery aircraft acceptance activity for the UK Poseidon MRA1 was undertaken by MOD using combined RAF and DE&S teams.

Image credit: UK MOD © Crown copyright.

Cpl Lee Matthews/ RAF

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20 The Kipper Fleet Rises Again. MS&T Europe Editor Dim Jones visits Lossiemouth, Scotland to delineate the training regime for the RAF’s MRA1 (P-8A) Poseidon multi-role maritime patrol aircraft.

24 Journey to Resurrection. Dim Jones and Andy Fawkes discuss the aspirations of the IT2EC organisers, Clarion Defence and Security, with their Chairman, Air ViceMarshal (Ret’d) Gary Waterfall.

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Also produced by The Halldale Group:

27 Ready for the Next Disruptive Event? Evolving S&T business models as companies shift from pandemic to endemic, including technology supporting offsite training/education and work. Marty Kauchak profiles business practices.

30 Small Booths with Big Ideas at I/ITSEC. First-time exhibitors at I/ITSEC catered to the rise of digital natives. Ken Storey explored some off-the-main-aisle booths featuring bold thinking and aspirations.

32 FSI Defense is ‘All In On the Defense Side’. Marty Kauchak and Rick Adams interviewed Dan Davis, President, FSI Defense, a FlightSafety International company.

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MS&T (ISSN 1471-1052) is published three times per year in April, September and November by Halldale Group.

MS&T MAGAZINE 1.2022

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GEOPOLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS

The Bear, the Dragon and the Eagle The US has re-entered an era of peer competition with Russia and now China as well. Supporting this new geopolitical reality is a flurry of activities to increase the rigor and scale of DoD’s training and education programs. Group Editor Marty Kauchak reviews some developments.

T

he US Defense Department’s training and education programs can’t seem to earn a respite after two decades of ground operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

After Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine, American and NATO forces in Europe are on heightened alert. At slightly lower but still persistent and intense level of activity, the US is competing with China in the economic and political spheres of influence in the Pacific region, Africa and even Latin America.

Seismic Shifts The plate tectonics of the normally traditional and staid education community are doing nothing less than quickly shifting, in particular in professional military education (PME).

In one instance, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. signed the charter last July for the US Air Force’s China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI), signaling the service’s intent to focus education, awareness and understanding more heavily on China’s growing military threat.

CASI conducts research on Chinese aerospace, to include air-, space-, cyber- and missile-related fields, directly enabling the warfighter’s understanding of Chinese aerospace and strategic thinking.

The institute is off to a quick start to more effectively align USAF, and even the broader US DoD, education portfolio to the rapidly evolving geopolitical environment. Dr. Brendan S. Mulvaney, CASI’s director, told MS&T recently that CASI continues to produce its video series on Competition with China. “The next couple of videos in the series, which come out every couple of weeks are: Strategic Perspective, PLA [People’s Liberation Army] Navy, Overview of China’s National Strategy, and the PLA Rocket Force. We will also hold our bi-annual conference May 17th at National Defense University. And, of course, we continue to pub06

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lish our research, as well as translations of PRC strategic documents as part of our ‘In Their Own Words’ series.”

As a report card on other progress to date, the institute director emphasized, the organization has presented at all levels of education and training, from enlisted courses and basic officer training to the three-star general officer level, and literally every rank in between.

“We have keynoted the PACAF [Pacific Air Forces] Commander's Conference, a CSAF [chief of staff of the Air Force] roundtable, and Space Command Commander’s conference, just to name a few.

As well as untold hours supporting DoD wargame efforts.”

In February, the Air Force continued its momentum to address the ever-shifting dynamics of the global political and military landscapes by doing nothing short of overhauling other parts of its PME program.

This set of actions significantly increases classroom instruction covering the nation’s competitors, specifically China and Russia, at all levels of PME and in many of its other programs and courses such as the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies.

A service document noted, “With the start of academic year 2022 this past

Above In a scene reminiscent of the Cold War 1.0 era, a USAF F-22 Raptor intercepts a Russian Tu-95 Bear, in 2020, near Alaska.

Image credit: US DoD/North American Aerospace Defense Command.

August, 40% of officer PME curricula is now focused on China and 60% on competition overall, including Russia. Considerable increases on competition were also made in all levels of enlisted PME and Air University’s officer accession programs, Air Force ROTC and Air Force Officer Training School.”

Due to enhanced US DoD operational security considerations, Air University declined to further discuss these PME changes.

Synchronizing Learning to Policy The US Marine Corps Force Design 2030 is the premier US military service document articulating the Pentagon’s redirected mission focus from countering violent extremists in the Middle East to great power/peer-level competition, with special emphasis on the Indo-Pacific.

The document calls attention to this profound shift in missions, from inland to littoral, and from non-state actor to peer competitor, and the necessary requirement for “substantial adjustments in how we organize, train, and equip our Corps.” Much like the initial shift in other major US DoD strategies and doctrines, the amount of change in current Marine Corps learning activities at this point appears deliberate and incremental. The tempo of evolution in USMC training and education is about to quicken and become more expansive.

According to Chuck Little, Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff, Communication Strategy and Operations, US Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, major changes are on this command’s horizon, with the Marine Corps in the Indo-Pacific expected to see a greater focus lent to experimentation, learning, decision-making, simulations, and wargaming.

Little further explained, “Our intent is to pursue training venues that allow for live, force-on-force training, putting leaders in positions to make decisions in real-time against a thinking adversary.

We want our Marines to gain experience from repetition in these areas and it doesn’t necessarily have to take place in the field. We envision training our infantry squads to conduct multi-domain operations independent of a geographically co-located higher headquarters

providing command and control. Rather, these infantry squads will be lighter, faster, equipped with a suite of communications tools, unmanned systems, and weaponry to be resilient and survivable inside contested maritime zones [often referred to as ‘gray zones’]. These changes to training are a logical response to the changing emphasis of national defense strategy, which now focuses primarily on great-power rivals rather than the terrorists who drew Marine units into extended operations on land after 9/11.”

Another trend is the greater focus on USMC interoperability and integration with allies, partners, and the joint force. The command executive emphasized that every day the Marine Corps sees increasing signs for why it’s important to combine efforts with allies and partners. “We live in a globally connected environment and this theater has been designated as the main effort in the National Security Strategy.” He continued, “Accordingly, our training exercises and other training engagements at the tactical and small unit level will prioritize bilateral or multilateral participation. The aim point is always improved interoperability and ability to share information with one another using advanced and resilient command and control. This training will occur through training exercises like RIMPAC, Balikatan, Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, and the Unit Deployment Program.”

One recent, key demonstration of this increased interoperability was the first-ever landing of the Marine Corps’ newest aircraft model, F-35B Lightning II, on the Japanese ship Izumo off the coast of Japan last October. The Izumo-class multi-purpose destroyers are helicopter carriers in service with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). US Marines and sailors embarked aboard the Izumo in support of the exercise.

And while the Marine Corps is increasing the scope of its

Above A Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) launcher and its Naval Strike Missiles participated in a live-fire exercise as part of Large Scale Exercise (LSE) 2021. During that enhanced, more rigorous training event, a Marine Corps fires expeditionary advance base (EAB) sensed, located, identified and struck a target ship at sea, which required more than 100 nautical miles of missile flight. EAB Operations concept is a core component of the Force Design 2030 modernization effort.

Image credit: US Marine Corps/Major Nick Mannweiler.

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GEOPOLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS exercises and other training events, the activities are concurrently becoming larger and inclusive, and more rigorous and complex.

In July-August last year, more than 25,000 Marines and sailors participated in Large Scale Exercise (LSE) 2021, the largest naval and amphibious exercise conducted since the Cold War era. Little noted LSE 2021 “created opportunities to improve naval integration, evaluate new technologies and demonstrate progress made toward implementing the Commandant's Force Design 2030 vision.”

The exercise demonstrated 24/7 global operations of the US Navy and Marine Corps through live, virtual, constructive (LVC) and scenario-driven training focused on Distributed Maritime Operations, Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations, and Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment. These three concepts highlight some of the major shifts in focus to Marine Corps training in the Pacific. We will focus more on these concepts and less on protracted ground engagements and counterinsurgency operations as we have over the past two decades.”

Another instance of the sea services’ increasing rigor in its training activities was the inclusion of the latest weapons platforms and strategies in the appropriately labeled Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS)/ SINKEX event during LSE 21. During the event, US joint forces conducted coordinated multi-domain, multi-axis, longrange maritime strikes in the Hawaiian Islands Operating Area during the sinking of the decommissioned guided-missile frigate ex-USS Ingraham, which concluded LSE21. “The point of the SINKEX was to demonstrate that the US Navy could work with other services collectively utilizing a common operating picture to strike in unison – from the land, air, sea surface, and beneath the sea, culminating in the successful sinking of the target ship,” the command spokesperson noted.

He added: “US Third Fleet’s Carrier Strike Group One launched F/A-18E/F Super Hornets to test the Joint Standoff Weapon; F-35C Joint Strike Fighters employed laser guided weapons; P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and 08

reconnaissance aircraft tested the Harpoon weapon system; and the fast-attack submarine USS Chicago (SSN 721) fired a UGM-84 anti-ship Harpoon missile and a Mark 48 Advanced Capability torpedo.”

A huge, watershed LSE sub-event that helped further place the Marine Corps at the cutting edge of new tactics and doctrine was the NMESIS part of the SINKEX. In NMESIS, Marines participating in SINKEX employed a pair of Naval Strike Missiles which traveled more than 100nm (161 km) before striking the Ingraham.

Little concluded that the live-fire, long-range precision strike mission was the first tactical demonstration of the flexibility and lethality enabled by Marine expeditionary advance bases, a key component in the Marine Corps’ Force Design 2030 efforts. “The last documented time a Marine ground unit was credited with sinking a ship was 11 December 1941 during the defense of Wake Island. Battery L, of Wake Island’s 1st Defense Battalion, used 5-inch 51-Caliber guns to engage and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Hayte.”

While these training events with leading-edge weapons platforms and systems occurred in the Pacific region, their applicability and lessons learned are transferable to units in other regions – including the European theater and Middle East.

Above US DoD's combined training program is expanding in scope and complexity in this new era of peer competition. A member of the Philippine Armed Forces and US Marines set security during an amphibious assault demonstration in support of Marine Exercise Philippines at Brookeís Point, Philippines. This event was designed to demonstrate US commitment to the Pacific region and US long-standing treaty allies.

Image credit: US Marine Corps/Sgt. Israel Chincio.

Training and Education as Policy Enablers As the US continues its national strategic and supporting defense pivot to the Pacific, it is concurrently focused on evolving events in, and adjacent to, the NATO area of responsibility. The training and education enhancements noted above, with more on the way, promise to change the scope and focus of training and education through the ranks of US service members, and carry over into unit and staff training readiness.

Editor’s Note: Some companies approached for comment declined on the premise of not upsetting customers in the AsiaPacific region. mst

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TRAINING EXERCISES

Getting ‘Prickly’ in Asia Pacific

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, military activity in the rest of the world faded from the headlines. However, defence forces in the Asia Pacific region are taking note of European developments, and interpreting them for their own situations. Atul Chandra and Rick Adams survey the volatile landscape.

W

ithin three days of Russia’s assault on Ukraine and a day after a US warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait, China held three days of military exercises in the South China Sea. Beijing blasted the destroyer’s transit as a “hypocritical, futile and provocative action,” and claimed it deployed its “forces to track and monitor” the warship’s movements.

Eight Chinese jets entered what selfruled Taiwan calls its air defense identification zone (ADIZ).

A few days later, China conducted a supposed snap drill which seemed to disguise a search-and-rescue effort for a crashed Y-8 maritime patrol aircraft in the waters south of Hainan Island. The 12-day drill also encroached parts of Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone, 60 nautical miles (110 kilometers) from Vietnam’s ancient capital of Hue. The Vietnamese government protested, asking China to “respect Vietnam’s EEZ and continental shelf, stop and not to repeat any act that complicates the situation.” The unwelcome incursion could delay adoption of the Code of Conduct, intended to reduce the risk of conflict in the South China Sea, where China’s expansive claims overlap with those of several ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) territories.

Meantime, Taiwan has observed how the outmanned nation of Ukraine

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has been fending off the Russian bear in expectation of an assumed invasion

by China. Taiwanese President Tsai Ingwen said, “The recent situation in Ukraine once again proves that the protection of the country, in addition to international solidarity and assistance, depends on the unity of the people.”

