mt2 17-2 (april 2012)

Ship Gunnery O Surface Combat O ITEC Airborne Operations

April 2012Volume 17, Issue 2

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America's Longest Established Simulation & Training Magazine

Efficiency Coordinator

Rear Adm.Donald P. Quinn

CommanderNaval Education and Training Command

United States Army Technical Center for Explosives Safety

Command Profile:

NAWCTSD

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Military training technology april 2012VoluMe 17 • issue 2

Features coVer / Q&a

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DepartMents

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3

4

10, 19

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Editor’s Perspective

Program Highlights

People

Data Packets

Command Profile

Resource Center

inDustry interView

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Rear Admiral Donald P. QuinnCommander

Naval Education and Training Command

John Ponsonby, OBESenior Vice President Training

AgustaWestland

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Ship Gunnery Training UpdateThe U.S. Fleet Forces is in a constant assessment mode regarding ship gunnery training and is partnering with industry to enhance the realism and fidelity for optimum mission readiness.By Erin Flynn Jay

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Airborne OperationsThe Army Basic Airborne Course at Fort Benning has three one-week phases. The first week teaches individual tasks in ground school. The second week, tower week, combines tasks into team skills for exiting aircraft. The third week, jump week, is an accumulation of earlier lessons with five jumps.By Henry Canaday

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Surface Combat Training Excels with SimulationThe Center for Surface Combat Systems understands the advantages of leveraging current training systems technology and is using a larger scale of shore-based simulations in their school houses. By Captain Robert Kerno and Brian Deters

5

ITEC 2012Taking place at ExCeL, London, May 22-24, ITEC 2012 will address the widespread requirement for cost-effective approaches to training and simulation, and offer the most efficient and economical solutions to the complex operational challenges associated with modern warfare.

11

Who’s Who at NAWCTSDIncludes a Q&A with Capt. Bill Reuter, commanding officer, Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) and an article taking an in-depth look at providing training that is not only more cost-effective than in years past, but also even more effective than live training. This section also includes NAWCTSD’s top 10 contracts list and more.

A classified war game called “Internal Look” was held in March that simulated an Israeli attack on Iran in an effort to halt Iran’s nuclear program. The exercise was conducted by U.S. Central Command, which holds planning exercises twice a year to assess how it can respond to potential conflicts in the region.

The results of the simulation projected that hundreds of Americans could lose their lives if the U.S. was drawn into such a conflict. The White House, Pentagon and several intelligence agen-cies have warned of the consequences of such an attack and Internal Look gave those warnings credibility.

There has been much debate over how an attack would affect Iran’s nuclear program, with some saying an Israeli strike would set Iran’s nuclear program back a year, while successive American strikes could delay the program by less than two years.

Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey and his Israeli counterpart Lieutenant General Benny Gantz recently met, and in a message posted on his official Facebook page, Dempsey emphasized that he and Gantz “spent much of our time today talking about growing concerns with Iran and Syria.”

“I’m glad we had the opportunity to discuss issues of importance to our two countries,” Dempsey said. “Regular and candid dialogue is critical as we face common threats and chal-lenges.”

Operations and tactical options may soon be utilized and exercises like Internal Look give us a candid look at the potential results of those options. With conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan slowing down and the Department of Defense’s budget being cut by $487 billion over the next decade, determining where and when the U.S. should intervene in situations around the globe becomes much more crucial, not only in saving people’s lives, but in using the U.S. military’s resources in the most lifesaving and cost-effective manner as possible.

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PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS Compiled by KMi Media Group staff

The AEgis Technologies Group was awarded the MH-47/MH-60 Combat Mission Simulator Legacy Upgrade Effort (LUE) contract to upgrade two combat mission simulators at Fort Campbell, Ky. The Army estimates the contract to be worth up to $31 million.

“The LUE contract is a milestone win for AEgis as the award demonstrates our ability to win full and open competitions to provide large, complex simulator solutions for the warfighter. Our team at AEgis is thrilled with our partnership with PM SOF Training Systems and their customer. We are fully committed to deliver on this critically important program,” said Steve Hill, AEgis president and CEO.

The Army will use these combat mission simulators to train pilots on tasks ranging from emergency procedures and instrument flight training to more complex mission training and multi-ship exercises. AEgis will upgrade the simulators to match the capa-bilities of newer, recently fielded aircraft versions and to take advantage of simula-tion technology advancements.

“Our goal is to completely modernize these simulators and return them to flight training as quickly as possible,” said Del Beilstein, director of business development at AEgis. “We’re very excited to support the warfighter on this important project.”

As part of the contract, AEgis will replace the simulators’ outdated hydraulic control loading and full motion systems with digital electric systems, completely rework the electronic architecture, and upgrade the avionics, display and image generation subsystems.

“The timeline to conduct these substan-tial upgrades and return the training devices back to Ready-for-Training status is aggres-sive, but much needed to help prepare our soldiers for future deployments,” added David King, AEgis vice president, simula-tion development. “We are proud to have been selected by the Army to perform these upgrades.”

Del Beilstein; [email protected]

Concurrent Real-Time technology, a leading provider of real-time Linux solutions for mission-critical applica-tions, announced that Hyundai Rotem, a worldwide leader in ground weapon systems, has deployed 176 ImaGen visual servers powered by the RedHawk Linux real-time operating system. The ImaGen servers will be used in the Phase I deploy-ment of image generators for the K-Series Tank Platoon Simulator Program. The full deployment is expected to include approxi-mately 350 ImaGen servers over one year.

Hyundai Rotem is the main contractor of the K-Series Tank Platoon Simulator Program, which is the first virtual tactical tank simulation trainer developed under the Defense R&D Program of Korea Defense Acquisition Program Administration. Hyundai Rotem has played a critical role in strengthening South Korean defenses

by developing the K1/K1A1 tank and its family of vehicles.

Each tank simulator’s ImaGen configuration will include eight channels rendered by award-winning Presagis Vega Prime visualization software, utilizing the latest NVIDIA graphics technology. The integrated solution based on RedHawk Linux real-time OS and Vega Prime imaging software offers a high-fidelity, commercial off-the-shelf PC image gener-ation system with unprecedented jitter-free performance.

KCEI also has a service contract with Hyundai Rotem to support the K-Series Tank Platoon Simulator Program, with Concurrent providing second tier support to KCEI for Concurrent’s ImaGen visual servers.

