Battlefield training systems: it is not so long ago that battlefield training was conducted over dedicated ranges such as Salisbury Plain in Britain or Sennelager in Germany, while week long exercises could involve other rural locations. Vehicles and helicopters marked with white crosses would carry umpires through Blue and Red forces to deliver thunder flashes and declare deaths and injuries. (Training & Simulation).

After such a training event in a rural environment, officers would assess damage claims and agree compensation to farmers and local authorities. However, the increasing power of the `green' lobby has discouraged this kind of battlefield training, while the global and often unpredictable nature of today's conflicts has encouraged the `export' of such training. Thus the jungles of Kenya and wintry wastes of Canada play host to soldiers who cannot tell where their next active service may be.

Small wonder that classroom and simulation training has had to meet an increasing percentage of the total battlefield training requirement, while laser-based systems have been refined to increase the fidelity of any range training still permitted. But it is not only noise and general disturbance that has encouraged the use of simulation, treasury bean counters in many countries do not permit more than rare opportunities to fire real missiles, while to expend ammunition rather than use laser-based simulation is discouraged as well.

Battlefield Training -- the Bottom Line

But the neglect of much-used training facilities sometimes obliges a healthy injection of investment and as part of a $1.59 million general refurbishment of the British Army's Sennelager ranges, a computerised targetry system was recently installed by Hima Sella of Britain and Theissen Training Systems of Germany. Until the new state-of-the-art system had been installed, users had to make do with antiquated targetry systems designed and installed by the German Army in the 1930s!

The steel targets (of which there were some 4000 in Sennelager) were pulled up by men in bunkers further down each range, using wire cables and pulleys -- a huge manpower-intensive task. Since the new targetry was installed, the fourteen men permanently employed on one range alone have been reduced to two. The 22 km of cabling used inhibited free movement of armoured vehicles and there was no mechanism by which an old `fall when hit' target could be raised again.

During live firing exercises it was clearly too dangerous for a range worker to reset a target, but now, using radio signal commands from either an observation tower or the firing point, a single target or series of targets can be made to appear instantly. The new system will help to hone the skills of British tank and armoured infantry units stationed in Germany, as well as those of other Nato forces. However, the ranges are also ideally suited for dismounted infantry operations, supported by armour and other anti-tank weapon systems.

A couple of years ago, one consultancy estimated that the market for simulation of the battlefield was valued at some $1.3 billion and noted an increasing awareness of the need for training at all levels -- from the planner through commander to gunner. Consequently, even bean counters concede that good training can save equipment and lives. Moreover, although not all armies have responded to the `CNN effect' by adopting a `zero dead' policy, there is no doubt that political leaders are increasingly aware of the need for care in the deployment of armed forces to distant countries to sort out their problems.

So the economic argument for using the best in battlefield training systems is hard to resist. In Britain it is now mandatory for a training needs analysis (TNA) to be conducted for all new equipment acquisitions. This means that training systems can be developed in parallel with the actual weapon or other equipment. Aspire Consulting finds that it is being increasingly involved with weapon programmes during the early stages of design and development.

This may result in classroom as well as range training systems, although in addition to these categories Military Operation on Urban Terrain (Mout) is growing in importance as a different kind of `battlefield.' Peacekeeping operations in Kosovo, Panama City, Kuwait City, Mogadishu and elsewhere has obliged American forces to train for Mout in which casualty rates are often much higher than on an open battlefield.

Moot -- the New Kind of `Battlefield'

Although classroom training with conventional battlefields or Mout in mind can lead to range training, the latter can be radically different from conventional scenarios. But an increasing number of companies are offering solutions to Mout training needs, some of which are based on computer games. For example, the Operation Flashback game developed in Britain by Codemasters so impressed an officer of the US Marine Corps that a special version was developed for the American customer.