Mara Karlin, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Capabilities, said, “I think the situation we’re seeing in Ukraine right now is a very worthwhile case study for them about why Taiwan needs to do all it can to build asymmetric capabilities, to get its population ready so that it can be as prickly as possible should China choose to violate its sovereignty.”

Taiwan plans several military exercises in the coming weeks. The program will involve about 15,000 reservists at 24 battalions. Taiwan’s air force and navy have also been carrying out a series of exercises, and Taiwan’s army is expected to carry out live-fire drills.

Defense officials in Taiwan claim these exercises were scheduled prior to the war in Ukraine.

Analysts suggest Taiwan’s military lacks manpower and requires updated and intensified training. Some lawmakers have begun to urge the government to reinstate a one-year mandatory military service. Volunteers on four-year contracts

Left China continues to ‘exercise’ in neighbors’ territories.

Image credit: China Military Online.

currently comprise 90% of Taiwan’s military. “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has strengthened our determination to defend Taiwan, but we are far from ready,” said Chiu Hsien-chih of Taiwan's New Power Party.

China's People's Liberation Army is increasingly investing in its special operations capability and long-range firepower, in addition to growing its army aviation capability with new drones and helicopters. Recent exercises featured more than 30 aircraft and drones undertaking air strikes, conducting reconnaissance and air assault troops being inserted into the training ground in helicopters.

J-20 fifth-generation fighter jets belonging to the air force (PLAAF) have increased the intensity of night flying training; recent exercises witnessed four J-20s belonging to an aviation brigade carrying out nighttime Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air combat training.

Li Ling, Commander of the PLAAF Aviation Brigade, said the difficulty and intensity of night flying training was being increased to enhance the PLAAF’s night combat capability. “We have made training after midnight and before dawn our new norm, to develop the ability to fight at any time,” he said.

Elsewhere in the Region Russian, Chinese and Iranian naval forces trained together in the Gulf of Oman as part of Exercise CHIRU-2Q22. Naval personnel from the three participating nations carried out artillery firing at sea targets, joint manoeuvring and training on search operations, including release of ships seized by ‘pirates’.

The exercises featured a guided-missile destroyer and supply ship from the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) along with ship-borne helicopters and 40 personnel belonging to the PLA Marine Corps.

A detachment of ships from the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet took part in the exercises, then moved to the Mediterranean Sea to join Russian Navy Northern and Baltic Fleets warships for exercises.

Russia’s land forces are planning to participate in joint international exercises this year with India (Indra 2022), Mongolia (Selenga 2022), Egypt (Arrow of Friendship 2022), Vietnam, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Laos and Pakistan. According to the Russian MoD, all the exercises are planned with a peacekeeping and anti-terrorist orientation.

The Indian Navy’s Western Naval Command concluded the joint maritime Exercise Paschim Lehar (XPL-2022) on India’s West Coast across 20 days. Over 40 Indian Navy ships and submarines took part.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) deployed SU-30 MKI and Sepecat Jaguar aircraft (configured in the maritime strike role), in addition to mid-air refuellers and AWACS. These aircraft exercised alongside MiG-29K fighters, P-8I and IL-38SD maritime reconnaissance aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles. Army air defence batteries also participated.

Exercise Sea Dragon, an annual, US-led, multi-national highend Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) training exercise at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam saw participation from six nations. US Naval forces engaged with members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Indian Navy, Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF), and Republic of Korea Navy (RoKN). Two US Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft from the “Golden Swordsmen” of VP-47 and “The Tridents” of VP-26 joined in the exercises.

Lt. Cmdr. Braz Kennedy, OIC for the US detachment from VP-47, said, “The continued growth and increasing complexity

of this exercise affords an opportunity to practice ASW tactics, techniques, and procedures with allies and partners that we don’t often get a chance to work with.”

The exercises centered around ASW training and encompassed over 270 hours of in-flight training, including tracking of simulated targets and culminating with the tracking a live US Navy submarine.

Exercise Cope North 2022 (CN22), a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR), large-force employment and aerial combat training exercise in February featured approximately 130 aircraft from over 30 units, generating more than 2,000 sorties across seven islands and 10 airfields.

The Cope North series of exercises are the US Pacific Air Forces’ largest multilateral exercise held between the United States Air Force (USAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF). “Cope North 2022 will enhance the tri-lateral forces’ capability for HA/DR in the IndoPacific, ensuring a highly effective and professional response, when needed,” said RAAF Task Unit Commander, Group Captain Andrew McHugh.

CN22 commenced with a HA/DR event to train participating forces in their combined ability to support the Indo-Pacific region during a natural disaster. Fighter aircraft from participating air forces conducted aerial refueling, close air support, and counterair missions. The training missions culminated with a large-force employment exercise designed to enhance readiness and interoperability among the three partner nations. mst

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Image credit: Xinhua News Agency.

TRAINING EXERCISES

Russia & China: Who’s in Charge?

To face the challenge of Sino-Soviet solidarity, the West needs unity beyond the NATO partnership, notes Rick Adams.

C

“

hina thinks that they should be the lead, and Russia thinks they should be the lead, so I’m fairly happy with that tension there,” said Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, commander of Pacific Air Forces, during an AFA Mitchell Institute discussion.

[It’s] “interesting to see the power play,” he added. Wilsbach believes this issue will “be a problem for them” in the future.

The countries’ dictators have repledged mutual support recently after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which some analysts have speculated may present China with an opening to attack Taiwan.

China and Russia have conducted numerous joint military training exercises. However, Wilsbach said their forces are not interoperable. “We’ve seen some integrated bomber patrols, along with their command control aircraft and tankers… very short exercises together through the Pacific.”

“There’s been a couple of other exercises that we’ve seen them do together, but I would not say that they’re interoperable in any way,” Wilsbach opined.

“Their systems are quite different.”

China has acquired some advanced Russian equipment as part of the People’s Liberation Army’s modernization, and Chinese troops have probably 12

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learned more from training with their Russian counterparts, who have actual recent combat experience.

Wilsbach stated that China and Russia can’t help but see that the US and its allies and partners in the Pacific possess the interoperable advantage. “They see us flying with Republic of Korea and with Japan and Australia,” as well as with Indonesia, India, Malaysia, and Singapore.”

“We fly with them routinely,” he noted, “And we’re interoperable… We’re flying a lot of the same equipment. We’re even data-linking together, in some cases. And the tactics are very similar… something the Chinese really don’t have.”

He added that he thinks China is taking “a pretty cautious approach right now, based on uncertainty of how this [Ukraine] might turn out” and the “international backlash that’s happened toward Russia. They probably don’t want to get caught up in that.”

Wilsbach said China continues to operate in the Pacific “in many instances, outside the rule of law,” periodically making incursions on neighbor territory, using “predatory lending practices” to achieve influence in a number of countries, and denying democracy to Hong Kong.

The US Air Force continues to do

daily training in the Asia-Pacific region, one of the key differences from “a year or two ago,” adding “our frequent daily operations” are “fully integrated” with the Navy and Marine Corps, “mostly west of the [International] Date Line, to demonstrate what US forces can do in that part of the world.”

He said he hopes that one of the “key lessons” the Chinese are taking from the Russian invasion of Ukraine is “the solidarity of the global community” in opposing “an unprovoked attack on a neighbor,” and the onerous sanctions that have economically crippled Moscow.

“I’m hoping China recognizes that,” and if China behaves in a similar way against Taiwan or another neighbor “something more robust will happen,” Wilsbach added. An unprovoked attack would “provide solidarity for the nations to come together and oppose something like that.”

China should also consider, before undertaking adventurism like Russia’s, “some of the terrain they would have to contend with” and the opposition of regional countries. [Russia has] “killed many of their own people as well as Ukrainians, and I’m hopeful China will pay attention to that as well.”

Wilsbach was amused that China accuses the US of trying to create a NATO of the Pacific, noting it’s China’s own actions that are inspiring those discussions.

Russia-China analysts speculate the Soviet-Sino alliance could be weakened, whether by economic pressure on China or if Putin is removed from power; it would take time for Xi to build trust with a new Russian leader, leading China to a more cautious approach to military cooperation in the meantime. This could mean fewer and watered-down exercises on noncontroversial topics such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Stronger Russia-China military ties, however, could translate to Chinese purchases of Russian arms, and vice versa, and pressure to reduce arms sales to countries in territorial conflict with China, such as India and Vietnam.

Training exercises might increase in frequency and expand in scope and complexity, including anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare. mst

XR HARDWARE Left Vrgineers’ XTAL 3 professional-grade headset features custom, “exceptionally clear,” patented non-Fresnel lenses.

Image credit: Vrgineers.

The Edge of the XR Envelope What was not long ago deemed to be a niche and experimental technology, XR is maturing and finding its way into many applications. MS&T Special Correspondent Andy Fawkes reports on recent hardware developments.

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R, or eXtended Reality, is an umbrella term that covers virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) and reflects how different levels of immersion in the virtual world can be delivered depending on the application. High-end headsets can now provide near-eye-resolution and increasing processing power is leading to lighter and smaller headsets with the ability to operate untethered. We are also witnessing significant growth in sales at the consumer end, raising awareness and growing the XR ecosystem.

“Our goal is to develop mixed reality that will replicate what you can see with the human perceptual system,” John Burwell told MS&T. Burwell is the Global Head of Simulation and Training at Finnish company Varjo. He explained that this goal was set to provide customers with a level of visual acuity that can be achieved in a dome-based simulator and “if we can provide that same capability for $10,000, that's where the big advantage comes in”.

Varjo is very focused on the enterprise market and their requirementsbased approach is quite different from XR commodity providers “who are going to grab any technology they get to produce a $500 or $600 headset,” Burwell commented. Working closely with enterprise customers means that they can also capture valuable feedback. As an example, Burwell cited the issue of user comfort; so with their latest XR3, “we dramatically redesigned the whole product to focus on the human element, redesigning the headband based upon a 1950s welding helmet where the forehead strap takes most of the weight.”

Aneta Klimova, CMO of VR/MR specialists Vrgineers, told MS&T what differentiates their company is that they “only focus on pilots” and have supported a range of aircraft, including the F-35 and Typhoon. Their latest headset, the XTAL 3, was launched in January and offers an impressive field-of-view of 180° horizontal and 90° vertical together with 4K resolution displays and MR cameras. The pilot can sit in a fully functional physical cockpit replica, allowing them to experience realistic haptic feedback. When asked about competition from other vendors, Klimova said, “To be very honest, I'm quite happy for Varjo because they're pushing us to be better and better, and I think that our focus (on pilots) makes us a bit different.”

One recent Vrgineers client is Praguebased European Air Services, who have developed a physical F-16 cockpit replica built on a raised motion platform. Based in Czechia and the US, Vrgineers was founded in 2017 and already has prestige clients including the USAF and NASA.

Incremental and Revolutionary Although the pace of technological change can seem very high and disruptive, XR companies often take an incremental approach to their designs. “We most recently went from an 87-degree field-of-view to 115-degree field-ofview” Varjo’s Burwell told us, “And sooner or later such improvements will become revolutionary because you'll hit certain limits that will enable new markets and enable new use cases even though it's really just based on incremental improvements.”

As one example, Varjo mixed-reality technology can now support pilots training side-by-side in a physical cockpit so that the pilots can see each other and interact with the physical switches and controls but the outside view is virtual.

A Role for Consumer-Grade XR UK-based AVRT, founded in 2016, has been working with a number of police forces to develop training systems to support a range of scenarios that are difficult or expensive to replicate – for example, handling a Taser weapon. As AVRT’s Project Manager Andy Higgs explained, they looked at a number of headsets for their free roaming system and settled on the $299 Meta Quest 2 as “most of our customers are not habitual VR users” and the Quest 2 as an untethered headset “is really easy for someone who's never used VR before.” The positional accuracy of the system is enhanced by antilatency technology, which is highly accurate, flexible and easy to deploy. AVRT are now demonstrating their technology to the British Army as well.

Virtual Reality as a Service To reduce the computing and power demands on a headset, companies are looking to stream virtual content over WiFi and 5G networks with the computing located in the Cloud, Edge or on-premises. One such company is USbased Brightline, who have partnered with Nvidia to exploit their “CloudXR” technology in order that XR users do not need to be physically tethered to a highperformance computer.