Ken Jackson; [email protected]

The U.S. Department of the Interior has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation a three-year, $103 million contract to support the Mission Command Training Support Program (MCTSP). Under the contract, which includes one base year and two option years, Northrop Grumman provides support to the National Guard Bureau Mission Training Complexes (MTCs) at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; Camp Dodge, Iowa; and Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa.

“We are extremely proud to have been selected to support the Army National Guard on this important program,” said Tom Vice, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Technical Services. “Northrop Grumman has more than 20 years of experience providing mission rehearsal training across multiple Department of Defense and joint programs and we look forward to assisting the National Guard in their mission.”

Northrop Grumman will provide mission command systems training and mission rehearsal. The MCTSP also provides individual and collective training support using live, virtual and serious gaming, constructive and individual learning envi-ronments, and mobile training solutions.

“From the outset our desire has been to provide a total training solution across the MCTSP, which enables MTC commanders to direct and seamlessly organize mission specific teams,” said Greg Schmidt, vice president and general manager, Northrop Grumman Technical Service’s Training Solutions Division. “Our innovative training solutions combined with tremen-dous past performance makes us a recog-nized leader in live-virtual-constructive training throughout the Department of Defense.”

Abigail Springmann; [email protected]

$103 Million Army National Guard Training Support Task Order

MH-47E/MH-60K Combat Mission

Simulator Upgrade Contract

ImaGen Visual Servers for K-Series Tank Platoon Simulator Program

www.MT2-kmi.com MT2 17.2 | 3

Cubic Defense Applications Inc., a defense systems business of Cubic Corporation, has received a new contract valued at more than $11 million. Cubic and its principal subcon-tractor, DRS Training and Control Systems LLC, a unit of DRS Defense Solutions LLC, will provide the P5 Tactical Combat Training System (P5TCTS) to the Royal Australian Air Force for use in training F/A-18F Super Hornet crews.

P5TCTS for the Super Hornet will be delivered in late 2012 to RAAF Base Amberley near Brisbane, Queensland. Amberley was previously home to the RAAF’s F-111 aircraft, which were recently retired from service and were replaced with two squadrons of F/A-18F Super Hornets. The RAAF’s new P5TCTS will be very similar to the current U.S. Navy TCTS system and will include airborne instrumentation pods built by principal subcon-tractor DRS, transportable ground systems with live monitor, and portable ground subsystems, which include Cubic’s Individual Combat Aircrew Display System (ICADS) software for debriefing. For this effort, Cubic has also been contracted to provide software and hardware to ensure that the legacy Cubic-developed Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation (ACMI) system operating at Williamtown will be able to merge data to allow for post-mission debriefing between the Classic Hornet and Super Hornet aircrews.

Amberley squadrons will also receive live monitoring (LM) capability. The LM enables real-time monitor and uplink control of P5TCTS-podded aircraft via Cubic’s ground stations.

Cubic delivered Australia’s first rangeless, instrumented air combat training system to RAAF Base Williamtown, New South Wales, in 2007. Cubic Defence Australia employees maintain the ACMI pods and ground stations there.

The contracting authority for the foreign military sale is the Air Armament Command/EBYK (Range Instrumentation Systems Branch), Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Cubic has a number of previous international sales of P5CTS/TCTS. Additional sales are expected in the near future.

Philip J. Fisch; [email protected]

General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Fairfax, Va., is being awarded a $39,879,448 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee multiple award contract to provide technology insertion, software and systems engineering, modeling and simulation, testing, and inte-grated logistics in support of commu-nications, information technology, and other command, control, communi-cations, computers and intelligence efforts. This is one of two multiple award contracts: Both awardees will compete for task orders during the ordering period. This three-year contract includes two one-year options which, if exercised, would bring the potential value of this contract to $68,088,406. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif. (85 percent), and Fairfax, Va. (15 percent), and is expected to be completed February 13, 2015. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via Request for Proposal N66001-11-R-0026 published on the Federal Business Opportunities website, and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center e-Commerce Central website, with two offers received. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific is the contracting activity.

Mark Meudt; [email protected]

Logistics Support Contract Awarded

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS Compiled by KMi Media Group staff

Presagis announced the appointment of Jean-Michel Brière as vice-president of sales, marketing and client services. Brière’s responsibilities will include management of global sales for the company in addition to overseeing worldwide marketing, alliances and the Presagis customer experience.

Alelo Inc. announced the election of Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III as a member of its board of directors.

Serco Inc. has appointed Bo Durickovic president and chief operating officer and Harry Gatanas executive vice president of the defense and intelligence group.

Mission Essential Personnel LLC (MEP) announced Peter Horvath, chairman of MEP’s board of directors, will become the company’s interim CEO, while

MEP COO Marc Peltier will become president.

Naval Air Technical Training Center held a change of ceremony on board Naval Air Station Pensacola February 10. Captain James V. Daniels relieved Captain Michael K. Price. Rear Admiral Michael S. White, assistant commander for Career Management, Navy Personnel Command was the guest speaker. During the ceremony, White presented Price with the Legion of Merit Medal for his service.

Aptima Inc. announced the promotion of Emily Wiese to associate division director, human performance, and a member of the company’s senior management team.

SAIC Inc. has selected five-year SAIC director and former U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff John P. Jumper to succeed Walt Havenstein as CEO on March 1.

Compiled by KMi Media Group staffPEOPLE

RAAF Super Hornets to Receive New Air Combat Training System

www.MT2-kmi.com4 | MT2 17.2

Tasked with balancing drastically dimin-ished defense budgets, ongoing operational requirements and ever-evolving threats to international security, the unprecedented cir-cumstances that currently confine the world’s armed forces are as complex as they are unique.

Maintaining a pragmatic and flex-ible approach to defense strategy is therefore essential if nations are to preserve their long-established military might. Indeed, the need to ensure that armed forces can continue to pool resources and rise to the growing chal-lenges has, in recent years, led to an increas-ing emphasis on the significance of extensive military training throughout the services.

Taking place at ExCeL, London, May 22-24, ITEC 2012 will address the widespread requirement for cost-effective approaches to training and simulation, and offer the most efficient and economical solutions to the com-plex operational challenges associated with modern warfare.

Organized by Clarion Events in collabora-tion with the National Training and Simula-tion Association (NTSA), ITEC has established itself as the leading European event for mili-tary training, simulation and education over the past two decades. From its London show-case, ITEC will be well positioned to address and respond to the evolving needs of those who define, influence, procure and implement these key capabilities.

