Simulation: Army: aiming to institutionalise simulation | ADM June 2012
Already
a leader in the use of simulation for training, including mission rehearsal and
mission-specific training, the ever-adaptive Army is on the road to
institutionalising simulation, garnering its many other benefits in such
diverse areas as operational planning, decision making, concept evaluation, and
modelling for options assessment.
In an interview with ADM
late last year Major-General John Caligari, now Head Capability
Systems, was succinct: “Simulation is a significant multiplier to everything we
do because you can keep doing it and it costs nothing. You can keep driving it
until it breaks and you find the edges of the problem. You can do that for
modernisation, you can do it for training, you can do it with a soldier sitting
in a vehicle who, when he turns the corner too fast and the vehicle rolls,
thinks he’s dead.
“You
can use it for command post exercises or force modelling and to test
organisational force structures. You can change any of the parameters and do it
over and over, more quickly and more safely than doing for real or live.
“There
are things you can do with simulation that you just couldn’t do for real, even
because it is too expensive to do live. Everything that can be simulated should
be considered at the time every capability is considered for acquisition, and
it must conform to a single synthetic environment.”
MAJGEN
Caligari says his main effort in simulation has been to avoid the situation of
every simulator coming with a proprietary system.
“Army
has a Simulation Campaign Plan that defines a generation zero simulation
capability, which is what we’ve got now through to a Generation 3 simulation
environment we aspire to with a single synthetic environment so that all of the
simulations across all of those capabilities are optimised.”
As
an example, he says his vision is not to have a single simulator for a tank,
which does nothing other than drive the tank or fire the main armament. Instead
he envisages a simulator that drives, shoots and sees the tank next to it and,
for collective training, it also sees offensive artillery or aircraft support,
all connected.
But
the road to a single synthetic environment is no easy matter and the Army alone
has necessarily acquired a significant inventory of simulation assets, ranging from
virtual simulation (tank crew trainers, weapons trainers) and live simulation (laser
engagement systems) to some distributed systems of a very high order that
embrace cooperative simulated engagements with other nations.
Army simulation assets
The 2011 Defence Simulation Strategy and Roadmap says the number
and scope of simulation assets (technology, facilities and infrastructure)
available to and used by
Defence continues to grow. Over the last
five years, simulation precincts - areas where
simulation assets have been concentrated
- continue to multiply and expand and
many assets have been upgraded or modernised.
The
focus of these assets remains on supporting the development of professional
mastery within the Services and Defence Research & Development. Part task,
procedural and mission simulators are making significant contributions to individual
and force preparedness. Notably, there is now an increased capacity to deliver
exercise support focussed on achieving joint effects and to provide decision support
to capability development. Examples of recent Army specific capabilities that
have been introduced include:
Joint and Combined Training Centre
The Joint and Combined Training Centre (JCTC) began operations in 2007 as an
integral component of Talisman Sabre 2007 and operates under an Australian and US bilateral
agreement. The core capability of the JCTC is the management of the Defence
Training and Experimentation Network (DTEN), which has been developed to link
ADF simulators and training areas, as well as providing a persistent linkage to
the United States’
Joint Training and Experimentation Network (JTEN) since 2007.
The
JCTC has been used during Mission Readiness Exercises (MREs) for land forces deploying
to the Middle East Area of Operations.
Combat
Training Centre- Live Instrumented System
The
CTC-LIS was accepted into service in 2008 and played a critical role in
Talisman Sabre 09 including interoperating with constructive simulation
entities via Link 16, a virtual AC130 Gunship and the Hornet Air Combat
Training System (HACTS). The eyesafe laser and radio engagement system
incorporates realistic audio and visual effects and has directly supported pre-deployment
training for troops.
There
are a number of Battle Simulation Centres including those in current operation at
Darwin, Townsville, Brisbane, Puckapunyal and one planned at Canungra.