Brightline’s CEO Tyler Gates told MS&T, “We have built a lot of capabilities over the last couple of years, and we’ve learnt that the customer needs to be able to distribute immersive content at scale right off the bat.” CloudXR has been a “big game changer”, according to Gates, and it has given the company the ability to deliver “virtual reality as a service” when built on top of 5G and Cloud architectures. mst MS&T MAGAZINE 1.2022

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VR/AR/MR/XR

Alt-Reality Experiences

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rom Australia to Alaska, trainers of defence forces, law enforcement, medical and other safety-critical professionals are implementing virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and extended reality technology to enhance knowledge and skills at reduced cost. Here are a few representative developments in recent months, as featured on Halldale.com.

• ‘Pilot-Dedicated’ Headset - Vrgineers (Prague, Czechia) has launched its XTAL 3 VR and MR headset. XTAL 3 offers an extended field of view (180° horizontal and 90° vertical) and 8K resolution (a combination of two 4K resolution displays and a pair of 4K mixed-reality cameras). The mixed-reality version of the headset allows pilots to see their hands and interact with instrument panels, learn proper motor skills, and practice standard procedures. The XTAL 3 currently supports Vrgineers’ proprietary inside-out tracking, Optitrack, ART Tracking and Vicon with plans to integrate Lighthouse tracking later this year. The initial XTAL 3s will be delivered to the US Navy and US Air Force to support current contract commitments.

• Varjo Base 3.5 - Recently released by the Finnish company, introduces a new experimental distortion reduction model, personal settings for foveated rendering, and improvements to existing features. New personal calibration settings for foveated gaze rendering help personalize each VR/XR experience. The Base 3.5 features include: foveated rendering - new calibration options, Unity - AR Foundation support, API - experimental new measurements (in mm) for pupil and iris diameter eye-tracking, API - global chroma key toggle for Varjo mixed reality. Users are now able to use the geometry generated through Ultraleap as a dynamic hand mask in mixed-reality experiences.

• ERAU-USHST-Ryan Research - An Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University research project is analyzing how VR-enabled flight training can dramatically improve aviation safety. The study is being conducted in partnership with the US Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) using technology provided by Ryan Aerospace

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and its partner Precision Flight Controls.

Project lead Dawn Groh, Associate Professor of Aeronautical Science and Department Chair at ERAU, is a former US Army (Black Hawk) aviator. She said the project is using the baseline USHST video “56 Seconds to Live” to insert rigor and fidelity of unintentionally entering bad weather and instrument meteorological conditions in training by way of simulation. “The argument that I am making is there is a significant reduction in training cost. There are things you can safely do in the simulator that you cannot do in the aircraft.”

• Street Smarts for Security Forces The US Air National Guard 195th Wing’s Security Forces wing tested out the Street Smarts VR training system, part of a costeffective innovation plan to help implement SF training for both SF defenders and SF augmentees stationed throughout the state of California. “Security forces are usually the first to respond to a situation and that requires extensive training and confidence in that training, by trusting the information given to you, trusting your gear and knowing how to use it,” said Staff Sgt. Alex Tranchina. “Street Smarts VR allows a better understanding of the information that is being taught to you and the equipment that’s being given to you. When you become more confident and skilled in your tools, tactics and timing, that directly relates to the de-escalation of violence.”

Above Users can deploy virtual- and mixedreality applications from the Cloud for human-eye resolution VR/XR content directly to Varjo headsets.

Image credit: Varjo.

Street Smarts VR offers an immersive, full-body experience with real-time feedback, so a unit can prepare for highrisk situations and worst-case scenarios safely, affordably, and with repeatability.

Training includes numerous types of scenarios and equipment options including lethal and less-lethal weapons to enhance reactionary responses, focused decision-making, and de-escalation techniques for potentially violent situations.

• Keystone State Cops Go Mobile The public safety Mobile Virtual Reality Experience (MVRE) will offer 36 credentialed VR training modules to municipal law enforcement departments and educational institutions through the Wrap Technologies Reality platform. Wrap is partnered with the Emergency Response Training and Certification Association (ERTCA) and the Mansfield University Public Safety Training Institute (MUPSTI). The mobile platform began traveling throughout Pennsylvania and Upstate New York in March. “Virtual reality is perhaps the most important tool educators have in leveling the playing field when it comes to in-service training,” said Chief Scott Henry, Director of MUPSTI’s ACT 120 program.

• Make My Day - InVeris Training Solutions unveiled its VR-DT (Virtual Reality – Decisions and Tactics) solution and full range of live-fire and virtual training products at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show) in Las Vegas. The immersive VR-DT enhances training for de-escalation, safety tactics, mental health crisis intervention, use of force and protocol.

• Aussie Naval Firefighting - The Australian government is funding the development of AR/VR naval firefighting training system for the Australian Defence Force. Deakin University will collaborate with Australian immersive learning solutions developer Flaim Systems, based in Geelong, and Kellogg, Brown & Root. The immersive training system will combine AR/VR technology with Artificial Intelligence. Flaim’s portfolio includes the US Air Force, Rio Tinto and CFA; they developed the world’s first immersive technology-enabled firefighter training solution at Manufutures on Deakin’s Waurn Ponds campus.

Top Versius Virtual Reality will roll out from late Summer 2022.

Image credit: FundamentalVR. Above An environmental systems specialist reviews a technical order during virtual C-130 aircraft maintenance training at Joint Base ElmendorfRichardson, Alaska.

Image credit: US Air National Guard/Staff. Sgt. Daniel Robles.

• Virtual Hangar in Alaska - The 176th Maintenance Group at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, used squadron innovation funds from ARCWERX to create a VR lab which will enhance training capabilities for maintenance airmen by giving them an interactive way to familiarize themselves with maintenance processes without a physical airframe. “This is intended for a trainer to be a safety rep and stand behind him but also to teach while he’s going through the steps,” said Master Sgt. Bryan LoPorto, 176th MXG maintenance training manager. “It enables them to provide training to supplement what

they would learn on the aircraft in an environment that’s less stressful.” Virtual Hangar uses the same controllers and program available on Steam, a game service that is popular in the online gaming community. The lab currently has access to C-130 modules, but the long-term plan is to have modules that focus on the other airframes present at the 176th Wing.

• Soft-Tissue Surgical Robotics Cambridge, UK company CMR Surgical is launching a professional education programme for the Versius Surgical Robotic System, the first soft-tissue surgical robotics system to offer VR training as part of its surgical team training pathway. Versius VR, in partnership with FundamentalVR, mimics the real-life environment of an operating room. Versius integrates into existing workflows, increasing the likelihood of robotic minimal access surgery (MAS).

• Nuke Ops VR - General Electric Hitachi Nuclear Energy is utilizing its Nuclear Virtual Reality Solution tool to help nuclear power plant operators train personnel for outage, operations and maintenance work. John Mackleer, Senior Vice President, Field Services for GEH, said, “Virtual Reality immersive rooms enable outage and maintenance personnel to gain realistic, practical experience including training for scenarios that cannot be recreated in physical mock-ups or during plant power run cycles.” Nuclear VRS offers the flexibility to replicate the layout of different plants, including boiling water reactors and pressurized water reactors, and fuel movement technologies.

• The Sexual Assault Prevention and Response unit at US Air Force Base Fairchild in Washington implemented new VR training to continue to prepare airmen in recognizing and assisting victims of sexual assault. “For those who have never had to help a sexual assault victim, this training helps them see what a sexual assault response might look like, and it also gives them options on what to say,” said Jessica Bradshaw, 92nd Air Refueling Wing Sexual Assault Response Coordinator. “So if at that moment they don’t know what to say, or they feel they might say the wrong thing, this training helps them pick out what would be appropriate.” mst MS&T MAGAZINE 1.2022

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TRAINING PROCUREMENT

Government and Innovation – Oxymoron or OTA? The need for rapid adoption of technologies often poses challenges for the US government; Ken Storey describes a Central Florida-based technology accelerator designed to change that.

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im Greeff first realized the need for streamlined prototyping and procurement methods when he was having some drinks with some combat vets, and the conversation turned to the need for better technology in the field.

The founder and CEO of the National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL) told MS&T, “I really started to learn about how bad the technology acquisition was, particularly on the frontlines in Iraq or Afghanistan and places where we were. My own background is in energy, and that’s sort of the tech network I had at the time. So decided that we can probably start an organization to help bridge this gap. Within a month or two of getting started, I learned that acquisition was a big part of that.

The contracting mechanisms traditionally that the government uses are so dated and complex.”

This complexity, according to Greeff, is partly to blame for the decline in innovation required to keep pace with not only the nation’s adversaries but also with the basic commercial marketplace.

NSTXL was founded in 2014 and has been developing a network of technology companies and minds from across the nation. They gained international attention in late 2020 when the Space Force awarded them a 10-year, $12-billion Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC) contract. While that project brought with it some short-lived scrutiny of NSTXL and the Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) contracting mechanism overall, Greeff remains committed in his belief that their unique public networking approach will drive much-needed inno-

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vation in addressing government-led opportunities.

[Editor’s Note: Originally launched in the 1950s and resurrected in recent years, OTAs enable contracts outside the standard Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) process to attract nontraditional defense contractors, leverage commercial advancements, and expand the industrial base while reducing risk through collaborative prototype iteration. Contract vehicles via the NSTXL platform are authorized by Title 10 US Code § 2371b, Authority of the Department of Defense to Carry Out Certain Prototype Projects. The government is now able to transition a successfully completed prototype into full-scale production without additional competition.]

The reduced capacity for innovation meant “stuff that was getting delivered to the government was actually outdated.” But Greeff then found a solution via OTAs. Using NSTXL networks as a conduit for creativity thanks to their wider reach, especially among companies and individuals not typically

Above Ryan Pulliam (left) of Specular Theory and Shelley Tweedy of NSTXL demonstrate the California company’s air-to-air refueling virtual reality simulator.

Image credit: NSTXL.

involved with DoD contracts, Greeff has built a powerhouse of an OTA, what is now one of the leading DoD OTA contracting channels.

Using distinct OTAs, NSTXL can ensure challenges are met in a quick fashion. This is thanks in part due to the cross-pollination the group as a whole is designed around. For Tara Kilcullen, the Training and Readiness Accelerator (TReX) Director, this collaboration is part of what attracted her to the group.

“What I love about it is it truly is a diverse organization. And the OTA itself is diverse.”

“We have three active OTAs right now,” she explained. “One is focused on space. One is focused on hypersonics with the Navy. The training and readiness accelerator, while it’s an Armyowned contract at PEO STRI [Program Executive Office - Simulation, Training and Instrumentation], its readiness component opens it up into all kinds of avenues.”

Kilcullen points to a recent project where, once SOCOM [United States Special Operations Command] was ready to move on from a project, a different agency picked it up. “The project kept going but underneath a different government entity so that they can continue prototyping for new requirements,” explained Kilcullen, adding, “I thought that was really awesome.”

The teamwork that comes from joining various companies together doesn’t come naturally. Greeff explains the partnerships are thanks to a very specific tool the NSTXL uses known as Design Sprints. “We base it on design thinking, and it’s about an engagement between industry and the government programs early on. Define what the problem is, and then allow industry to inform the art of the possible for a solution.”

This tool, according to Greeff, also means more opportunities for new companies to compete. “The traditional federal acquisition is so complicated that you end up essentially with this oligopoly of companies that have the size and the tolerance for spending countless hours and tens of thousands of dollars per proposal, sometimes just to get it in, and then they can also stand to not hear back for months, not to get paid for

Above Tim Greeff (top), NSTXL Founder and CEO, and Tara Kilcullen, TReX Director.

Image credit: NSTXL.

months. So by combining the industry engagement with these rapid acquisition vehicles, NSTXL was the first to create a full acquisition strategy from ideation to delivery of prototype, where industry is engaged every step of the way. And we’re also greatly increasing the number of participants so that you increase competition.”

Innovation is at the heart of the open model NSTXL uses. “Our standard baseline is that we will promote the problem statements publicly… If you have a closed network and base membership off of exclusivity, you try to make it too exclusive. That is the opposite of innovation.”