ConferenCe highlights

Acknowledged as the foremost forum for the debate, display and discussion of military simulation and training, this year’s ITEC con-ference agenda is tailored to offer an expert overview across a wide range of topical issues. The program features a series of compelling sessions within a strategically themed format: addressing the people dimension; maintaining the technological advantage; meeting current and future operational needs; and designing and acquiring the best training solutions.

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are still by far the most significant cause of casualties in Afghanistan—claiming the lives of over 1,000 troops since international

operations began. Beyond casualties, the IED campaign also has a major psychological bear-ing on its victims and has provided the motive behind rapid decision making—a tactical new approach devised and developed by counter-IED experts Explosive Learning Solutions. Featured within the session that addresses the people dimension, Gary Craggs of Explosive Learning Solutions will explain the innovative techniques used to train those who regularly face critical ‘life or death’ decisions.

Caught in the web

A new dimension of conflict is that which is waged on the World Wide Web. Reflecting the unique set of requirements and opportu-nities that this ever-increasing danger poses for the global military training and simula-tion community, ITEC is launching its Cyber Security Training and Education Workshop. Delegates from the public and private spheres will join leading representatives from gov-ernment, military and the defense indus-try, as well as eminent figures from across civil industry and academia, to discuss chal-lenges and solutions to this sophisticated threat.

After an opening address from the U.K. government’s Special Representative to Busi-ness for Cyber Security, Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones, pioneering cybersecurity train-ing content will be examined throughout five main themes: policy, protocol and plans; human capital for cybersecurity; education and training for future threats; human fac-tors and the insider threat; and simulation for cybersecurity (sponsored by Scalable Network Technologies).

A range of eminent speakers will feature throughout this revolutionary addition to ITEC, which will be staged during the show from May 23-24.

taking to the floor

As well as offering a powerful forum to discuss, debate and network, the ITEC exhibi-tion also offers those responsible for the pro-curement and operation of training products, technologies and services with the opportunity

to see the latest innovations from around the world, all under one roof.

The British Army’s Directorate of Train-ing will use ITEC 2012 as a platform to brief industry on its training needs for the coming years. The service is currently finalizing its training strategy and sees ITEC as an ideal opportunity to give industry a clear under-standing of the capabilities it is seeking and to learn about affordable new solutions. Spe-cializing in training within the U.K. defense community, the U.K. MOD’s Defence Centre of Training Support is also planning its first appearance at the show.

Visitors to the ITEC exhibition floor will see innovation from companies such as Rocketbox Studios, which will demonstrate its library of highly realistic 3-D animations. Providing many different types of characters, from civilians and medics to special forces, the technology offers an essential part of pre-deployment cultural training, helping troops to become familiar with scenarios they will soon encounter.

Since its establishment in 2004, Amputees in Action has helped many hundreds of sol-diers who have lost limbs in the line of duty, back into work. The first agency of its kind, Amputees in Action provides actors for mili-tary and emergency services training simula-tions, as well as specialist action scene extras for the film and television industry. At ITEC, the company will demonstrate the authentic-ity that its actors bring to a casualty training scenario, ensuring that those faced with such situations in reality are better prepared to keep calm and save lives.

Further innovation will be demonstrated by a broad range of companies, including: Alelo; Antycip Simulation; CAE; Chemring Defence; Cassidian; Discovery Machine; Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace; L-3 Com-munications; Lockheed Martin Global Train-ing and Logistics; Meggitt Training Systems; QinetiQ; Raytheon; Saab Training Systems; and VSTEP.

www.itec.co.uk

Addressing a new era of military training requirements.

ITEC 2012

For more information, contact MT2 Editor Brian O’Shea at [email protected] or search our online archives for related stories at www.mt2-kmi.com.


The Center for Surface Combat Systems (CSCS) under-stands the advantages of leveraging current training systems technology and is using a larger scale of shore-based simula-tions in their school houses.

The center’s staff says that as a result of using more than 61 simulation products, CSCS is producing a more effective sailor for the fleet, decreasing their reliance on technical training equipment (TTE) and avoiding training objectives that are too complex, expensive, or dangerous to carry out in a shipboard environment.

Shore-based simulation enables trainees to be exposed to situations that would otherwise be cost-prohibitive. “The lit-toral combat ship (LCS) 1 and 2 simulator, which is onboard the LCS Shore-Based Training Facility [LTF] and operated by CSCS Detachment San Diego, avoids fuel costs by enabling sailors to train ashore on performance tasks that previously could only be accomplished by getting the ship underway,”

explained Michael Kroner, business analyst, CSCS Technical Support. “The LCS crews are able to satisfy underway navi-gation check-ride qualification requirements by using the simulator. This is the first instance in the surface Navy where we’ve been able to accomplish this.”

Shore-based simulation not only saves money but pro-duces a highly-trained sailor for shipboard duty. “Shore-based simulation in conjunction with an intelligent tutoring system enables training to be delivered at a high-quality, repeatable standard with trainee performance being objec-tively measured and tracked throughout the training course,” said Reinhard Williams, simulation coordinator, CSCS tech-nical support. “For example, using the Anti-Submarine Tactical Air Controller Intelligent Training Aid [ASTAC ITA] along with other training approach changes in the ASTAC course, which is taught at CSCS learning sites’ Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Center and CSCS detachment

leveraging Current training systems teChnology.by Captain robert kerno and brian deters

Surface Combat Training Excels with Simulation


east, has reduced the trainee course failure rate from 30 percent to less than 2 percent.”

Shore-based simulation also enables rotational crews to be trained, qualified and certified ashore prior to deployment. “LCS rotational crews are being tactically trained and certified ashore in some mission areas at the LTF,” added Kroner. “This practice will expand to AEGIS combat system ashore crews in 2015. The capabilities of the technology in our shore-based trainers will enable fleet command-ers to grant these certifications ashore and give them confidence that the crews will be able to per-form the mission in an operational environment.”

Shore-based simulation facili-tates large groups of students to practice maintenance and operator tasks simultaneously rather than cycling each student through for practice on limited numbers of actual equipment.

“At CSCS Unit Dam Neck, we have used simulation in sev-eral courses to augment and enhance our hands-on training,” explained Captain Kenneth Krogman, commanding officer, CSCS Unit Dam Neck. “In our Close-in Weapons System [CIWS] course, we use simulation in two major ways. First, to familiarize our students with normal maintenance procedures before they per-form these procedures on the live equipment. Second, to enhance our fault correction and isolation training, simulation allows us to introduce students to dozens, even hundreds, of system faults that we simply cannot safely initiate on the live equipment. This dual approach not only broadens the experience of the stu-dent, but saves wear and tear on the actual CIWS mounts. It’s a win-win.”

