Rheinmetall’s Legatus simulation environment on show at Land Forces

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Nigel Pittaway | Brisbane

Visitors to the Land Forces Conference were able to view a demonstration of a cutting edge European simulation system on the Rheinmetall stand.

The company had installed elements of its Legatus system on the stand and were keen to talk about its attributes and potential benefits here in Australia.

The Legatus system is more correctly a range of scalable simulation systems marketed under one umbrella and can represent anything from personal weapons training to large scale land manoeuvres, including urban warfare and improvised explosive device counter operations.

Ernst Christians, vice president systems engineering for Rheinmetall’s Live Simulation product unit, said that Rheinmetall runs the German Army’s Combat Training Centre which is fully instrumented and capable of supporting force on force training of mechanised Battalions.

He explained that Legatus utilises the European OSAG engagement code standard, rather than the Miles system favoured by the US.

“OSAG 1.0, now in its 2.0 form, began with a requirement from the German military procurement office, now there is an international working group and the US is involved in evolving an international standard,” he explained.

“There is limited interoperability between Miles and OSAG-based systems, but the US is more concerned at the present time with using simulation to train in tactical situations.”

Christians said that training in Europe with something like an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) is very costly and the OSAG system had been developed to encompass the interoperation of many capabilities.

“Sooner or later the US will change to the European system,” he predicted.

The Legatus system has also been sold to the Middle East and in addition, Rheinmetall had built a capability for the Russian Army field training centre but this is now embargoed in Germany due to the current international situation.

The full system comprises soldier’s personal equipment; weapon equipment; urban operations equipment; exercise control; training area communications equipment and support equipment.

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