While various OTAs under NSTXL are found throughout the US, the

Orlando base isn’t by chance. With their office a short walk from PEO STRI and a short drive from the Space Coast, NSTXL has also benefited from the technology companies that the region has developed around its tourism sector. “I’ve actually had a lot of conversations with folks that focus on the AR/VR/XR type of environments for theme parks, and they’ve reached out asking how they can get involved with the government.

They’re not sure how, and OTAs help them get involved because it makes it easier,” explains Kilcullen. “They don’t have to have those large systems in place to work with the government.

We do that for them. And we help them communicate. We’re hoping to see a lot more of those [tourism sector] folks because it’s super cool technology that they’re advancing all the time.” This type of novel approach can be seen in an Electronic Warfare Test solutions RWP [Request for White Papers] that is ongoing via TReX. Greeff acknowledges the government doesn’t have the best record for innovation, but he believes that may change. “There’s a misperception out there that the government doesn’t tolerate risk. That’s actually not true. If you just talked about risk in general, maybe. But when you’re talking specifically about technology development, we view it in its lifecycle. And so yes, trying to build new commercial technologies has risks, and it’s not risk the government is well set up to handle.

But the riskiest part of tech development is actually basic research. A lot of it is funded by the federal government. And so, the government does have a tremendous amount of risk at the basic research level. But at some point, there needs to be a handoff. And this is where we’ve tried to show how it can be done at different points throughout the technology development lifecycle. The purpose of the organization is to help bridge the technology gap that we saw increasing between the private sector and the government.”

Beyond the TReX solutions, NSTXL is currently seeking proposals in hypersonics, expendable uncrewed maritime systems, and multiple SpEC prototypes. mst MS&T MAGAZINE 1.2022

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SPONSORED CONTENT

Guardiaris: The ‘Train the Brain’ Tribe Trusted by armies across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South America, a small group of Slovenian high-tech experts in the last 15 years built a reputation for high-quality, tailored training solutions for ground troops.

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uardiaris, a highly innovative high-tech Slovenian company, is specialized in the production of custom-designed training solutions. After developing training systems on behalf of Dynamit Nobel Defence, for whom they still exclusively produce simulations, Guardiaris was launched as an OEM company in 2006 with a request from the Slovenian Army for an indoor tank simulator. To date, they have developed and fielded bespoke training systems for ground troops. This small group of exceptionally motivated and skilled experts became a trendsetter in the field of simulator trainers.

First-ever Laser-less Simulator Trainers The patented SAS Module, a small device, mounted on the Picatinny rail of any modified real weapon or weapon replica, is enabling the first laser-less solution on the market. The SAS module gathers shooter data at an incredible level of efficiency and accuracy based on exact and constant tracking of all movements of weapon and helmet simultaneously. At the same time, it introduces cordless training that enables full freedom of movement of trainees within theatre without any additional gear needed.

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The New AAR: Cognitive Load Assessment Beside detailed data on weapon positioning and orientation, shooter’s movements, shot and recoil detection, and exact ballistics on long distances, The SAS Module enables the users with another interesting feature. Guardiaris has implemented a unique methodology for training and assessing ground-based soldiers involving capture of trainee behavior and stress levels during an exercise. To do so, the simulation system is tracking movements and eye-gaze time, so the instructor gets full information about trainees’ skills.

“What is the laser? A point on the wall,” not information that an instructor or trainee can use for better understanding of its skills, said Radovan Sernec, Head of R&D at Guardiaris. “A camera is reading where you hit, and this is it. So, we decided several years ago to bypass the era of lasers, and we put a lot of research into the IR development. We project on a screen an invisible pattern based on which we know exactly where the soldier’s focus is, how his weapon is moving, and its orientation.”

The trainee-centered data is all fed into what Guardiaris calls the “ultimate AfterAction Review,” including options for instant

Above MANPATS, small arms, and mortar operators, forward observers, even wheeled vehicle crews can be trained separately or together in the Guardiaris laser-less simulation system.

analysis and personalization of training plans.

“Training and learning methods should follow characteristics of each generation.

Today, young conscripts’ learning is triggered by kinaesthetic and visual stimulus. That’s why we created cutting-edge game engine visual simulation, biometrics data capture, and cognitive load analysis to ‘train the brain’ of these new-age warriors. When you are able to show them actual video replay of their mistakes, they will immediately perceive the message. Much, much faster, than with words.That’s why the advanced AAR is so important to us. It shortens the learning cycle immensely,“ explained Primož Peterca, Guardiaris CEO.

GUARD Game Engine with AI The simulation scenarios are driven by GUARD, the company’s own 3D game engine, developed in-house. It enables extremely fast terrain data integration, using standardized real-world DEM (digital elevation models). The game engine also features

accurate weapon ballistics and vehicle operation, as well as dynamic weather and timeof-day lighting and incorporates artificial intelligence and full High Level Architecture (HLA) interoperability.

A Suite of Trainers for Soldier Readiness Throughout the years, Guardiaris created a whole set of trainers for the optimum marksmanship or tactical training: SATT – Small Arms Tactical Trainer This easy-to-construct indoor trainer can form a projection wall up to 300o using standalone and curved screens. The visual feedback is augmented with aural cues from a special sound floor which emulates physical ‘shock’ factors of battlefield conditions. Synthetic environments provide weapon and projectile feedback for marksmanship and tactical training. SATT can also be integrated with other Guardiaris simulators such as MVTT, IMOT, AFOT and MATS to support exercises.

MATS – MANPATS Trainer This lightweight, transportable trainer can simulate any man-portable anti-tank system and control station, including RGW90, RGW60, PZF3, RPG-7, and RR84. It enables training of target identification and elimination at various distances and visibility, simulation of customer-specific combat tactics, procedures and techniques, and exact ballistics and damage effects based on type of warhead (HH, HE, HEAT, ASM, LRMP, etc.) and target hit. MATS also has a smart model switching mechanism, enabling different and multiple weapon models to be used in one system.

MMVT – Multipurpose Military Vehicle Trainer Featuring exact replicas of a vehicle crew’s working environment, drivers, gunners and commanders are immersed in a 360o synthetic environment, which mirrors real-world and battlefield conditions. Controls, switches and gauges are

physically replicated to ensure development of proper muscle memory for trainees.

Realistic vehicle movement over various terrain surfaces and vibration is produced by a 3DoF/6DoF motion platform. RWSagnostic, the MMVT can be customized for any type of 4x4, 6x6, 8x8 wheeled vehicle or Remote Weapon Station type.

AFOT – Artillery Forward Observer Trainer This portable indoor or outdoor trainer is designed for interactive training in target detection, fire requests, fire organization and fire direction activities based on STANAG 2934 and 2484. Realistic synthetic environments include meteorological and day/night parameters affecting visibility and ballistics calculation. The AFOT trains up to three soldiers per session at company level, with scalability up to FSE battalion level with JFO for naval and air support.

IMOT – Indoor Mortar Trainer Simulation of real ammunition (size, balance, weight, color, fuse type), communication, and handling procedures (fuse setting, propellant ring setting) trains the entire firing cycle. In addition to mortar crew training (possibly scaling up to battery), AFOT and Fire Direction Center training can be performed simultaneously.

MAAT – MANPADS and Aircrew Trainer A digital twin of real man-portable airdefense systems is Guardiaris’ only outdoor trainer and consists of a faithful physical, mechanical, functional and procedural digital replica of the real weapon. It can be designed as a model of SA-24 or FIM92 Stinger or other similar systems and is designed for outdoor operation. In addition to the ground operated shooter, aircraft and electronic countermeasures crews (MAWS-equipped aircraft with UV sensors) can be trained to detect and respond to missile alarms triggered by the same MAAT. MAAT was fully tested on a several NATO joint helicopter exercises all over Europe.

New Breakthrough: the FIIST Project There are numerous large companies which offer small arms simulation training systems; however, when the European Defense Industry Development Program sought a team to develop the innovative Future Integrated Indoor Soldier Training (FIIST) project, they selected a Guardiaris-led consortium of small enterprises with fewer than 500 employees across the four companies Guardiaris project partners are Instalaza (Zaragoza, Spain), which specializes in anti-tank weapons; audio systems specialists ITEC Tontechnik (Gleisdorf, Austria); and Madritsch Weapon Technology which specializes in machined parts for small arms (Villach, Austria). They are about 30% of the way through the two-year, almost 2M€ project, awarded the end of June 2021.

The uniqueness of FIIST is that it will train a soldier squad using multiple types of ground-based weapons, including small arms and shoulder-launched weapons, infantry fighting vehicles and remotely operated weaponized system, in the same battle scenario – using digitized simulation weapons replicas. The objective is troop and motorized crew readiness (multi-role, squad-level, and tactical) with user-defined training scenarios while also lowering costs. The prototype project will also yield a qualification procedure for similar simulator systems and FIIST interoperation based on the HLA distributed simulation framework. The Slovenian and Austrian Ministries of Defence will contribute tactics, performance assessment and after-action review metrics.

A Tribe for Warriors In their social media, Guardiaris refers to their team as a ‘tribe’, showing their great team connectedness and values.The Guardiaris tribe is rapidly growing. Currently there are about 70 employees, which includes about 20 who have joined in the past year or so. Their vision is to train next-gen soldiers to lead and protect like the ‘native warriors’ of past generations who observed their fathers and steadfastly focused their minds on their singular mission. www.guardiaris.com MS&T MAGAZINE 1.2022

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MARITIME PATROL

The Kipper Fleet Rises Again On 11 January, the last of nine Poseidon MRA1 airframes was delivered to the RAF at Lossiemouth in Scotland and on 7 March the first UK-based Operational Conversion course commenced. MS&T Europe Editor Dim Jones journeyed north to see how the renaissance of Long-Range Maritime Patrol in the RAF is progressing.

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ollowing the early retirement of the Nimrod MR2 in 2010, and the cancellation of the MRA4 programme in 2010, an increase in Russian submarine activity exposed the frailty of the allied cooperation which had been relied upon to ‘plug the capability gap’, and it became clear to the UK Government that the loss of the Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) capability was not sustainable.

Boeing had shown early interest in offering the P-8A aircraft, and the MultiMission Aircraft Programme, covering all aspects of ISTAR (intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance), identified a requirement for 12 MPA aircraft if the RAF’s Sentinel remained in service, and 15 or 16 if it did not. In the event, Sentinel was retired, and affordability constraints in SDSR 2015 (national Strategic Defence and Security Review) reduced P-8A numbers.

But in July 2016, the UK placed an order for nine aircraft, to be known as Poseidon MRA1. The aircraft and initial support were procured by the UK MOD through 20

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Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) by Foreign Military Sales (FMS) from the US Navy Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).

DE&S manages delivery and support elements.

Two Poseidon squadrons are accommodated in a purposebuilt facility at Lossiemouth, the Atlantic Building, a joint £100 million investment by the MOD and Boeing. 120 Squadron (known as CXX) is the first operational unit, and 201 Squadron is currently providing the Operational Conversion Unit (OCU). Boeing Defence UK (BDUK) is the prime support contractor under a £233.5m Aircraft and Training Support Provider contract, and is responsible, inter alia, for scheduled maintenance and logistical support, principally of components common to the civil Boeing 737, while RAF personnel take care of line operations and rectification.

The Aircraft Poseidon MRA1 is based on the Boeing 737-800ERX airframe with -900 wings; the CFM56-7B engines provide excellent performance throughout the height envelope of surface to 42,000 ft, and enable four hours on task at a range of 1200 nautical miles. Each engine is equipped with an 180kVA generator, twice the normal 90kVA, in order to power the aircraft systems of which there is much external evidence: the APY-10 radar; MX-20 HD Electro-Optical equipment; defensive aids, including Early Warning Self-Protection, AAQ-24 Large Aircraft Infra-Red Counter Measures (LAIRCM), AAR-54 Missile Warning System and ALE-47 Counter-Measure Dispensers; and ESM, including IFF Interrogator, Automatic Identification System (AIS), Precision

Above The RAF has a full maritime patrol fleet for the first time since 2010, nine Boeing P8-A Poseidon aircraft in a £3-billion programme, including an upgraded airfield in Moray, Scotland.

Image credit: RAF.

Direction-of-Arrival (DOA) and GeoLocation, Wide Frequency Coverage and High Probability of Interception (POI).

The plethora of external antennae bears witness to the formidable comms capability of the aircraft, and its military role is emphasised by the internal weapons bay; the baggage is carried in containers in the cabin!

