practising convoy procedures in an ambush/IED environment in Iraq. It was also exploited at that time by recce forces, but not by anyone else. However, the Enterprise Licence devised by Bohemia allows the MoD to use it for any defence purpose, and to load it on as many systems as they wish. The licence is also innovative enough to allow them to provide it to defence contractors working on MoD programmes. Furthermore, Bohemia encourage licence-holders to share data classified Restricted and below, and this has resulted in significant mutual benefit to the UK, Canada, Australia and the US, at no cost. The semi-open top-level architecture of VBS2 has allowed the user to rapidly add detail – such as a new vehicle - without changing the core gaming engine underneath. Users can also create their own databases; the new Afghan database currently being used at the RSA is 70km by 70km, and accurate enough to allow precision munition targeting. The technical limitations of Joint Fires and ISTAR integration in VBS2 were quickly recognised, and VBS2 Fires was developed by Bohemia, in conjunction with SimCentric Technologies, to address them, and purchased by the MoD on a separate Enterprise Licence. VBS2 Fires provides a much more realistic representation of the complexity of Joint Fires, including true battlespace management; for instance, an MLRS round fired in the system can travel 80km and has a representative apogee of approximately 75K’. Other more complex manoeuvre simulators lack the ability to represent artillery or air vehicles as entities within the system and, therefore, only firing and impact would be represented; battlespace management is the most complex issue to address and, should a GMLRS round coincide in flight with, for instance, a civilian airliner, the painful result would be plain to see. The flexibility and saving which VBS2’s unique business plan conveys to its users – especially in the current climate of fast-moving operational requirement and budgetary constraint – has promoted innovation, the VBS architecture has allowed it, and the RSA has been quick to take advantage. The system is internet-compatible, and connectable to any LAN or WAN. It has permitted the blending of synthetic and live information in an immersive environment to the point where it is really hard to tell one from the other.
adapted from a redundant control station from a past Concept Capability Demonstrator programme. The distance between FST commander and UAV operator may only be a few hundred yards, as opposed to perhaps 100km in theatre, but it replicates the ‘friction’ very effectively. The GCS is transportable, and can be deployed in the field. When there are concurrent courses for UAV operators and Joint Fires Integrators, they can effectively provide training for each other. Other innovations include a dismembered £80 Bluetooth mouse, attached to the barrel of a 105mm Light Gun and transmitting to a computer, replicating the sighting system and allowing simulation of direct fire – for which no simulator previously existed. In an adjoining room is an MLRS cab, with its windows replaced by screens. Through VBS2 links, it is participating in a current live exercise out on Salisbury Plain; however, MLRS range requires the launch point to be outside the exercise area, and the MLRS crew are synthetically driving around a distant town. In both of these projects, the RSA have entered into a mutually beneficial arrangement with Wiltshire College, whereby students take on projects and produce the required hard- or software at little or no cost. It is hoped that future enhancements will embed this training capability in artillery platforms. It could also be easily adapted to any direct fire weapon or vehicle. The RSA will remain the Artillery’s simulation hub, but the significant capabilities which it has developed at extremely modest cost, will in the future be embedded in every Gunner Regiment. In their different ways, then, CATT and Joint Fires Simulation are contributing significantly to effective, but affordable, individual and collective training for UK Army operations. ms&t
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One example is an ISTAR feed of UAV data, transmitted into a synthetic Joint Fires Cell and received by the FST commander on operational hardware – such as a GoBook – which he would use in-theatre; the cost of this capability: £29 for a cable from a well-known electronics retailer. The synthetic JFC, configured to either battlegroup or brigade HQ level, represents all the appropriate intelligence and communications links, and replicates the ‘friction’ to be found in-theatre. Its after-action review capability allows the instructor to monitor and control from outside, thereby enhancing the immersion for the students. The only other place where this can be found is at the ABTC, which is designed for collective, rather than individual or team, training. Synthetic UAV information can also be sent to students training in the exercise area; this can plug a gap when real UAV data is not available – for weather, UAV availability, or because the equipment – such as Hermes 450 – is not cleared for flight in the UK. The synthetic UAV can also be ‘flown’ by an operator in a representative Ground Control Station (GCS), which was
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