“Adding the Visual Integrated Simulation and Training Appli-cation exposes the student to more than three times as many faults during maintenance training and countless reps and sets in operational light off procedures while not adding a single day to the course length,” explained Kroner.

In addition, shore-based simulation provides a venue to train ashore when ships are unavailable as a result of an equipment casualty or scheduled maintenance.

“Within the inter-deployment training cycle, our shipboard combat systems and personnel are overscheduled with competing operational, maintenance and training requirements,” explained Lieutenant Commander Scott Currier, officer-in-charge, CSCS detachment Norfolk. “Every equipment casualty within the ship-board combat systems suite has a direct cost in terms of time, money and manpower to repair. Additionally, the indirect costs of stopped training can be far more significant than the direct costs due to result of lost man hours for both the trainers and students. A simple three-day delay in equipment repair can result in a cas-cading impact due to the rescheduling of competing demands on system time across multiple organizations. The acquisition of a

shore-based simulation capability in support of tactical training is the Navy’s next imperative.”

In training, safety is essential and shore-based simulation can be used to train high-risk tasks without placing the trainee in the actual risky situation. “When teaching a rigid-hull inflatable boat [RHIB] Coxswain how to drive the boat in foggy or high sea-state conditions, the shore-based simulation enables the trainee to practice in a safe and controlled environment,” added Kroner. “If the trainee makes a mistake while driving the simulator, there is no damage to equipment or harm to personnel.”

CSCS not only understands the importance of training today’s sailor, but also tomorrow’s fleet. Simulation technology addresses several essential items in the training environment in a way that no other training approach encompasses. Simulation will con-tinue to play a critical role in CSCS’ training strategy and it will be used to even greater effect as technology evolves and is executed in the school house. O

Captain Robert Kerno, Commanding Officer, Center for Sur-face Combat; Brian Deters, Director of Technical Support, Center for Surface Combat Systems

For more information, contact MT2 Editor Brian O’Shea at [email protected] or search our online archives

for related stories at www.mt2-kmi.com.

TRAINING DEVELOPMENT

INSTRUCTIONAL SYSTEMS DESIGN

MODELING AND SIMULATION

HUMAN SYSTEMS INTEGRINTEGRATION

Awarded Naval Education and Training CommandTraining Products and Services Contract

Developed ASTAC Intelligent Training Aid for the U.S. Navy Center for Surface Combat Systems (CSCS)

Developed and Fielded the Standard Space Trainer (SST)for the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center

Brian Deters

Capt. Robert Kerno


The U.S. Fleet Forces is partnering with industry to enhance the realism of ship gun-nery training.

David Smith, an action officer with the U.S. Fleet Forces N7 plans and resource divi-sion, described the ship gunnery training environment. “Through the course of a ship’s training cycle, which varies in length—we don’t have a set defined period of time for that—we will take a ship out, we will train and then certify that ship in its ability to engage a high-speed surface target and perhaps protect it in an anti-terrorist protection environ-ment,” Smith told MT2. “Maybe in a lesser event, [we] do some aerial training against aerial targets if the opportunity presents itself. Lastly, [we] certify a ship in its ability to pro-vide direct or indirect fire for a spotter’s call ashore. That’s commonly referred to as naval surface fire support.”

What’s down the road in the next three to five years to enhance this training? Smith said they are in a constant assessment mode. “We are taking input from commanders from which we deploy these forces in, taking their input and then working to try to increase the complexity and perhaps size of the threat force we would present,” he said. “Over the next three to five years, we are going to engage from a resources standpoint to try to do those types of things.”

What technology shortfalls and gaps does U.S. Fleet Forces need industry’s help

to address? “We partner with our industry friends out there. It’s something we need to do to enhance the realism of this,” Smith said. “We will engage in terms of defining a require-ment for technology and allow that to work through the system to see what we can have provided for us on the other end. That’s some-thing else that is constantly being assessed.”

Ship gunnery training is perhaps an area that U.S. Fleet Forces is giving increased emphasis. “We’re finding there is increased value to ships’ guns and what they can do, because of what we anticipate we are going to be encountering in areas in which we operate,” Smith concluded. “So we are there with our ships saying this is an important skill set they need to do and we’ll continue to emphasize that and make it relevant to today’s threat.”

real-world threats

It’s often said that technology and equipment is only as effective as the train-ing someone is given. In order to make the most of the capability you have, you must train with it and practice regularly. “Ship gunnery training is no exception—espe-cially now,” said Jim Craig, vice president of Training Systems at Lockheed Martin’s Global

Training and Logistics business unit. “There are real-world threats that confront us today that require close-in shipboard defense of our ships and crews. The U.S. Coast Guard regularly escorts high-value assets out to sea for their safety and security—another great example of why expert proficiency with ship-board gunnery systems is critical.”

Typically, gunnery training includes sev-eral stages, Craig said. First, crews must attain basic familiarization with the func-

tionality and capabilities of their weapons. Next, there’s a more targeted immersion into weapons employment. Com-manders and gunners have to be trained on command and control issues—for instance, understanding what ranges are required in order to engage targets, decision points for engagements, tactics and maneuvers. Finally, live fire gunnery training helps ground

the users in the look, feel and impact of the actual weapons employment. Qualification time depends on the weapon. Some are quite complex and require a great deal of training and skill to operate effectively, while others are more simple and straightforward.

The number one challenge is having a suitable gunnery range for live fire training, said Craig. These are significant, long-range

Ship Gunnery Training Update

Jim Craig

the u.s. fleet forCes is in a Constant assessment mode regarding ship gunnery training. by erin flynn Jay

mt2 Correspondent


weapons that present serious safety consid-erations that must be respected. In the past, the services used small islands for training; the number of these that can be used has now dwindled. Given this, Craig said elec-tronic simulation training is an excellent, agile solution that gives students a healthy blend of the skills they need, also reducing the amount of live fire training needed for full proficiency. Simulation training also reduces the logistics and cost hurdles that a full live fire training regimen requires.