Internally, the two-pilot flight deck would, with the exception of some additional displays and control panels, be pretty familiar to an airline operator; aft of the flight deck, it is a different matter.

There are six operator workstations on the port side of the fuselage, each with two multi-purpose displays, and further aft are the racks and launchers for both active and passive sonobuoys.

Up to five Mk54 active/passive homing torpedoes are carried in the weapons bay, and there are external pylons for Harpoon ASMs. Poseidon is AAR-capable but with receptacle only, so would require the support of a friendly boomequipped tanker.

The Role About 71% of the Earth’s surface is water. In 2019, global export trade was valued at $19.48 trillion, and 90% of it travels by sea and passes through one of nine choke points, such as the Suez or Panama canals; some maritime patrol capability is, therefore, vital to a seagoing nation such as the UK, both commercially and militarily.

The UK’s MPA priorities differ slightly from those of its US allies, in that the USN is focused on shielding their carrier groups, whereas the UK’s priority is protection of the SSBN force from a large and increasingly capable Russian submarine fleet. Nevertheless, the primary roles of Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) and AntiSubmarine Warfare (ASW) remain the same, the former embracing search, identification, shadowing, marking, attack and damage assessment, and the latter search, detection, classification, localisation, tracking and attack. ASuW uses above-water sensors, such as radar and EO/IR, and ASW employs active and passive acoustics, radar, ESM, EO/IR using autonomous data or third-party furnished, and torpedo if attack is required.

Secondary roles include marine

counter-terrorism, long-range search-and-rescue, and Joint Personnel Recovery. Poseidon’s sensors could also be used in an overland scenario, as part of a mixed ISTAR force.

The People

Above P-8A Poseidon with two Typhoon over RAF Lossiemouth.

Image credit: RAF.

Following the decision to retire MR2 and scrap MRA4, personnel from ‘Kipper Fleet’ (the sobriquet by which the maritime patrol fraternity were known in the RAF) dispersed in many directions, some redeployed to other aircraft types, and many leaving the RAF, some to work in the oil industry.

Notwithstanding these decisions, however, manpower planners anticipated a renewed requirement in the medium to long term and made appropriate provisions. These included maintaining the existing exchange programmes with friendly nations, including with the USN’s Test and Evaluation Centre at NAS Patuxent River, and instigating the ‘Seedcorn Programme’, whereby exNimrod aircrew were embedded with ‘5-Eyes’ MPA forces in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, thus providing a cadre from which the UK force could be regenerated.

Supplementing ‘Seedcorn’ personnel, previously qualified aircrew have returned to the force, experienced aircrew from other roles (fast jet, heavy air mobility and rotary wing) have retrained, some who left the RAF have re-enlisted, and ab initio personnel have been recruited.

In January 2019, the first Poseidon Conversion Course – all experienced RAF aircrew – assembled at NAS Jacksonville to undertake a bespoke syllabus. Four more courses followed, providing instructors for the OCU. Course No 6 will be the first at Lossiemouth, and the first with ab initio students.

A Poseidon crew of eight comprises: • Two pilots, of which one is the Aircraft Commander, responsible at all times for the safe operation of the aircraft; • Two TACCOs (Tactical Coordinators) who are both Weapons Systems Officers (WSO), and the senior of whom is the Mission Commander, responsible for the tactical employment of the aircraft; • and four Weapons Systems Operators (WSOp), two of who are MS&T MAGAZINE 1.2022

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MARITIME PATROL ‘dry’ – radar, EO/IR and ESM – and the other two ‘wet’ – acoustics.

Ab initio pilots will undergo officer training at the RAF College, Cranwell, followed by Elementary Flying Training on the Grob 120TP Prefect, and advanced training on the Embraer Phenom. WSOs will also complete officer training, and will then join their WSOp colleagues for advanced and specialist training. Ab initio WSOps will complete Basic Recruit Training and Direct Entrant Senior NCO training, both at RAF Halton; they will then undertake Military Aviation Groundschool at Cranwell, following which they will be role-streamed and complete specialist EW training for the MPA role, including synthetic training and flying in the Avenger aircraft at RNAS Culdrose.

Role-qualified and other experienced aircrew destined for Poseidon will join this training pipeline at an appropriate point.

All will then proceed to Lossiemouth for the six-month OCU. Maintenance personnel will similarly have been recruited or redeployed.

Ab initio engineers will have undertaken recruit at RAF Halton, followed by 15 months of specialist trade training at the Defence School of Aeronautical Engineering at RAF Cosford. Those previously experienced will have completed appropriate refresher or conversion training prior to arrival at Lossiemouth.

The Training Boeing Defence UK, as the Training Support Provider, provides support to course design. Boeing are very much a part of the OCU team, and understand where the RAF would like to go with its training; indeed, many of their personnel are ex-RAF. The courses conducted at Jacksonville used the USN courseware, but the RAF have spent two years adapting it to their needs, and UK courses will use the developed courseware. Maintenance training is tailored to the three specific trades of Avionics, Mechanical and Weapons, and has been adapted from the USN courses, using similar training equipment. Classroom teaching is instructorled, principally using PowerPoint, and is supplemented by synthetic training on the Virtual Maintenance Trainer, comprising three large touch-screen displays 22

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which can replicate a vast array of normal and emergency procedures and rectification techniques. The training environment is somewhat traditionally didactic, eschewing the multimedia demand-driven and headset/haptic-oriented settings to which we are becoming accustomed, but the very experienced teaching staff seem happy with it.

Aircrew Training is divided into academic, synthetic and live. There are desktop trainers which replicate the displays to be found in the aircraft and are used to develop individual skills, but the main thrust of the synthetic training is the Operational Flight Trainer (OFT) – essentially a Level-D FFS, although not accredited as such – and the Weapons and Tactics Trainer (WTT), a static representation of the rear fuselage.

The OFTs are built by CAE, supported by BDUK personnel, and there is a mix of RAF and BDUK instructors. The WTTs are built by Boeing, and supported by CAE console operators and controllers. The OFT and the WTT can be linked or operated separately. The OFT Instructor Operating Station is in the simulator itself, and there is a fourth seat for a flying instructor, so that both front seats can be occupied by students.

In the air also, when above 1000 ft, the instructor can supervise from the jump-seat, leaving both front positions to be occupied by students. Only the left-hand seat is equipped with a HUD, so each pilot needs to be qualified in either seat.

The WTT allows the rear-crew instructors to operate either in the device itself or from the instructor consoles outside. In the air, they will instruct from behind the workstations, thereby allowing all seats to be occupied by students and, more importantly, allowing them to operate as a crew. There is a balance to be struck between observing, assessing and assisting individual performance, and judging the proficiency of the crew as a whole.

Students train on the OCU as constituted crews, and individuals will leave as Limited Combat Ready (LCR), which defines them as ‘capable of delivering effect, but with supervision’. They will then join constituted crews on their

Above Poseidon WSO observing activity while on a mission over the English Channel.

Image credit: RAF.

front-line squadrons, following which progression to fully CR should take about 6 months.

There are no embedded systems in the aircraft which would allow ‘synthetic’ training during live flying, for instance while en-route to a task area. Whereas any situation can be artificially represented in the WTT – and, indeed, real-world adversary signatures can be replicated to increase realism – live flying requires live supporting assets, and these need to be co-ordinated with the providers, principally the RN, and this is enabled through liaison with the tasking agencies at Northwood. Mission tasking is provided to crews through the Tactical Operations Centre (TOC), which also provides planning, briefing and debriefing facilities.

The Future The UK bought Poseidon at ‘Increment 3 Block 1’ standard. The US Navy will upgrade to Increment 3 Block 2 later in the decade, and the intent is for the UK to follow shortly afterward to remain aligned with the US Programme of Record and safeguard capability.

There will eventually be two front-line Poseidon Squadrons at Lossiemouth, CXX and 201, plus a separate OCU; these will generate front-line crews, plus additional crews from force executives, squadron training teams, OCU staff, Stan/Eval and the OT&E unit. Interim Capability will be achieved this year, and Full Operating Capability in 2024.

Deployed aircraft will be supported by a mobile TOC and, when I visited, two aircraft and crews were deployed to Sigonella in Sicily in support of Exercise Dynamic Manta; this was the first

time RAF P-8s had operated from an overseas location, and the first time they did so on operations.

In the meantime, however, the scene will change with the arrival of the Wedgetail AEW1 (E-7A), also 737-based and due to appear next year. The OCU will then be a joint P-8/E-7 unit, and the engineering squadron will also be joint. The single operational E-7 squadron will be accommodated in the Atlantic Building, and elements of the engineering operation will move to a facility closer to the flight line.

Under a government-to-government agreement, the Poseidon OCU will, from 2024, be training P-8A aircrews from Norway. There remains an operational need for more RAF airframes, but MPA will be competing with other worthy causes for scarce resources – the RAF asked for five Wedgetails and got three – and the Boeing order book must close at some point.

In Conclusion Poseidon is clearly a very capable platform and, despite delays caused principally by the late delivery of the synthetic training equipment, and although the OCU will effectively be developing the course at the same time as conducting it, the force is clearly well set and keen to engage in the task of regenerating an operationally effective RAF MPA capability. By any measure, and hindsight notwithstanding, the 2010 decision to dispense with this capability was an egregious misjudgement; it is thanks to some commendable foresight, particularly in terms of the role played by Seedcorn in retaining and supporting key personnel, that the ability to regenerate it was not lost more permanently. mst

The Evolution of UK LRMP Aircraft The development of Maritime Patrol Aircraft in the RAF was initially focused on Searchand-Rescue but, during WWII, extended to maritime reconnaissance and anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare (ASuW and ASW) roles. In particular, there was a requirement for long-range maritime patrol (LRMP) to combat the U-Boat threat.

Early LRMP aircraft were mostly obsolescent bombers and converted airliners. Poor reliability, undeveloped tactics and lack of specialist equipment made early MPA operations both hazardous and unrewarding, but advances such as air-to-surface radar, sonobuoys, and improved camouflage steadily increased effectiveness.

During the early Cold War years, the RAF employed the Lancaster and Neptune. From the 50s into the 70s, RAF Coastal Command was equipped with the Shackleton, succeeded by Nimrod MR1 and later MR2.

MR2 should have been superseded by MRA4, which would have embodied new

wings and BR700 turbofan engines, almost doubling range and endurance, a glass cockpit and new detection equipment and weapons.

I am told by colleagues actively involved in the flight test programme that MRA4 would have been an extremely capable aircraft. However, UK defence procurement programmes have had, shall we say, a chequered history, and two of the most egregious exemplars of failure have been Nimrods: MRA4 and the ill-fated AEW1 (Airborne Early Warning) – I have always thought anything that ugly should not have been allowed to fly.

In the case of MRA4, problems were encountered, inter alia, in mating the new wings to existing fuselages which had not been built to a common standard, and the programme followed a well-worn path of delay and cost overrun. The MR2 was retired in 2010, the temporary capability gap being deemed acceptable. MRA4 order numbers were reduced from 21 to 9, and the programme eventually cancelled

without replacement as part of SDSR 2010, £789 million over budget and more than 9 years late.

The SDSR stated that the UK “[would] depend on other maritime assets to contribute to the tasks previously planned for them”. ‘Other maritime assets’ which could perform the MPA roles clearly did not exist in the UK inventory, which would mean that the Queen Elizabeth Class carriers could not safely operate other than in a joint force, and the operational security of VanguardClass submarines could be compromised.

Following MR2 retirement, Russian submarines transited close to the UK without detection and, in 2014, maritime patrol aircraft operated by France, Canada and the US were based at RAF Lossiemouth in an attempt to locate a Russian submarine spotted off west Scotland. The folly of depending on others to provide a capability which the UK should never have relinquished was apparent and, in SDSR 2015, the purchase of P-8A Poseidon was announced. – Dim Jones MS&T MAGAZINE 1.2022

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CONFERENCE PREVIEW

Journey to Resurrection: IT2EC 22 The much-delayed 31st iteration of the ITEC exhibition and conference will take place at the ExCel in London, 26-28 April. MS&T’s Dim Jones and Andy Fawkes discussed the aspirations of the organisers, Clarion Defence and Security, with their Chairman, Air Vice-Marshal (Ret’d) Gary Waterfall.