ASLAV Crew Procedural Trainers (CPT)
Nine CPTs provide realistic training for ASLAV commanders and gunners in a
fully immersive environment with a complete suite of simulated sights,
periscope and outof-turret visuals. The capability has expended 1.2 million
simulated rounds – representing a massive cost saving compared to the price of
real ammunition, whilst providing more accurate feedback, avoiding safety
risks, avoiding damage and wear and tear on weapons, and minimising
environmental impact and clean-up activities.
Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH)
The ARH will be supported by a sophisticated training system component
including:
- a Full Flight and Mission Simulator (FFMS) providing aircrew training;
- two CPT each with two separate domes operating coupled at all times; and
- Ground Crew Training Devices including mechanical and avionics systems trainers.
Aircrewman Part Task Trainer (APTT)
Seven APTTs are used to train Army helicopter aircrewman in a virtual reality
environment across their full range of tasks including approaches, external
loads, hoisting, gunnery and crew interaction.
They
have improved course pass rates, training standards and safety, while reducing flying
hour requirements. APTTs can be reconfigured as Chinooks, Black Hawks, MRH-90s
and Bell 412s.
They can be networked together and have the potential to network into the broader
Army simulation network.
Weapons Training Simulation Systems (WSST)
Provided exclusively by Meggitt Training Systems (MTS), WTSS is a complete
small arms training environment that includes individual training in
marksmanship and weapons handling. It is configured for the future adoption of
mortar simulators for crew and collective training missions with an integrated
capability supporting call for fire and indirect fire tasks.
Late
last year MTS was contracted to deliver WTSS at four purpose-built Australian Army
facilities, bringing the total number of WTSS facilities. Coordinated from Meggitt’s
facility in Albury, NSW, MTS will provide operations and maintenance for 18
sites located at major troop locations in every state and territory throughout Australia. The
contract will be supported by around 70 Meggitt personnel.
While
MTS supplies the majority of the Army’s small arms training needs Virtual Simulation
Systems (VBS2 developer) provides the Mk1 Virtual Sniper System employed by
Australian Special Forces to train teams in sniper techniques as well as other
skill sets which include battlefield commentary, over watch and pattern of life
observation. The Virtual Sniper’s main advantage over other weapon training systems
is that it attaches to the soldiers own service weapon, allowing an unprecedented
level of virtual training.
Development of Mission Specific Training
With
the 2005 decision to deploy additional Australian troops to Iraq with the
Al Muthanna Task Group (AMTG), the Combat Training Centre was tasked with
assisting in the conduct of mission rehearsal exercise for the AMTG prior to
its deployment.
The
commercial simulation Steel Beasts 2 (SB2) was used to familiarise Australian troops
on deployment with the area of operations, and to provide tactical training and
assist with operational planning. An additional simulation, Virtual Battle
Space One (VBS1) developed by Bohemia Interactive, was also used to add
combined arms elements to SB2 which is vehicle-centric.
The
Battle Simulation Centre supported this pre-deployment training, allowing soldiers,
particularly tactical level commanders to be exposed to the simulation systems.
The inclusion of a ‘virtual’ games-based simulation training package as part of
the mission rehearsal exercise for those on deployment was seen as an important
step in the exploitation of simulation by the Army.
These
initial steps in mission rehearsal led to the development of the Mission Specific
Training (MST) program when in 2008 the Army Simulation Wing (now Group)
undertook a six-month pilot proof of concept in support of field training at the
Wide Bay Training Area. Among its other platoon-level tactical training tasks the
pilot program supported force preparation for deployments to Afghanistan, the Middle East and the Solomon Islands.
Following
the successful conduct of the pilot a rolling MST program was made available to
units over a three year period and MST programs to support selected operational
deployments, including to the MEAO, East Timor
and elsewhere, occurred throughout 2009. The scenarios were flexible and
adjusted to meet unit commanders training requirements. MST provided unit-led
training for a defined conflict.