Lockheed Martin’s Seagoing Wireless Interactive Target System (SeaWITS) was spe-cifically designed to support the Coast Guard’s force-on-force training requirements versus precision gunnery training. “For example, we can use SeaWITS technology to instrument weapons like the M2 40 and M2 50 caliber machine guns or the Mk 38 and Mk 51 chain guns. With SeaWITS, sailors aboard various boats and ships can ‘shoot’ at each other using eye safe lasers [versus live fire ammuni-tion] for practice and receive detailed after action reports on how they did,” concluded Craig. “This reinforces the lessons they’ve learned so they can apply it to future train-ing scenarios and if necessary, real life.”

Live training is costly due to the cost of operating a ship and the crew, as well as the cost and safety concerns of using real shells. “Training in a synthetic environment alle-viates the burden of cost, is safer for both the trainee as well as the environment, and is much more efficient,” said Eric Simon, vice president of modeling and simulation solutions and services, Presagis. “The trainee will be able to train in many different sce-narios that will teach them how to protect and defend the ship; the process and procedures involved in operating a gun on a ship; how to operate a gun in adverse weather; and how to engage various threats in various scenarios, such as adverse weather, high speed and coast-line threats.”

simulation Challenge

The challenges encountered in building simulations for ship gunnery training sce-narios can include accurately simulating the weather and sea conditions, as well as the vessel’s motion relevant to the sea state. “The realism of the vessel’s motion and movement

are important in providing an immersive training environment so that the gunner understands speed of the vessel, as well as that of the moving target, the visibility range and how to keep the target in his/her sights,” added Simon.

Presagis Vega Prime is a highly produc-tive COTS visualization tool for real-time 3-D development and deployment of simula-tion applications. Vega Prime creates high resolution, realistic imagery of the visual environment, including weather states and time-of-day.

Moreover, the Vega Prime Marine module solves the domain-specific problem of creat-ing realistic, dynamic water surfaces for simu-lations involving oceans or coastlines. Vega Prime Marine provides the necessary effects to realistically simulate both ocean surfaces, along with the vessels. Presagis wave models are based on the Beaufort Wind Force Scale. By providing a native wave model, Simon said the user is able to control sea state including distributions of direction, height, wavelength and alignment of the wind.

Developers can define vessel effects, such as the bow, stern and hull wakes. “The size

and shape of the waves cor-respond to the size, shape and speed of the vessel. The waves also interact with the ambi-ent water waves that the ves-sel encounters,” said Simon. “These various conditions can help serve as visual aids for the gunnery trainee in determin-ing the speed, maneuvering and direction of the ship in a simulation environment.”

In addition to the out-of-the-box capability for wave

simulation, the Marine module enables the users to incorporate their own custom wave simulation algorithms of the sea state or ship dynamics. This is a key differentiator allow-ing for a tailored real-world experience. For example, Simon said Virtual Marine Technolo-gies (VMT) uses Vega Prime Marine because of the high-fidelity wave models and because it provides a platform to create immersive envi-ronments. VMT creates a realistic visual envi-ronment that included high-fidelity wave and ship motions for their training simulation.

VMT is a global provider of small craft training simulators. VMT’s simulators com-bine high fidelity sensory cues with tailored curriculum to enhance small craft training programs. Founded in 2004, VMT grew from the research and development programs of

Atlantic Canada’s leading maritime institu-tions at Memorial University, the Marine Insti-tute and the Institute for Ocean Technology.

VMT has put in place a team of engineers and computer scientists who are focused on the creation of small craft training simulators. In addition to NetSim, VMT has commercial-ized full mission lifeboat and fast response craft simulators.

VMT recognizes that simulation technolo-gies are just one component of an effective small craft training program. That is why the company has put in place a team of maritime experts to ensure that its simulators address the unique needs of small craft operators. VMT maritime expertise includes over 70 years of Coast Guard, teaching and regulatory experience. These experts ensure VMT train-ing tools enhance small craft training pro-grams and follow internationally recognized training standards. O

Train Like You FighT

At a Fraction of the Cost with Non-Ballistic Armor

warriortrail.com/mt2703-349-1967

ESAPI Plates

SAPI Plates

Non-Ballistic OTV Panels

Made in the USA


Eric Simon

[email protected]


DATA PACKETS Compiled by KMi Media Group staff

Warrior Trail Consulting LLC unveils its newest innovation in military training armor by announcing a line of non-ballistic body armor plates, providing a unique addition to the military training and technology community. These U.S. manufactured products provide low-cost training alternatives that can potentially save military services millions of dollars by avoiding damage and wear to expensive ballistic body armor plates.

Warrior Trail’s non-ballistic body armor plates match the size, shape, weight and rigidity of the Interceptor Ballistic Armor (IBA) style plates used by U.S. military forces worldwide. Each Enhanced Small Arms Protective Insert (E-SAPI) and Enhanced Side Ballistic Insert (ESBI) training plate is manufactured from rigid PVC mate-rial that is impervious to damage by impact, shock, water, mud, fuels or other contaminants. Plates can be easily washed and reused indefinitely.

“We are excited to bring these new, low-cost E-SAPI and ESBI training products to the market at a time when budget constraints demand new technologies and increased efficiencies,” said Della Bronstein, CEO of Warrior Trail Consulting LLC. “Warrior Trail’s training plates will enable military units to train like they fight—and at a fraction of their former costs.”

Warrior Trail training plates are indistinguishable from the IBA style ballistic plates when worn in outer tactical vests or plate carriers during training. Yet, these new training plates are inexpensive, gener-ally costing less than one-tenth the price of ballistic armor. The high cost of technical inspections required to detect and repair damaged ballistic plates is avoided. Other costs associated with acquiring, main-taining and disposing of sensitive items are completely eliminated.

Warrior Trail training body armor is ideally suited for basic and advanced combat training, ROTC, non-commissioned and officer training schools, service academies and special operations units.

Della Bronstein;[email protected]

New Non-Ballistic Body Armor

Sundog Software updated its Triton Ocean SDK, used by training simulators and games for real-istic visualization of the ocean and other bodies of water. Triton version 1.3 now includes ship wakes suit-able for training purposes and ship identification, together with enhanced support for simulators that model the entire Earth.

“Our top request for Triton was the addition of the trails behind ships, known as turbulent wakes or propeller backwash,” said Frank Kane, founder of Sundog Software. “Triton 1.3 models these wakes based on the ship beam width and length specified, making them useful for ship identification from a distance. These trails work together with Kelvin wake effects that displace the ocean surface behind the ship in 3-D.”

Triton 1.3 also improves support for virtual environments that span the entire Earth, using what are known as geocentric or Earth Centered Earth Fixed coordinate systems. The large distances involved in these types of environments often stretch the boundaries of a computer’s math-ematical precision, but this latest revision preserves the quality of ocean images and animation even under these conditions.