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he rebranded International Training Technology Exhibition and Conference (IT²EC) has – for reasons of pandemic and politics – endured something of a troublesome renaissance. Billed as “Europe’s primary forum where stakeholders from military, government, industry and academia connect and share knowledge about training, simulation and education”, it was originally planned for April 2020 in London and cancelled when the ExCel became the makeshift London Nightingale Hospital. IT²EC 2021 was scheduled for May in Seville, Spain; however, a lack of local political support caused a rescheduling to Rotterdam, The Netherlands in September 2021.

Covid-related travel uncertainty then caused a further delay, and relocation to this April at the ExCel, where the 2022 show would probably have taken place anyway.

A lot has happened since ITEC Stockholm (2019), and it is appropriate to reflect this in the 2022 title, ‘Navigating Rapidly Evolving Technologies for Training and Education’, and in the sub-themes ‘Expanding on Digital Twins’, ‘The Risks of AI’ and ‘Human and Machine Learning’.

Another change, of course, is the appointment of Air ViceMarshal (Ret’d) Gary Waterfall (hereinafter referred to as GW) in succession to RAdm Simon Williams, and the different perspective he brings to the table.

Leaps in technology and the opportunity to talk to industry at all levels, both primes and small/medium enterprises, have convinced GW that no one company has the complete training solution; the best ideas are likely to spring from JVs or collaborative ventures, and be applied in diverse fields, including accelerated maintenance training, medical simulation, and enhanced realism provided by haptics.

Asked to comment on the possibility that technology is not being developed to meet identified training needs, but rather

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training processes are being created to take advantage of available tech, GW observed that one has to be able to see the tech in order to see what meets the training need: “The tech is out there – the trick is to hook into it at the right moment, and the best solution may be a blend of technologies; shows like I/ITSEC (last December in Orlando) open peoples’ eyes to what is possible – which, itself, is constantly changing.

That being the case, at what stage do we call a time-out and go firm on a requirement, or do we accept that we are entering into a long-term spiral partnership?”

“The UK MoD is committed to delivering 25% of contracts by value to SMEs from this year,” he continued, “and shows like DSEI [Clarion’s Defence and Security Equipment International conference] give SMEs the oxygen they deserve. SMEs can either stand alone, or incorporate their tech into a collaborative enterprise; Clarion’s role is to ensure that DSEI and IT²EC are not just one-off events, but that there is a continuum through other media such as webinars.”

Live, Virtual, Hybrid?

Since the start of the pandemic, the simulation and training world has necessarily experimented with virtual and hybrid

Above After a twoyear hiatus, the European Military S&T community’s nomadic conference returns in 2022 to the ExCel in London.

Image credit: Clarion.

event formats. Clarion have learned valuable lessons from DSEI, I/ITSEC and other shows and conferences, and will apply them to achieve the optimum arrangement for IT²EC, although the disparity of scale between it and the other two is acknowledged.

DSEI was the ‘first out of the blocks’ as a post-Covid live event which, given the uncertainties at the time, was a courageous decision. It was accepted that, due to UK or other national restrictions, not everyone would be able to attend in person and, therefore, Clarion had to deliver elements of a hybrid show without presenting potential attendees with an excuse not to come. All those who did attend in person were enthusiastic about a return to face-to-face meetings, but it was accepted that not everyone was comfortable with attending live, and the organisers therefore had to provide remote alternatives.

Rolling forward to IT²EC 2022, Clarion know that they need to prepare for a blended environment, which will enable those who cannot attend to participate remotely in a live show, while dealing with the issue of global time zones and achieving it all within finite resources.

Virtual platforms such as Teams and Zoom work well when all participants are remote, but not so well when the majority are live and the minority remote.

GW also believes that the efficacy of remote meetings diminishes over time, and that inter-personal relationships need periodic “refreshment” through face-to-face encounters to remain effective. Recording conference events and making them available for ‘watch on demand’ offsets time-zone issues and also allows live attendees multiple simultaneous options. Live streaming also allows, for instance, exhibitors to listen to keynote speeches while on the show floor. All these facilities have resource and capacity implications, and Clarion are keeping their options open for IT²EC. The pandemic has made transatlantic travel problematic, and it remains to be seen whether this will manifest itself in an increased insularity in the attitudes of North American companies – particularly the smaller ones – concerning

Above AVM Gary Waterfall, Chair, Clarion Defence and Security.

Image credit: Clarion.

future business in Europe. Conversely, it could serve to focus the attention of European companies on opportunities closer to home.

As regards IT²EC, some companies have already committed to attending while others, understandably, are hedging their bets. While IT²EC remains primarily a defence event, technologies such as VR/AR/XR cut across all industries, and Clarion are happy to let it spin out and see what defence can learn from other disciplines, such as medical or transport.

The Innovation Mindset MS&T also sought the views of Rusmat Ahmed, now by default ITEC’s longestserving Conference Chair. Rusmat added these observations: “2020 was marked by great innovation resulting from the pandemic, for example the use of VR HMDs, and militaries at grass roots level seized the initiative and just tried things out without waiting for some new operating concept or funded programme. You could say that this wasn't technological innovation, in that nothing new was invented specifically for this market, but brave moves were made to use what you can buy in the High Street or read about in magazines, or to recreate the gamebased technology you or your kids use.

The innovation was more culture- and

mindset-based; now things are more mainstream in that these creative ideas are formalised or subsumed into existing programmes, and that's a healthy outcome.”

Ahmed continued: “Technology progress has made ideas such as VR/AR/ MR/XR mainstream. Another year on, the technology choice is even greater so there's more to learn and understand to make the right choices. The same applies to AI and Machine Learning: it's everywhere – but how much do you need, and what for, and how do you avoid making AI/ML mistakes?”

“For IT²EC 2022, the body of knowledge (and industry's ability to explain things) will have developed – both in the conference rooms and on the exhibition floor,” he surmised. “After a great turnout at I/ITSEC 2021, you sense that April 2022 is the right time to re-engage on these topics.”

Masters of AI On the subject of AI, and the associated ‘risks’ to which one of the conference sub-themes refers, GW drew on an analogy of the development of defensive aids in aircraft, and the relationship between sensors, aircrew and systems: • from the raw ’bleeps and squeaks’ of 3rd-Gen radar warning receivers, which the aircrew were expected to interpret and translate into appropriate threat and counter-measure; • through 4th-Gen, which analysed the threat and automatically deployed chaff and flares, but left the pilot to fly the appropriate defensive manoeuvre; • to 5th-Gen, where the location of the threat is displayed and the defensive manoeuvre directed in HUD or HMD. At all stages, the developing AI is required to deliver what we need, not tell us what we need – a ‘clear box, not a black box’ – and in relation to which we are masters, not slaves.

Politics and Polemics of Defence Shows Looking further ahead than this spring, GW confirmed that the intent is to alternate IT²EC between London and other European cities. The success of such events depends crucially on support from the host nation, but the venues MS&T MAGAZINE 1.2022

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CONFERENCE PREVIEW and facilities are often owned by local authorities, some of which are politically indisposed towards military shows. This was the case in Seville and, to a limited extent, in Stuttgart, although the show there went ahead. It was also the reason for terminating visits to Köln, which had previously been a good venue.

Notwithstanding its training focus, IT²EC is also subject to disruption from anti-military movements, and we have seen demonstrations (albeit almost entirely peaceful) in Köln, Stuttgart, Prague, Stockholm, Rotterdam, Luxembourg and London.

In response to the suggestion that the financial impact of the pandemic might make hosting events like IT²EC more attractive, GW’s view was that we will always face political obstacles, regardless of commercial imperatives, and Clarion’s role was to ensure that we were “pushing on open doors” rather than being the target of protesters.

Good facilities and transport links, and a compliant environment, were key to promoting a ‘feel-good’ atmosphere and, although the list of such locations might not be huge, there are still some out there. GW was happy to report that IT²EC 2023 would be held at The Ahoy in Rotterdam, scene of the successful 2017 event.

It is worth reflecting for a moment on the original aim of ITEC (first held in Birmingham in 1990), how it has progressed to the current format, and to what extent it continues to provide the intended forum. We have seen a perceptible overall decline in the size of the exhibition and the numbers attending the conference. This may have been due in part to tightening budgets following the global financial crisis of 2008, but the slow recovery from that has not been reflected in a resurgence in attendance at ITEC. There have been positive fluctuations, London being the mostly consistently popular venue, and the attendance numbers have been influenced in part by the support of the host nation military.

The conference layout of three ‘igloos’ and a ‘keynote and plenary’ theatre, first successfully employed in London in 2016 after a less auspicious attempt the previous year in Prague, 26

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has proved popular, and enabled multiple conference streams although each delegate can, of course, only attend one at a time, with interspersed visits to the exhibition. Recording and ‘on-demand’ playback will enhance both experiences. The longer-term future of the exhibition may be more uncertain, and there is a perception of a shift in focus towards the conference and away from the show floor.

The 2022 event is a few weeks away yet, and travel uncertainty may have prompted some companies to delay committing. The tally of exhibitors as we write is around 70; this includes many SMEs and some first-time participants, both of which are encouraging, but the absence thus far of many regular attendees, particularly the ‘heavy-hitters’, is less so.

Nevertheless, Clarion are optimistic, and estimate the floor plan to be about 75% full, which is normal for this stage of the proceedings.

Interestingly, a significant number of the SMEs are from consumer tech and corporate training backgrounds, but looking to develop into the defence market. The aims of exhibitors may vary, but we would suggest that they include: showcasing own new products; seeing what competitors and potential partners are displaying; conducting B2B with other industry participants; engaging directly with military customers; and, in the case of the larger companies, maintaining a visible presence, even if not a substantial one.

All of these aims would be enhanced by a larger show, and a company’s decision to attend may therefore boil down to an analysis of ROI. The I/ITSEC 2021 experience indicates that all participants are happy to be back to live events, and that virtual and hybrid alternatives are not a determining factor.

In the hope of a continuing and sustainable return to ‘business as we used to know it’, Clarion and MS&T look forward to seeing you at ExCel in April. (Be sure to visit MS&T at Stand G7.) mst

Above IT²EC 2023 will be held at The Ahoy in Rotterdam, scene of the successful 2017 event.

Image credit: Clarion.

PANDEMIC OPERATIONS

Ready for the Next Disruptive Event?

One. Two. Three. Get ready to exhale – hopefully. Simulation and training companies and their home nations are, in most instances, emerging from nothing less than a disruptive 24+-month era, ready to embrace a ‘new norm.’

Group Editor Marty Kauchak profiles business practices as we shift from pandemic to endemic.

I

n response to genuine concern about the health and welfare of their workforces, and “nudged” by government mandates, companies revamped factory production floors and processes, relocated administrative and other personnel from their corporate workplace to home, and developed technology workarounds to support virtual meetings within and external to their organizations. And that was for starters. On the other side of the contract ledger, defense customers cancelled or rescheduled exercises and other training events supported by industry teams, and developed alternative ways to meet contractual milestones virtually, when program teams were not authorized or were unable to travel – and undertook other responses to continue operating.

Herein are some representative insights on how the S&T industry operated through the pandemic. The corporate datum points should serve as lessons for defense learning enterprise leaders, enabling them to ask: is our organization ready for the next disruptive event?

Alternatives to F2F Companies report that one of the major impacts of this era on their business models, of course, was the reduction of face-toface interaction within and outside their organizations, due to government-mandated quarantines and travel restrictions, and their leaders’ concerns for workforce health and welfare. S&T firms and their government customers met this challenge with resiliency, as they completed interactions virtually through enhanced technologies and, when feasible, in person – but masked and observing social-distancing protocols. Of importance, some of these adjustments have migrated into current

business models and acquisition processes, certain to remain in place after the pandemic evolves to an endemic. Åsa Thegström, Head of Saab’s Training & Simulation business unit, summarized her portfolio’s evolution during the recent two years, recalling, “Many aspects of our business have been affected by Covid-19, leaving no choice but to find solutions and new ways of working.” While Saab has continued to deliver its training services despite the pandemic, to both existing and new customers, the executive emphasized, “The challenge was finding a way of maintaining this, despite being impacted on a multinational scale by the pandemic.”

Thegström then focused on more specific era challenges.

While one prominent event, the Swedish Defense Force’s AURORA 20 exercise, was postponed due to the pandemic, she pointed out other “national exercises have mainly been executed in accordance with plans and supported

by Saab staff on-site at more than 20 sites around the world.”

