thedrifter
12-01-05, 02:06 PM
December 01, 2005
Simulators offer dose of reality
By Travis Reed
Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. — The five soldiers in a Humvee barreled through the Iraqi desert “fighting” insurgents, machine guns blazing, smoke wafting overhead.
They had backup — four other Humvee teams and a helicopter. And when the battle was over, they were back inside the Orlando Convention Center.
The computer-simulated battle using realistic mockups and equipment is an example of new technology that several defense companies put on display this week at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference. The gathering is billed as the largest military security and conference in the world.
The interactive system using different kinds of guns and technology was a partnership between simulation companies Raydon Corp. and MPRI Inc., which is intended to provide a realistic environment for soldiers to train for combat. It allows several to practice on the same mission in real-time using computer systems that simulate actual military vehicles with real-world limitations.
The real guns, which use half-strength blanks designed to fire inside, even jam, and won’t fire if the bullet belt get too entangled by the turret gunner.
The virtual convoy system also features real-life depictions of Iraqi cities like Baghdad and Tikrit.
“Before everybody ever gets into country, they can have the experience of being there,” said Mike Riley, Raydon’s vice president of training and logistics. “These roads are not made up. They’re really there.”
The systems are also designed to tell soldiers where bullets hit, how to differentiate a fake explosive device from a real one and how, logistically, to fight out of a moving military vehicle.
“How do you hold your weapon in there when you’ve got other equipment?” said William Feyk, vice president of simulations for MPRI. “How do you fight out of these? It’s difficult.”
The conference featured more than 400 exhibits from around the globe, all with their own computer simulation troop-training systems.
Lockheed Martin Corp. also boasted a trainer that will allow users 360-degree action on the simulated battlefield, along with more detailed and realistic scenarios soldiers are likely to encounter.
Much of the advances are born not in a laboratory but by talking to soldiers who’ve already been in combat.
“Soldiers in urban areas say, ‘A big problem we have when we’re driving around is a lot of traffic, a lot of pedestrians,”’ said James Craig, a Lockheed vice president. “We had traffic in there, but they said, ‘No, you need more traffic.”’
Still greater advances — not yet ready for display at the conference — are expected to evaluate and refine leadership instincts, cognition and decision-making on the battlefield, said Wally White, Lockheed’s director of business development.
Using interviews with retired soldiers and data from psychologists, simulators are in the works that would study timelines and triggers and match them against tables calculated to score the “right” split-second choices.
“It won’t be just motor skills, it’ll be how you think,” he said. “How you measure that is the toughest.”
Ellie
Simulators offer dose of reality
By Travis Reed
Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. — The five soldiers in a Humvee barreled through the Iraqi desert “fighting” insurgents, machine guns blazing, smoke wafting overhead.
They had backup — four other Humvee teams and a helicopter. And when the battle was over, they were back inside the Orlando Convention Center.
The computer-simulated battle using realistic mockups and equipment is an example of new technology that several defense companies put on display this week at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference. The gathering is billed as the largest military security and conference in the world.
The interactive system using different kinds of guns and technology was a partnership between simulation companies Raydon Corp. and MPRI Inc., which is intended to provide a realistic environment for soldiers to train for combat. It allows several to practice on the same mission in real-time using computer systems that simulate actual military vehicles with real-world limitations.
The real guns, which use half-strength blanks designed to fire inside, even jam, and won’t fire if the bullet belt get too entangled by the turret gunner.
The virtual convoy system also features real-life depictions of Iraqi cities like Baghdad and Tikrit.
“Before everybody ever gets into country, they can have the experience of being there,” said Mike Riley, Raydon’s vice president of training and logistics. “These roads are not made up. They’re really there.”
The systems are also designed to tell soldiers where bullets hit, how to differentiate a fake explosive device from a real one and how, logistically, to fight out of a moving military vehicle.
“How do you hold your weapon in there when you’ve got other equipment?” said William Feyk, vice president of simulations for MPRI. “How do you fight out of these? It’s difficult.”
The conference featured more than 400 exhibits from around the globe, all with their own computer simulation troop-training systems.
Lockheed Martin Corp. also boasted a trainer that will allow users 360-degree action on the simulated battlefield, along with more detailed and realistic scenarios soldiers are likely to encounter.
Much of the advances are born not in a laboratory but by talking to soldiers who’ve already been in combat.
“Soldiers in urban areas say, ‘A big problem we have when we’re driving around is a lot of traffic, a lot of pedestrians,”’ said James Craig, a Lockheed vice president. “We had traffic in there, but they said, ‘No, you need more traffic.”’
Still greater advances — not yet ready for display at the conference — are expected to evaluate and refine leadership instincts, cognition and decision-making on the battlefield, said Wally White, Lockheed’s director of business development.
Using interviews with retired soldiers and data from psychologists, simulators are in the works that would study timelines and triggers and match them against tables calculated to score the “right” split-second choices.
“It won’t be just motor skills, it’ll be how you think,” he said. “How you measure that is the toughest.”
Ellie