This new revision also improves the accu-racy of height tests against the ocean surface, allowing for ships and other objects that move realistically with the waves being simulated.

“We feel really great about the stability and feature set of Triton with this release,” continued Kane. “Users just tell Triton about the local wind conditions and where the ships in the scene are, and thousands of realistic waves complete with wind-blown spray effects and wakes get produced at over 100 frames per second on commodity hardware.”

Demos, screenshots, licensing infor-mation and a free evaluation SDK are available now from Sundog Software’s website.

Frank Kane; [email protected]

Technology Upgrade for Visual Simulation of the Ocean Improves

Realism

TerraSim announced the release of Xtract Version 2. Xtract is a TerraSim Source Data Preparation product that extracts valuable geospatial source data from legacy simulation runtime databases. This completely updated release is based on a 64-bit native reimplementation, allowing Xtract 2 to process significantly larger area legacy databases as well as the most complex terrain content. Xtract users can purchase support for up to three legacy input formats.

Major improvements to each of these input formats include:

•CTDB Option: Improved handling of ModSAF/OTBSAF (CTDB 7) and new support for JointSAF (CTDB 8.7) format.

•OneSAF Option: Improved processing of complex OneSAF Terrain Format 7.

•OpenFlight Option: New support for OpenSceneGraph databases as a part of the OpenFlight import option.

In addition to these major updates, a number of minor improvements increase ease of use and efficiency. Xtract 2 includes improved shapefile and DTED export, support for input of Lambert and Geocentric OpenFlight data-bases, and the export of VBS2 P3D models (from other model formats) with complete configuration files.

Xtract 2 exports recovered geospatial data to the widest variety of third party geospatial data processing products, including Global Mapper, 3DStudio Max, Bohemia Interactive Oxygene, ESRI ArcGIS, OpenSceneGraph viewers, Google Earth, Presagis Creator, and more.

Xtract 2 will be shipped at no additional charge to all current TerraSim Xtract customers with active support and maintenance contracts.

Amy Super; [email protected]

Source Data Preparation


Operational CommanderCapt. Bill ReuterCommanding OfficerNaval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD)

Naval air Warfare CeNterTraining SySTemS DiviSion

Captain Bill “Roto” Reuter most recently served as the executive officer of NAWCTSD and NSA Orlando. A native of Key West, Fla., he was commissioned in August 1984 through the NROTC Program at the University of Florida where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering.

He was designated a naval aviator in December 1986 at NAS Kingsville, Texas, reporting to VFA-106, NAS Cecil Field for train-ing in the F/A-18A Hornet at VFA-106 with follow-on assignment to VFA-87 in September 1987, completing deployments on the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72).

He proceeded to the Naval Postgraduate School in July 1990. While there, he was awarded the Admiral William Adger Moffett award as the aerospace engineering student of the year for 1992. In June of that same year, he reported to the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Md. Upon completion, he was assigned to Strike Aircraft Test Directorate, where he was the F/A-18 Mission Systems project officer and F/A-18 test pilot. He joined the staff of the United States Naval Test Pilot School in 1995 as the lead F/A-18 systems instructor.

His next assignment was at PMA-265 (F/A-18 Program Office) at the Naval Air Systems Command, PMA-265 (F/A-18 Program Office), serving as the deputy program manager for Communication, Navi-gation and Identification programs. During his tour in PMA-265, he was responsible for managing numerous avionics upgrades to the F/A-18 Hornet, managing over $200 million annually.

In November 1998, Reuter began his second tour at the Naval Strike Aircraft Test Squadron, serving as the ordnance support team leader, F/A-18 A-D project coordinator. He was responsible for merg-ing the F/A-18 E/F Integrated Test Team into a single F/A-18 A-F Test Project Team, which he led until June 2002. He departed “Strike” to serve as the executive assistant to the principal deputy assistant secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition) in Washington, D.C.

In January 2003, Reuter reported as chief test pilot of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23 (VX-23) and subsequently assumed command in June 2004. Upon completion of his command tour, he reported to commander Naval Air Forces and served as the director for Aircraft Material and Engineering and was selected for command of Naval Air Warfare Center-Training Systems Division, assuming his role as executive officer in May 2008.

Captain Reuter has over 3,000 hours of flight time in 33 different aircraft, of which over 2,100 are in the F/A-18. He has been awarded the Legion of Merit, two Meritorious Service Medals, two

Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medals and the Navy Achieve-ment Medal. His degrees include a master’s and post-master’s (engineer’s degree) in aerospace engineering from the Naval Post-graduate School and a Master of Business Administration from IMPAC University. He is a member of The Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

Q: What new programs or initiatives are planned for the year 2012?

A: We are very enthusiastic about the many exciting news programs that we are working on at the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Sys-tems Division [NAWCTSD]. We are continuing now to really dig into the Aviation Simulation Master Plan activities, which began in fiscal year 2012. These activities include targeted upgrades to F/A-18 and H-60 simulators. These upgrades are an investment in the fidelity of simulation to yield improved training and readiness. We are fully committed to making these investments in simulation with the goal of offsetting flight hours, which we expect to yield a cost savings to the Navy.

Another excellent example is our continuing work on the Littoral Combat Ship suite of trainers. It’s notable that rather than working on a single trainer, this project includes an entire suite of several trainers that allows LCS crewmembers to train to certify and train to qualify almost exclusively ashore while their ship is deployed with another crew. This is a really big deal for the Navy because it allows

Captain William H. Reuter IV Commanding Officer

Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD),

and Naval Support Activity (NSA), Orlando

Operational CommanderDoing More With Less

Q&AQ&ANaval air Warfare CeNter Training SySTemS DiviSion


us to train an entire crew ashore while the ship is deployed with another crew.

We are also working on developing the AEGIS Ashore Team Trainer in cooperation with the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahl-gren Division, who are the resident experts on the AEGIS along with the Center for Surface Combat Systems.

We are working toward getting the Training Data Products multiple award contract awarded. We received a healthy number of proposals for that effort, and we are in the process of reviewing each of them with the right amount of rigor to ensure we make the best choices. We hope to have the process complete by the late summer timeframe.