And then there was the very broad leadership responsibility of maintaining

Above A "fist bump," a hallmark of Covid-era business activities, helped seal the deal last year between Saab and its Dutch armed forces customer for the delivery of live training systems and services to the nation's Army and Marine Corps.

Image credit: Saab.

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PANDEMIC OPERATIONS Saab’s “presence” – to complete contract milestones and participate in heretofore live meetings and conferences, in their new virtual formats. On cue, the S&T business leader presented one lesson learned, with some of the outcomes certain to carry over into the post-Covid era.

“Technology has also been the savior in the delivery of training solutions,” and, where Saab’s customers haven’t been able to attend face-to-face, “videos and virtual technologies have been invaluable. For example, we have frequently done functional acceptance tests together with the customer via video/Skype, etc. Another example is providing videos to demonstrate new capabilities, and also participating at several exhibitions and conferences virtually instead of live. This adapted way of interacting has been used to replace traditional methods for communicating during preparation phases as well as during acceptance tests.”

Similarly, Peter Hitchcock, Thales Vice President for Training & Simulation, told MS&T the main impact of this era has been the reduction in faceto-face meetings with customers and industry partners. “Although this gradually improved in 2021, it was not until I/ITSEC in December that we were able to meet in person for the first time in 18 months.”

Beyond in-person meetings, highly secure VPN (virtual private network) solutions allowed some of Thales’s development environments to be accessed from home, giving the company fallback options, “and we implemented Microsoft Teams as a parallel collaborative tool in addition to our existing Cisco Jabber and audioconference solutions to give us extra capacity and redundancy. As people progressively returned to work, we also ensured our on-site catering offer stayed open!”

In addition to strengthening its virtual meeting capabilities, Thales, as part of a global group, made many other adjustments to comply with corporate policies as well as the legal rules in force in its home countries during the period.

The first challenge was logistical, to obtain personal protective equipment/ cleaning material. “Thales headquarter team did a great job – I remember when 28

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they confirmed within weeks of the pandemic declaration that we had secured 11 million masks and dedicated charter flights started arriving from Asia with everything that we needed to equip our teams. We reconfigured our sites with one-way systems; 2m [6.6ft] distance markings and removed chairs/desks to ensure spacing. Teams were split into shifts and alternating on/off site presence to create ‘bubbles,’ ensuring that we could manage work that could not be done remotely and which we could not afford to stop.”

Contract Slips and Quarantines While companies had a laser-like focus to protect workforces, add and strengthen virtual meeting capabilities and complete other activities, it’s significant to note businesses were still able to increase or sustain their market shares in a volatile, uncertain defense business climate. Indeed, in the US, defense organizations strived to maintain continuity with existing S&T programs and preview future requirements as witnessed at NTSA’s June 2021 Training & Simulation Industry Symposium in Orlando.

Of significance, Thegström reported Saab managed to continue to sign new contracts throughout the last 24 or so months. “In 2020, one of the most significant being the Combat Training Centre (CTC) contracts with the US Army Training Command for training at NATO centers in Europe.

In addition to this, long-term support contracts with Finland and Norway were secured, giving them all the capability to continue multinational training with NATO and other coalition partners.”

And during 2021 the business increased strongly with Saab signing three major CTC contracts, “which showcases Saab’s market leading position as a global supplier of Land Forces Live Training support and capabilities. The Netherlands Army, the Polish Armed Forces and the US Marine Corps will all be

Above One indicator of the S&T industry's health was conveyed by Saab's Thegström, who pointed out national exercises have mainly been executed in accordance with plans, and supported

by Saab staff on-site at more than 20 sites around the world. "This close cooperation and support has continued during the pandemic," she added.

Image credit: Saab.

Opposite Thales’s High-G training and test facility at RAF Cranfield for fast jet pilots in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force includes a 39-tonne centrifuge which can accelerate up to 9G in one second.

Image credit: Thales.

equipped with training solutions that are interoperable with NATO and other allies while ensuring they get the most realistic and state-of-the-art training available on the market.” The industry veteran concluded, “By working effectively, and based on our strong portfolio, we have been extremely successful on the market despite the pandemic.

Saab’s Training and Simulation business is more robust today than ever before.”

Thales’s Hitchcock noted, “In terms of the business operations, it has been remarkable how well this held up. I am particularly proud of our customer service teams based on military bases in Europe and Australia who have maintained an uninterrupted service since the pandemic hit in 2020,” and added, “Our customers have adapted well and whilst there were initially delays in processing orders during 2020, in 2021 we have booked all the orders that we expected during the year. In some cases, annual support contracts were wrapped up into multi-year orders to relieve pressure on the procurement systems.”

The community expert also provided several other vital, specific points on the pandemic’s impact on his portfolio, first noting, for Thales’s S&T projects in development, “we generally had to reschedule a number of acceptance

tests by mutual agreement with our customers where attendance in person has been difficult, but we ran at over 90 percent on time delivery on all development milestones, averaged across four countries, during all of 2021. So, whilst there was an impact it was contained well!”

And more to point, the industry veteran said 2021 “was a normal year for us in orders and sales. 2020 saw on average six months of slip in new business so some things that we were expecting in late 2020 were reforecast in 2021 and happened when we expected. In 2020 and 2021, we were still travelling overseas to perform site acceptance tests, surveys and commissioning although frequently with a two-weeks quarantine period before starting work and two weeks of quarantine for the team on return.” He concluded, “It is fair to say that from about September 2020 we were living the ‘new normal’ with a lot of effort but following the rollout of vaccines by mid-2021 the additional overhead on the business became a lot easier to manage.”

Thales and Saab’s experiences on meeting contract milestones, for acceptance tests and other events, during pandemic-like eras, should be a topic of discussion between industry and defense organization teams during

the earliest parts of the program acquisition process – future industry days and follow-on requests for information and proposal processes.

Planning for Disruption These two companies worked through the diverse, unforeseen challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic period, and have emerged with their organizations intact and on sound fiscal footing. As other companies throughout the industry also prepare for a new, yet-to-be determined post-pandemic “norm,” it is more than appropriate for leaders to consider how their businesses will adapt to the next major disruptive event, be it pandemic, war or other, manmade or natural in origin. Of little surprise, community companies continue to bolster their IT capabilities to better support future, off-site work requirements.

Elsewhere, there are also opportunities to address other parts of the acquisition process that would be at risk during a disruptive event. Some of these include support for lower-tier materiel and other content suppliers, as well as revisiting with the defense customer, during government-hosted industry days and the run-up to contract awards, how certain contract milestones would be completed when face-to-face and on-site validation is not possible. mst MS&T MAGAZINE 1.2022

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CONFERENCE REVIEW

Small Booths with Big Ideas at I/ITSEC First-time exhibitors at I/ITSEC catered to the rise of digital natives. MS&T’s Ken Storey explored some off-the-main-aisle booths featuring bold thinking and aspirations.

A

large group gathered at a booth tucked along the back wall of the I/ITSEC expo floor to check out a first-time exhibitor. Cadets from the Air Force and Space Force battled against each other as attendees watched in anticipation. But this battle simulation wasn’t using the latest flight simulator or VR concept; this was taking place on a Nintendo Wii. Air Force Gaming (AFG) formed in 2019, just months before the last in-person I/ITSEC, but this was their first year exhibiting at the expo. Unlike many of the other booths, AFG was here to show a more civil side of gaming, one that focuses on the one in three people under 35 years old who identify as a gamer. Their presence at the expo is indicative of an evolutionary step taking place across the simulation and training industry. As Millennials and Gen Z grow their presence across the military, these digital natives have an understanding of technology that is upending long-held relationships between technology and training.

Senior Airman Ian ‘Speed’ Pierce is hopeful gaming can be used to bridge the gaps between these emerging digital native generations and older generations found in leadership positions across the military and simulation industries. ‘Speed,’ as he’s known within the Discord (messaging app) gaming community, is an F-22 Raptor crew chief, but it was his role as an eSports advisor for Air Force Gaming that brought him to I/ITSEC. For ‘Speed,’ showcasing what the AFG group is up to is about more than just professional-level gaming talent; it’s about helping to ensure newer generations are set up for success in an increasingly digitally reliant world.

“It is not just about video games; it's about the professional development of this younger generation. Meeting these airmen in a virtual, digital world will better prepare them to be leaders after they're out. We are the next set of leaders to follow, and if we cannot prepare the airmen now for what the future holds, then we've already set them up for failure. So, through Air Force

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Gaming, we can develop these airmen at such a younger age and at a lower rank that by the time they get to that supervision role, they are ready to take on the digital challenges that are to come.”

Robert Dough of Brightline Interactive sees the emergence of a new generation as promising but notes while younger generations may be more familiar with technology, thanks in part due to the gaming culture they were born into, the merging of technology with the rise of digital natives in leadership positions is only possible thanks to the guidance older generations continue to exhibit.

“I think that there's a lot for all of us to learn from each other, no matter what the generation is. I think when you have a lot of these converging technologies that we're seeing happening right now, there's a lot of different viewpoints and a lot of different expertise starting to come together,” explained Dough, Vice President of Products and Partnerships at Brightline. He continued, “What I think that does is actually increase our ability to provide simulation and training that's highly effective. So, we might be a newer generation, there might be newer technology, but it all is here because of what came before it. Then it's kind of laying the roadmap for the

Above “Generation Z and Millennials were raised with video games in a way that prior generations were not. The interface between those human beings and simulated environments, it's natural. It's inborn.”

- HaptX Chief Revenue Officer Joe Michaels.

Image credit: HaptX. Opposite VR has lowered the barrier of entry into the military simulation and training domain, enabling upstarts to challenge or partner with major players.

Image credit: BadVR.

type of training that we're going to have in the future as well.”

Accelerating change was more than a theme of this year’s event. At the start of his speech during Tuesday’s keynote ceremonies, Captain Daniel Covelli, USN, began by honoring Diana Teel, ‘Chief Evangelist’ (Outreach Director) at NAWCTSD, ahead of her retirement from the role next year. After the generational defining moment that has been the past year and a half, a running theme at this year’s I/ITSEC was the changing of leadership. At booth after booth, there were well wishes as many prepared for what will be their last convention ahead of retirement.

From massive booths due to business acquisitions to a bevy of first-time exhibitors, after a strictly virtual conference last year, this year’s I/ITSEC trade floor buzzed with talk of the changes that have occurred and the ones still in the works. Some things, like L3/Link’s famed Texas chili, could still be found during the week, though due to the recent acquisition, that chili was now part of the large Wednesday hospitality event hosted by CAE. While CAE had the largest booth in I/ITSEC’s history (combining the already purchased spaces of CAE and L3Harris), a few aisles over first-time exhibitor BadVR had a small booth made of tables and televisions they purchased the day before the expo. Co-founder and CTO at BadVR, Jad Meouchy, acknowledged the globally recognized legacy exhibitors at the event can be somewhat overwhelming.

Still, he remained steadfast in his focus on introducing BadVR’s datadriven visual offerings. “When we enter into an environment like this, it's a bit intimidating. However, we're seeing that there's an appreciation on both sides of the table. We appreciate the guidance, the leadership, and the experience. They appreciate the youthful energy, the new approaches, and the new concepts. I really think that it's a combination of the two.”

“We saw the technology going in the direction of just getting big and bulky.

And it was really powerful, of course, but it just seemed like nobody was thinking about the user's experience,” explains Meouchy. “If this stuff is going to be the

size of a pair of sunglasses or contact lenses, you can't rely on having giant resources with it.”

Meouchy acknowledges the need to partner with the legacy exhibitors that towered over BadVR’s booth. “We're going to need a relationship with the big companies, and they're going to need the new stuff that we bring. But yeah, we're a little bit younger, and a little bit, you know, fresher, a little bit more wide-eyed, and, probably, more naive, but all that means is we just take a different approach. And I think that's the disruptive element of it, the alternate approach.”

While buzzwords like ‘metaverse’ and ‘digital twin’ were dropped at every chance, the fusion of augmented and physical realities is already something many of the conference’s younger attendees have become accustomed to.

During his TalX session on how the gaming community helped him, AFG co-founder Captain Zach Baumann, USAF, stated how the gaming community model could help the Department of Defense become healthier. “Could it be that this infamous waste of time [as many people refer to gaming] is actually one of the most cutting-edge ways to accelerate and enable the velocity of people into the future? The velocity of people is a measurement of the rate at which collisions happen in a society or an organization.