The MST program involves the conduct of up to two live lane training activities
at platoon/troop level or below over a five day period. This training can be
conducted in conjunction with virtual lane training. Collective and staff
training is undertaken primarily through the conduct of command post exercises
designed primarily to train headquarters staff, ideally closely replicating the
operational environment.
The Combat Training Centre and the Battle Simulation Centres located at Darwin,
Townsville, Brisbane, Puckapunyal and Canungra (planned) have been updated and modernised,
a feature being the use of simulation at these centres for MRE and MST.
As we have seen these live, virtual and constructive environments are being
used to deliver training that imparts particular knowledge, skills and
attitudes to prepare soldiers for mission specific situations. Each element has
injected the use of Virtual Training Lanes using VBS2 in support of their
training outcomes. VBS-2, is a fully interactive, three-dimensional, PC-based synthetic
environment underpins significant parts
of ADF training - including a variety of implementations from ab-initio training,
through to mission rehearsal.
Constructive simulation
Australian use of constructive simulations has a long history but with limited
widespread use due to resource constraints and small development teams.
Nevertheless there has been considerable experience with CombatSIM, Janus, JSAF
and others.
These
have been overtaken by a new simulation software development tool OneSAF (One
Semi-Automated Forces). OneSAF is a next-generation, entity-level simulation
that supports constructive and virtual training, computer-generated forces, and
mission rehearsal designed for brigade- and-below, combat, and non-combat operations.
Early versions were initially evaluated for their applicability to Australian
requirements including its potential in training, land combat analysis, and
integration with C2 systems and other software tools. It was also assessed for
its ability to develop terrain databases to cover training areas and deployment
areas of operations.
Defence
says OneSAF is being developed in collaboration with Army, DSTO, Defence,
academia and industry to provide baseline capabilities that Defence requires to
sustain OneSAF into the future. A range of Australian developed enhancements will
be incorporated into the baseline system through an agreement between the Australian
and US armies.
The
Army Simulation Campaign Plan identifies OneSAF as the Army’s primary constructive
simulation for a range of activities including capability development; training
for command teams; support to operational decision making, and as a Semi-Automated
Force subsystem for future virtual simulators.
OneSAF is currently being introduced into service by Army’s day-to-day
capability manager for simulation, the Army Simulation Group, through an Army Headquarters
minor project. This project provides funding for a Foreign Military Sales case
with the US Army for the provision of OneSAF, technical support and training, and
funding for the development of Australian specific enhancements to OneSAF
through a number of Australian and international contractors.
The
initial focus for the introduction into service of OneSAF is the capability development
domain, in particular Army’s experimentation program. This program is testing
Army’s employment concepts for future systems, including Land 400, Army’s Combined
Arms Fighting System.
OneSAF
gives Army the ability to integrate with C2 systems through controlled
interfaces utilising standard communications protocols. The integration of
OneSAF with a number of coalition and national C2 systems has been successfully
tested to date.
These
integration tests have identified that the level of functionality exceeds the level
required to meet current training and capability development needs. This is an
ongoing activity that will be applied to new C2 systems as they are introduced
into service.
OneSAF
is shared with American, British, Canadian, and Australian (ABCA) members in
support of interoperability in joint and distributed simulations. The Army
Simulation Group has had successful interactions on OneSAF with ABCA members.
Last year, as part of the Introduction into Service Program, Army utilised a
coalition activity, ALLIED AURORAS, to successfully trial OneSAF version 3 in a
coalition environment using a range of disparate coalition C2 systems.
Participants
each used their own instance of OneSAF and were based in geographically dispersed
locations including Australia,
US, NZ and Canada.
Subsequently, Army has taken delivery of One- SAF version 5 which has been the
subject of extensive development work in Australia, in particular amphibious
capabilities and user interface enhancement. The Army has had assistance from
Calytrix Technologies (Australia),
selected to deliver ongoing One- SAF Technical Development Support for the Australian
Army, and the Swinburne R&D group which has undertaken entity behaviours and
OneSAF testing regimes.