Finally, NAWCTSD is dedicated to focusing on new and innova-tive ways to develop our own people. People are the most important asset of any organization and I wholeheartedly believe that by tak-ing care of them, they will be in a better position to provide the world-class training systems our warfighters deserve. We recently underwent an initiative of instilling a culture of continual learning. It is our goal as the providers of training products to also be a learn-ing organization. We completed baselining and research, including capturing best practices from various government and commercial entities, to help propel us on this journey. I am proud of our team’s progress in this process, and it shows in the quality of products and services we provide.

Q: What are the greatest challenges facing NAWCTSD?

A: I am very optimistic about the future of NAWCTSD, and I know from experience that our team will meet and overcome every chal-lenge. One of our greatest current challenges is the need to do more without more. With operational commanders looking to simulation to conduct an increasing share of the training needs, the demand for training systems increases. This increased demand for training means our work requirements across all of the warfare areas are increasing. And it’s not just more work, it’s a higher quality of product that is required than ever before. The fidelity of our training systems is getting better, and the technology has more utility in offsetting live training. In fact, there are times when the fidelity of current simula-tors is better than live because of the realistic environments that you can create in a virtual environment that cannot be practically or safely recreated in a live training environment. Giving our people the tools to better do their job, while at the same time removing barriers to innovation and productivity, is the key to rising to that challenge for an increasing demand for what we bring to the table for the Navy.

Q: How important is NAWCTSD’s partnership with industry?

A: We could not do what we do without a high-trust relationship with industry. Industry, and especially those partners who are on our multiple award contracts, are partners with us in the process of asking the right questions. Improving acquisition times—the pro-cess of getting something on contract and getting it delivered—is a Navy priority. To accomplish that goal, we need a partnership with industry that has a framework of clear and open communications built upon a foundation of trust. We recognize that we need to hold our industry partners accountable because the costs need to be con-trolled, and also because we cannot do our business without there

being a robust dialogue during all of the phases of the acquisition process. I believe that we have done tremendous work over the last four years toward deepening our partnerships so that we can get products to the warfighter faster and at lower cost.

Q: If NAWCTSD had a wish list, what are the three things at the top of that list?

A: First, I would like to see a broadened awareness of the tremen-dous resident intellectual capital that NAWCTSD offers, particularly among those who are involved in training system concept develop-ment. By consulting with our professionals, training systems can be developed more efficiently, so that we can more quickly deliver a product that is most relevant and more cost-effective. I think more people could benefit from our requirements development experts—who are an organic part of the Navy team—and can provide an improved return on investment by focusing on training require-ments early in the design process of new training systems. I say this to tout the phenomenal work of our instructional systems design team and our human systems integration professionals. These are people who understand how to take a desired outcome and make it a training requirement. So often training systems could better hit the mark if those kinds of disciplines where brought to bear earlier in the game.

Second, I would continue to articulate value of NAWCTSD’s intel-lectual capital that is transcendent across all warfare domains, and that the leverage we have with the other services is a tremendous force multiplier. As recently demonstrated by systems like our LCS Suite and the Advanced Use of Force Training System, I am proud of NAWCTSD’s tremendous capacity to provide tremendous training value outside of our aviation roots. By providing the best possible training systems, our warfighters are able to garner increased pro-ficiency for the cost. I am passionate about the value of our services to the Navy as a means to provide the highest efficiency out of the dollars spent. I am enthusiastic that the products and services we provide are not only sound investments in the proficiency of our warfighters, but also represent sound investments of our taxpayer’s dollars.

Finally, I wish we had more “bandwidth” or the resources to bet-ter cultivate the science, technology, engineering and math [STEM] reservoir. This reservoir is the pool of viable candidates that have been through technical curricula and can add value here. Our orga-nization provides a “golden egg” to the Navy in the form of world-class training systems delivered quickly and efficiently to meet our warfighters’ needs. But to deliver that golden egg, we also have a responsibility to feed the “goose” that is our supply of future employ-ees with STEM educations. To put it another way, people are at the heart of our tremendous production capability, and we need to invest in those people—both the people who already work here as well as the future generations. We reach out to local schools to nurture our reservoir of talent, through mentorship, classroom involvement and events that stimulate young minds. Our employees do some great work through our school partnerships; we have representatives on STEM councils. Of course we must always place the mission at the forefront of our priorities, but that doesn’t make the need to inspire students to pursue STEM educations and careers any less important. I am committed to nurturing the STEM reservoir so that we can have enough viable candidates for our future workforce.


Q: How does NAWCTSD adapt its training programs to keep pace with evolving technology?

A: We have a science and technology department that continues to evolve technology along with research agencies, including Office of Naval Research. Looking at the way we acquire training systems to ensure that they can keep pace with technologies, it’s not only adapt-ing existing systems to upgrade them with the latest image genera-tor, projector or any other equipment upgrades. It’s also the way we construct the requirement from the beginning to ensure that we protect against obsolescence so that we have an open system that can be very easily upgraded as new technology becomes available. It is possible to paint ourselves into a corner by not acquiring the system in a way that allows for the ease of “surgical” upgrades. Modern train-ing systems are really systems within systems; they are comprised of multiple and complex entities, so being able to upgrade components like a target set or a visual system without appreciably affecting the rest of the system is tremendously powerful and that has to be done in the beginning. The only way that we are going to be able to iterate these training systems, and capitalize on all that technology has to bear, is to design open systems that allow for that.

Q: How will NAWCTSD’s mission and priorities be affected as troops return from deployment from Iraq and Afghanistan?

A: What that’s going to mean for the Navy is different than what it means for ground forces of the Army and Marine Corps. In general it means that even more of the training and proficiency is going to be garnered in a synthetic environment using training systems. So whether that is training aboard ship or submarine, or whether that is training on the waterfront at home, those events are going to become even more relevant and pervasive as we get into a period of different operational tempo.

Q: What are NAWCTSD’s greatest successes from 2011?

A: I would like to point out three of NAWCTSD’s transformational accomplishments in 2011. First, we undertook a professionally facilitated process to pursue the four disciplines of execution, which provided us with a tool to identify three wildly important goals.

Last year we made huge headway in all three of those goals. The first goal was to stand up an acquisition support group, which is going to be a key accelerator of program performance.

Second was a massive increase in our participation in professional mentoring relationships. Our mentorship program is very robust and has been a model for other entities, not only in the Navy, but across DoD.