The higher velocity of people, the healthier the organization.”

For Millennials and Gen Zers like Baumann, Pierce, and others, gaming and immersive tech isn’t something novel or foreign; it’s a part of their identity. With gaming systems, smartphones, and other connected devices being a part

of their reality since birth, using technology like simulators and XR is expected from them. “Generation Z and Millennials were raised with video games in a way that prior generations were not. The interface between those human beings and simulated environments, it's natural.

It's inborn. It's something that they don't need to learn. They just know how to do it,” notes HaptX Chief Revenue Officer Joe Michaels, in speaking with MS&T regarding how younger people seem to be faster learners when first handling the company’s life-like touch haptic gloves. “People of a younger generation don't need much instruction with our gloves, they get in, and they just start using them. And one of the reasons that the older generation in the military is so excited about this is because they think the next generations coming up will not just enjoy this type of technology; they’ll expect it. And so, we're trying to keep up with their expectations.”

That same message was shared by Baumann in his talk. “This whole conference has so many conversations about the next generation of leaders and what tech are they going to need to be savvy with to get there. And the DoD is trying to train, develop, and find every piece of digital fluency that's out. Someone needs to let them know that we have a pretty good spot,” explains Baumann. “And if there's one thing I've learned from this journey of building this thing with some of my greatest friends, if you want to accelerate change, you must first accelerate people. Air Force Gaming is accelerating people at a time when it’s most critical that we do so. This is no waste of time. This is the future.” mst MS&T MAGAZINE 1.2022

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LEADERSHIP INTERVIEW

FSI Defense is ‘All In On the Defense Side’ Marty Kauchak, Halldale Media Group Editor and Rick Adams, MS&T Editor, interviewed Dan Davis, President, FSI Defense, a FlightSafety International company.

MS&T: Dan, thanks for taking time to meet with us. Update us, please, on the rebranding and restructuring FSI is undertaking for its defense business.

Dan Davis (DD): FSI Defense – what and why? At the time I arrived here, in November 2020, the business unit was called FSSC (FlightSafety Services Corporation). What did that mean? It was confusing. As I looked at our portfolio and what I wanted that portfolio to be, and the more I talked to the team, my initial impression is everyone here was very product-focused – everyone talked to us in terms of the products we are selling. I didn’t hear a lot about the solution we are trying to solve for our customers. I wanted to shift that paradigm from being product-focused to solution-focused for our customers. There were multiple entry points to us for our DoD customers and they were confused: “If I want ‘X,’ do I call you, or your offices in St. Louis, Austin or elsewhere?” We repackaged and rebranded the business. There is one touch point for the customer – the FSI Defense Growth Team. FSI Defense ties the two together – the legacy of FSI and the defense customer we serve.

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MS&T: Share with us some of the major milestones on your roadmap for FSI Defense for the next 12 months.

DD: Let me first go back to the last 12 months and then I’ll look forward. In the first 12 months, once I understood what we needed, repacking and realignment, the rebrand was a byproduct of the realignment, and redefined who we are, a true defense company. We were not a bunch of small defense companies trying to sell the customer, but we’re one company, FSI Defense.

And we were very focused on realigning the Growth Team.

When I say growth, I’m talking not only with business development, but proposals, capture and innovation, and putting it all under one umbrella. We’re getting really focused on not only the products we are selling, but what solutions we are helping the customer solve – we’re shifting that paradigm. We brought in new individuals to the BD team, the Growth Team, with very diverse backgrounds. The last 12 months have been focused on getting that Growth Team stood up – getting the right people in the right place, focused on the right solution for customers and building back those customer relationships where we had lost touch with some of them. I found we were waiting for the phone to ring, rather than being out talking. The other thing we focused on was executing the programs we had, with a renewed focus on business we already won – what were the commitments we made to the customer? Did we understand those commitments and are we keeping them?

MS&T: And now you’re looking at the near-term – the next 12 months.

DD: The next 12 months’ focus is a continuation of those things – but getting better at it. The Growth Team is in place and I’m

Above While FSI Defense's business leans heavily toward the air transport and mobility market, it is eyeing to retain that business as well as pursue new fast jet and other platform opportunities.

Image credit: Paul Weatherman/USAF.

really happy with the BD and Growth teams – second to none of any OEM. We’re turning them loose to do what they do best – work with the customer, understand the potential solutions: what they are looking for, how we can best fit that and bring it back. When looking at what we want to invest in – asking how it shapes what our decisions should be for all of those business development things.

At the same time, we have that very intense focus on what we have already done, what we’re about to go win, and how we perform the best!

MS&T: You’ve mentioned your broader FSI heritage; are there any competencies and capabilities you will be taking advantage of from FSI’s civil aviation portfolio?

DD: One of the things is the legacy of training. When you train on the commercial side it is all about efficiency, throughput – getting a good value for it. It’s more than just being proficient; it’s being prepared for anything. How do we make sure we are driving those same lessons learned into the defense side in our training – when we’re working on training contracts. How do we take best practices on the commercial side and develop those on the defense side? That does go both ways. On the commercial side, training is driving that – they are always trying to get better, whereas in the past, sometimes defense may have gotten a little stagnant in certain areas.

There are some technologies you saw on the I/ITSEC conference floor at our booth, the Mission Fit for example, commercial offerings that we can adapt into the defense world – these are very easy to carry over to what defense does.

MS&T: An observation – your defense portfolio has previously leaned heavily toward the air transport and mobility market. Your plans to broaden that into fast jets, helos and perhaps UASs? DD: That’s a great observation and was one of the first things on my list when I came to FSI. We pursued F-18 as a training program – we lost it. It was awarded to the incumbent. We want to break into that. If you look at some of the players we have hired, especially on the BD team, I did not go out and hire any cargo guys or gals. My BD director is a retired F-16 pilot. We just hired another person who

Above FlightSafety supports C-17 training at 15 USAF bases and the RAAF base in Amberley.

Image credit: FlightSafety International.

Above Daniel (Dan) Davis, President, FSI Defense, a FlightSafety International company.

Image credit: FSI Defense.

is going to cover the US Navy. When I say we are customer-focused and not product-focused, we align ourselves to cover the future needs of the Army, Navy/Marine Corps and Air Force. The F-16 pilot is covered down on Air Force.

Our oversight of the Army is led by a former brigade commander with an aviation/helicopter background. Our defense marketing director is an ‘11B’ (infantry and disabled vet). None of these folks came from the sim world or the ‘heavy world’. We wanted fresh perspectives.

Our Navy guy, a former Marine pilot, will cover down on NAVAIR. And our BD lead for growth was a career infantry officer.

When I look at us, we are full up on Air

Force and the other services, and simulation. If we are going to move into other areas, we need that fresh perspective.

MS&T: And you have a unique background for this position.

DD: Yes, I am a former Army artillery officer and I did 15 years with Lockheed Martin. Artillery is perfect for sims – you don’t have to go out to a range and lob 155 artillery shells over the horizon – you can do that in a computer model.

MS&T: What legacy US defense programs are you eying to capture as a recompete or as new business?

DD: Bombers. We’re chasing the USAF B-52. They have a whole upgrade so the aircraft can continue on, but the sims are ready for a refresh. The aircraft have been modified so many times the sims simply can’t keep up – they have to start fresh.

The C-17 is a program we’re supporting for Boeing. This is a legacy aircraft that is not going anywhere for a very long time. This is a platform we are very, very committed to, and we are going to further develop our capabilities and chase this market. We’re also following the US Army’s Flight School XXI program, looking to revamp the US Army’s CH-47 Chinook legacy platform which needs an upgrade, and for the Lakota it’s the same thing. The Army is going to keep these MS&T MAGAZINE 1.2022

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LEADERSHIP INTERVIEW platforms around for a long time. We want to make sure the training can keep up using the right devices.

MS&T: And similarly – what about new US DoD programs?

DD: Let’s start with US Air Force’s KC-46.

We’re super-focused on performing well on that one – and we understand where the Air Force is going. If they had all the 46s they requested, they would have only half of the ones they really need. We’re also very focused on new programs for the US Army and for maritime use. There are other training programs that come out all the time. I wouldn’t call all of them ‘new’. Most of them are recompetes, but there is still a lot of activity happening in the Army and on the maritime side. We have new folks in place who are only focused on looking at that customer need. And we know and appreciate these are not 12-month sales – they have long cycles and long developments, and take time to work.

MS&T: As recent as the last live I/ITSEC (2019), the FSI military team reminded us it was still primarily focused on the US defense market. Will that market emphasis change at FSI Defense?

DD: I’ve been asked by our corporate team: what’s our international focus?

My first answer has been and remains: we’ll take care of what we have at home.

There’s enough on our plate to allow us to solve what we have already won.

There’s enough new business to go chase right now domestically. And to follow up, and the KC-46 is a great example, there will be a foreign military sale soon after. Following that natural progression in the FMS market is how we’ll pursue that. There are also a few things on the international side that don’t scare me off but make me take notice. First, are the Covid restrictions with travel and other things. While we’re doing things in Norway and the UK, Covid restrictions are certainly a consideration. And unless it is not FMS, and you’re talking direct commercial sales, that latter process can be extremely difficult if you are not playing by the Federal Acquisition Regulations.

MS&T: How are VR/AR/XR, AI and other emerging technologies being integrated into your portfolio?

DD: All of those technologies represent a lot of players in the market. One of things 34

we look at is should we do that organically or should we acquire that. That is the future and we are asking where do we go with that, how do we go solve that. The Air Force talks about three big things at major conferences: they want it affordable, they want it available, and they want more pilots to use it. Getting into VR and AI, where we can give them a much lower-cost device that can put more pilots through and put it in the hands of more trainees – that is certainly where this is going. Full-motion devices are never going to go away; they will always have a niche. We have to get on the bandwagon for AI, VR and other technologies if we’re going to solve the other problems of connectivity, connecting simulators to the battlefield, and others.

MS&T: As one follow-up, discuss FSI Defense’s intentions or plans to acquire a company with these capabilities.

DD: We’re always open to partners who bring good value and technology to our solutions.

MS&T: What’s the current split between FSI’s commercial and military business?

DD: Our commercial business has been around 70 years and has an impressive market share. I think over time we want to rival that and ultimately exceed it.

MS&T: And your plans to balance those market shares?

DD: We have a desire to flip it on its head – I tell my boss that all the time. We’re not really a start-up; we’re still playing from behind. When you look at CAE’s buyout of L3 Link, and them teaming up and how big CAE is now, it widens the gap between numbers 1 and 2. We can’t control that; we focus on what we do and we’re aware of what is going on in the marketplace. It also opens up part of the previous L3 training business to us.

We’re all in on the defense side!

MS&T: Anything else to add?

DD: I just want to reemphasize our commitment in shifting from the product focus where we were selling devices, machines and other articles, to where we are selling solutions. We are using that new paradigm in our growth and business development, and in our internal research and development – how we spend those dollars – and letting those customer objectives drive our decisions and image. mst

SIMULATION & TRAINING CALENDAR Events organised by Halldale Group: 3-5 May 2022 WATS 2022 – World Aviation Training Summit Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA www.wats-event.com 29 June 2022 AAETS 2022 – Asian Aviation Education & Training Symposium Virtual www.aaets-event.com 8-9 November 2022 EATS 2022 – European Airline Training Symposium.

Estrel Hotel, Berlin, Germany www.eats-event.com

Other simulation & training events: 12-14 April 2022 DAF M&S Summit Fort Walton Beach, Florida, USA www.dafmscoesummit.com 26-28 April 2022 IT2EC London, UK www.itec.co.uk 7-10 June 2022 DSET 2022 Bristol, UK www.dset.co.uk 13-17 June 2022 Eurosatory 2022 Paris, France www.eurosatory.com

INDEX OF ADS CAE www.cae.com/defense-security DSET 2022 www.dset.co.uk Guardiaris www.guardiaris.com I/ITSEC 2022 www.iitsec.org Leonardo www.leonardocompany.com MVRsimulation www.mvrsimulation.com Saab www.saab.com

OBC 9 18-19 IBC 5 IFC 11

Advertising contacts: Holly Foster holly.foster@halldale.com +1 813 994 0191 Jeremy Humphreys jeremy.humphreys@halldale.com +44 1252 532009

MS&T MAGAZINE 1.2022

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