It may be tempting to disdain the place of computer games in military training, but it is worth bearing in mind that some of the `September 11th terrorists' honed their flying skills using just such a source. So it is no surprise that the USMC is not the only defence arm to check out such games. The US Army plans to use a modified version of the Red Storm game `Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six' to help personnel conduct operations in urban terrain. To this end, Ubi Soft Entertainment has agreed to permit LB&B Associates to adapt the game to help train decisionmaking skills at small unit level. The Military Element Tactical Trainer is now being offered by LB&B to replicate subterranean, mountain and jungle environments as well as urban.

To help ground forces in mission planning, BAE Systems has combined its Socet Set photogramatic tool suite with MultiGen-Paradigm's SiteBuilder 3D GIS software to create real-world, high-resolution 3D environments using satellite imagery and aerial photography as the single source of data. The result is a specific rather than generic Mout scenario. However, NSC Training Systems has developed a rather different training solution in Sweden.

The Urban Warfare Training System (UWTS) is said to add a new dimension to the concept of urban warfare by equipping all soldiers, firearms and other weapons with electronic tags and transponders. This enables all involved in Mout training to be tracked and recorded in real-time with a high degree of accuracy. Thus when a soldier decides to enter a building through a window a sensor in the window frame will record exactly who is climbing through it.

Should the soldier throw a hand grenade through a doorway, a sensor in the opening will register the fact, recording who threw it and the position at which it exploded. Any soldiers in the room would be registered as casualties accordingly and when the explosion is registered a central unit will trigger an effects simulator that will activate a strobe light, smoke, sound and other effects. NSC has built a UWTS demonstration facility in which cable connections and antenna loops play their part in the building interior. However, externally mounted prisms sensitive to laser weapon simulator fire ensure that the UWTS can be used with such systems.

On the other side of the Atlantic, a Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Drum has been developed to provide the US Army with an instrumented system for advanced Mout training. Replicating a foreign town, airfield and military base, this provides automated data collection and feedback as well as an ability to monitor activities inside buildings.

Classroom Training

It is becoming commonplace for modern armies to build mock towns and other installations in which soldiers may train how to achieve objectives while minimising casualties. But it is in the classroom that much battlefield training must begin, ranging from handling weapons to command and staff training. For the latter, Alenia Marconi Systems (AMS) has, in collaboration with Landair International, developed the Command and Staff Trainer (Cast). This is a PC-based highly modular system designed to cover all aspects of joint warfare.

Reinforcing its focus on this sector, AMS now offers Battle Management Training at its Dundridge College facility. This enables students to role-play in a number of scenarios in any part of the world, real or imaginary. After thorough instruction in theory, practical training reinforces the more complex aspects.

Wargaming is not to be confused with the computer games mentioned previously as they are designed specifically to train military personnel. Indeed, wargames can cover a broad spectrum and about all that they have in common is that they are PC-based. Raytheon's Command and Staff Trainer (Rcast) for example, is a family of high fidelity training tools that are used to simulate conflicts from full-scale war to localised, limited-scale conflicts in support of a ground manoeuvre force.

Variants of the Rcast are used by armies in the United States, Britain, Canada and Nato headquarters to train commanders and staffs at corps level and below in a simulated operational manoeuvre and contingency planning environment. The Cats TyR wargaming system developed in Sweden by Cell Interactive Training & Simulation is claimed to be a completely new type of system designed to reduce costs.

Operating at-command level, the Tyr has been adapted to provide training in operations other than war with special emphasis on peace support operations. Cell also produces a tactical command trainer designed for battalion and company staff. As indeed does Rafael, which has developed and refined its Army Unit and Battlegroup Simulation (ABS-2000) system. In addition to a communications and electronic warfare model, the company has developed a Partnership for Peace program designed to train the military in peacekeeping scenarios.

Developed by CAE's German company, the Gesi combat simulation system was selected by the Italian Army and installed at its Cesano infantry school last year. This provides leadership training at battalion and brigade commander level, the sale being the largest for Gesi since it was introduced in 1995. Excellent though all these staff training aids no doubt are, there is some danger that they will not make for `joined up' training.

