Training Technology
Fidelity and Flexibility They are essential for training “the way we operate”. Chuck Weirauch describes two new important training solutions that meet these requirements.
ISSUE 5.2011
W
MS&T MAGAZINE
10
hen Army Major General Robert Brown told attendees of the 2011 Training Simulation Industry Symposium (TSIS) that US soldiers are not training the way the service operates, he caused a bit of a stir. That is because, in today's complex Operational Environment, "training the way we operate'' is the new Department of Defense mandate and mantra; "training the way we fight" is becoming passé. To help meet the "training the way we operate" challenge, Brown's command, the Army Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, GA sponsored the 21st Century Maneuver Training Conference this September. Two of the training solutions that were demonstrated at the Center's conference are specifically designed to provide the kind of high fidelity and flexibility that is essential for the kind of full-spectrum Operational Environment training needed, but not techno-
logically feasible until now. Advances in gaming technology incorporated into the Dismounted Soldier System and the Enhanced Dynamic Geosocial Environment (EDGE) have now made such highly accurate and realistic representations of the operating environment possible and capable of being incorporated into LVC training.
Dismounted Soldier Key to the operating environment realism of the Dismounted Soldier Training System is the incorporation of the high-fidelity CryENGINE gaming engine developed by German video game company Crytek. According to John Foster, Assistant Project Manager of the Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT) program for the US Army's Program Executive Officer for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI), the graphic representations of the operating environment provided by this technology are now good enough to allow the Dismounted
Above The Dismounted Soldier Traning System incorporates the CryENGINE gaming engine. Image credit: RealTime Immersive, Inc.
Soldier Training System to move forward as a program of record. Although there has always been a requirement for such a training system, the lack of the technology to provide the required high-fidelity simulations and a lack of funding support for the program has held it up until now. In March, systems integrator Intelligent Systems was awarded a $57 million PEO STRI contract to provide the Dismounted Soldier Training System. According to Floyd West, the company's Director of Strategic Operations, the CryENGINE "stood out among its peers." For example, IED defeat training is highly based on visual cues, such as the changes of colors in concrete and that of disturbed soil. The Crytek gaming engine