That danger has been addressed by the Warfighters' Simulation (Warsim) 2000 system developed by Lockheed Martin Information in collaboration with the US Army's Stricom (Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command). The Warsim program is the Army/land component of the Joint Simulation System and will involve no less than 43 different sites. It aims to reduce the numbers needed to plan exercises and by 2006 will be linked to other computerised training systems as well as with live exercises. Much has been demanded in the development of Warsim 2000 to ensure a real-time performance with a high degree of fidelity.

Many companies have produced classroom weapon training systems that do much to prepare soldiers to handle equipment with confidence. The Fats simulation product range is constantly growing and the options now include 20 mm cannon, 40 mm grenade launchers, anti-armour weapons and, of course, rifles and other personal weapons. Over 200 weapons are included in the Fats system and an optional live-fire screen with built-in sensing provides for extremely accurate detection of bullet location.

Meanwhile, Thales Training & Simulation has brought its disparate indoor small arms training capabilities together under the `Sagittarius' banner. This consolidation of systems developed in Britain, France and Germany will enable Thales to tailor systems to meet customer requirements (including budget limitations).

ECC International is another major player in the small arms trainer business and its Engagement Skills Trainer (EST) 2000 is said to be the US Army's only validated system in this category. The company expects to supply over 1100 systems to the US armed forces through 2004, and last year it was selected by the Israel Defence Force to supply a minimum of 21 systems with over 400 weapons. These will include rifles, pistols, shotguns, machine guns, anti-tank weapons and grenade launchers.

Forming an alliance with AIS/Nitor, (both suppliers of small arms trainers and dismounted infantry synthetic training equipment), CAE can supply small arms trainers optimised for close-range engagements with enemy forces in a building.

The Crossover to Laser-based Training

Noptel has secured a firm niche in the marksmanship training sector. But while its basic and indoor range training systems make use of a cable link between each weapon and a computer; a laser training device is used for combat training and the development of tactical engagement skills. Thus the Noptel products can be compatible with other laser-based systems.

For many years, the laser has been king of battlefield training systems, reaching new levels of fidelity as more refinements are introduced. Indeed, there is no place for sentiment or customer loyalty when it comes to defence expenditure, so pioneer systems such as Weston Simfire and Solartron products have either been superseded or absorbed by competitors.

To remain a major player at this top end of the battlefield training business companies cannot afford to rest on their laurels and must continue to refine their skills. Moreover, compatibility with existing systems is essential as customers with hard-pressed defence budgets cannot afford to sweep away even time-expired equipment and start anew.

Perhaps even more importantly, as sophistication of weapons increase so must the training equipment. More than ever before, different types of fighting units, hitherto kept relatively separate, now find themselves operating much closer to one another -- infantry, portable anti-tank missile operators, helicopters, mortars, armoured vehicles. And who hasn't a portable radio and computer nowadays?

Saab's Gamer, described below, or the Swiss Codarts, for example, illustrate the new trend towards reproducing disturbingly realistic fighting environments. Finer beam lasers have, for instance, enabled the sensors carried by individuals or vehicles to be made smaller and their numbers increased thus allowing a better discrimination of the part of the body, tank or helicopter to be made. In earlier systems, a soldier that was hit was considered dead. Big mistake! Such an assumption could dramatically false the course of what would have been a real situation. Not only could that man still have ruined somebody else's weekend, but would also have, in the end, needed medical attention and possibly evacuation. Those resources and disturbances do indeed alter the course of events in a real situation.

So now the umpires have little receivers that tell them who's wounded and where. The medical crews -- themselves covered in receivers, since they have to play the game as well -- assess the "case" and can either call for evacuation or decide to fix a wounded limb. This is done by a special sender aimed at the patient as one would select a television channel with the remote control. The receiver then re-establishes the operation of the soldiers weapon or disables it for good depending on the life expectancy of the wounded -- in the same way as the life potential is diminished or increased in teenagers' computer war games.

All parameters can be recorded and replayed later, no doubt much to some of the players' embarrassment.

When Saab Training Systems introduced an Infantry Shoot-back System (ISS), it was Miles (Multiple Integrated Laser Equipment Systems) laser-based and could be used on open terrain training areas or in Mout. In this system, laser pulses received by detectors are evaluated by the decoder and, if applicable, will lower the target. Casualty assessment using different Pk values for different ammunition types can be used and individual time delays can be set for target appearance and shoot-back time.

In the real world, soldiers must cope with dust, mud, rain or the glaring sun, to say nothing of temperature extremes and fear. With the exception of fear, these may be experienced on ranges or when on exercise in foreign lands, but if fear cannot be assured then shoot-back can provide the next best thing. Pumping adrenaline can help soldiers to achieve an objective during an exercise, especially if a moment's carelessness could result in the end of further participation as a result of enemy fire.

Whereas the original laser systems were of the direct fire type, giving a gunner and commander the satisfaction of seeing orange smoke generated from an enemy tank when a hit had been scored, current systems are much more sophisticated. Distance, lead angle and target centre are factors that will determine whether or not a kill code is triggered. Thus engagement results are calculated according to the attacker's ammunition type and effective range, the hit co-ordinates and the specific vulnerability of the vehicle being targeted.

Ruag Electronics and C.O.E.L. have collaborated in the development of various versions of the Cosim Can two-way laser system as part of the Codarts range. Supplied to the Swiss Army, it provides the highest levels of fidelity while being compatible with Miles-equipped units. It is the target discrimination system (TDS) of Cosim that enables the seamless integration of Miles-type harnesses, but the system also provides for simulation of artillery and mortar fire as well as minefields.

The fire marker units that are part of the Codarts concept will make smoke and a loud report when activated by indirect fire, while the TDS calculates its effect upon hard and soft targets.

Thus a shell burst may kill infantrymen but fail to damage a tank. But by no means are all armies equipped with such advanced laser-based systems, and in such circumstances British Army umpires will distribute sealed casualty cards, which when opened determine whether a soldier may return to duties, is walking or stretcher wounded or simply dead.

Development of laser-based training technology has enabled difficult problems to be overcome, so that helicopters shooting through walls and the effects or mortar fire can play their part. Now part of Eads, GDI Simulation has developed a device that can be installed without the need to modify a helicopter. The STC H is fully interoperable with other laser-equipped exercise participants, and this system allows the crew to perform simulated firings against ground-or airborne targets, in each case faithfully reproducing the full firing sequence and ammunition ballistics.

While Miles has been supplied to many armies, the system has been the subject of various upgrades and improvements, the latest being Miles XXI on which Schwarz Electro-Optics partnered with Lockheed Martin Information Systems to win a major US Army contract. Compatible with fielded Miles equipment; the new version offers a 50 per cent weight savings and reduced system maintenance costs.

The new system brought together the expertise of Lockheed Martin, which produced the 3rd generation Miles system, and the Schwarz-developed Advanced Miles equipment. The shoot-through-the-wall system, a part of the latter, was designed to enhance Mout training. Heavy weapon codes received on one side of a wall are converted into `man-kill' codes on the other side to simulate a breach or explosion.

Saab Training Systems has also supplied many Nato and other armies with its Gamer instrumented training system. This has been developed to support live-fire training and includes a modification kit in the form of a radio module and antenna that is added appropriately in exercises using two-way and personnel laser simulators. Gamer covers all needs from platoon level through company level up to and beyond brigade level, bringing an added dimension to command training. It can be used to simulate minefield, mortars and chemical weapons.

To add realism to field exercises some surplus M113s are being adapted to take on the look of BMP2 infantry fighting vehicles or main battle tanks. These replicas follow an earlier opposing force (Opfor) representation of the BMP1 when M551 Sheridan tanks were modified. United Defense and General Dynamics Land Systems are in the team of contractors working on the latest Opfor vehicles.

Of course just as the best CD can never reproduce the atmosphere in a concert hall, so too absolute fidelity in simulation and training will continue to elude all who seek it. Nevertheless, great advances are being achieved.