Third was accomplishing a very transformational change for NAWCTSD, from being a mission-funded organization to becoming a Navy Working Capital Fund organization. That was a change of both culture and mechanics, which is not an easy shift to make when you have been in an environment that is level-of-effort oriented vice fee-for-service oriented. It really focused us things like controlling over-head expenses, and adding value everywhere where we worked. We had to take on the cultural shift of having a stakeholder wanting to come to us to get this work done. It had tremendous power in being a catalyst for us being able to increase our yield—or performance per person. By all accounts, we went through 2011 with flying colors on the transition to Navy Working Capital Fund, and I am very proud of the people on our team for how they adapted and championed this transformational change.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to say that I have not asked?

A: Other than the fact it’s been an absolute honor to do this job and witness the hearts and minds of these people at NAWCTSD. They are tremendously committed to the mission we have here, and they are tremendously committed to the warfighter. They have boundless intellect and passion. We have invested in their development, not only professional development, but in their personal development as well, because we recognize that those two are interdependent and that the only way that we are going to make some of these very smart people even better in performing on teams is investing in the balance of the whole person. We have gone to great lengths to do that, and I believe we are seeing a significant benefit from that. It has been humbling to lead an organization like this. Our relationship with all of the areas of the Naval service, and our relationships with all of the other members of Team Orlando, have thrived and I am very grateful. O

Award Number Vendor Award Description Contract ValueN61339-03-D-5007-0002 ROCKWELL COLLINS E-2D HITS-A $164,084,611

N61339-03-D-5017-0022 D.P. ASSOCIATES INC. Training Data Products for AIR-6.7.5.3 $119,727,798

N61340-11-D-1003-0002 CUBIC WORLDWIDE TECHNICAL SERVICES INC. Marine ATS COMS/CIS/TSM $108,665,167

N61340-11-C-0006 CAE USA INC. MH-60R TOFT 8-11 $77,787,152

N61339-05-D-6005-0005 FIDELITY TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION CNATRA CIS Fidelity $72,083,606

N61339-03-D-5007-0004 NLX CORPORATION E-2D HITS-M $67,165,999

N61339-03-D-5001-0004 CAE USA INC. MH-60S OFT 7-9 and WTT 5-6 $66,654,524

N61340-11-D-1002-0002 COMPUTER SCIENCES CORPORATION CISLANT CIS $59,826,689

N61340-12-C-5701 L-3 COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION F/A-18 COMS/CIS $51,083,901

N61339-03-D-5014-0004 BOEING T-45 UMFO $49,401,576

TOP CONTRACTS10

Naval air Warfare CeNter Training SySTemS DiviSion


Capt. Bill Reuter Commanding Officer

Mike FriedmanDirector of Corporate

Operations

Dave WhittakerDirector

International Programs

Capt. Steve Nakagawa Executive Officer

Geoffrey ChunDirector

Counsel Group

Paul HonoldDirector

Undersea Programs

Rob MatthewsDeputy Technical Director

Tony DelicatiDirector of Contracts

Mike MerrittDirector

Aviation Programs

Carl LeeDirector of Test and

Evaluation

Brian HicksActing Director

Cross-Warfare Programs

Walt Augustin (SES) Technical Director

Dixie BishopDirector of Logistics

Suzanne CormierDirector

Comptroller Group

John FreemanDirector

Surface Programs

I am proud to be part of an organization that offers such an incredible value to the taxpayer while providing such an awesome capability to our warfighters. Over the past two years in my role as executive officer, I have gained an even greater appreciation for the value of modeling and simula-tion. I am constantly impressed by truly amazing innovations that come from the intellectual capital that resides within the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD).

Throughout the long history of NAWCTSD, war fighting commanders have sought out innovative ways of delivering training. In the early days, terms like “synthetic training” or “training devices” were used where today we talk about “virtual training” and “simulators.” But over the years, the core purpose remained the same—to provide essential training that can save lives.

In this time of limited budgets, what we do in the train-ing arena is even more important. NAWCTSD and PMTRASYS

[Program Manager Training Systems] are able, and are uniquely postured, to provide training that is not only more cost-effec-tive than in years past, but also even more effective than live training. That cost-effectiveness is not only based on the fact that we can train effectively while avoiding the high operating expense of actually flying airplanes, steaming ships and sail-ing submarines, but also on the future life cycle support cost savings realized when the life of those platforms’ capabilities can be preserved for as long as possible for actual operational usage.

In many ways live training is still very important; after all, there’s nothing as authentic as the real thing. However, thanks to our expertise in the science of learning along with technological improvements in fidelity, simulated operations in training are able to more closely replicate the actual condi-tions of combat or equipment malfunctions without putting the warfighter in danger or unduly stressing the system they are using. In other words, today’s simulations inject lifelike

providing essential training that Can save lives.

by Captain steve nakagawa



emergencies, realistic scenarios and constructive enemies that make decisions like they would in the real world. And all this takes place without putting those combat vehicles, aircraft, ships and submarines through those harsh conditions in the real world. With today’s training systems and techniques, we can very much replicate the “fog of war” while allowing warf-ighters to suspend disbelief in ways that cannot be done in a purely live training environment.

While NAWCTSD procures training systems for the Navy—and I could list any number of military examples of training sys-tems—to me one vivid example of effective training resulting in lives saved would be when Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger ditched Flight 1549 in the Hudson River after losing both engines in a bird strike. A commercial airline pilot recently shared with me that there quite simply would be no safe way to practice ditching a twin engine airliner, or any other poten-tially catastrophic scenarios, except in a simulator. Just like the airlines invest in modeling and simulation to protect lives, so do the armed forces. Giving our warfighters the skills they need to succeed in the most trying scenarios is why we model all of the conditions of the environment as well as we can, and model the particular platform—whichever platform that may be. Using these realistic models, we are able to put the trainee and the platform into a situation where they wouldn’t have the opportunity in the real platform. Of course today, training

doesn’t have to be either live or simulated; it can be both at the same time. Using innovative techniques, military units are able to harness live, virtual and constructive (LVC) techniques to conduct integrated training with live assets such as aircraft flying somewhere over a training range, networked to virtual assets such as simulators, and constructive computer-generated enemy assets injected into the systems of the live and simulated aircraft.

The airlines, civilian law enforcement agencies, and even health care share many of the same techniques with the mili-tary in producing training systems. We model all of the con-ditions of the environment as well as we can, and model the particular platform—whichever platform that may be. Using those models, we are able to put the warfighter and the train-ing platform into a situation where they wouldn’t have the opportunity in the real platform. That folds directly in to LVC, where you do integrated training with live assets, such as a real airplane flying somewhere over the desert, a virtual asset such as a simulator, and constructive assets such as an imaginary enemy that is injected into the scenario and looks and acts just like a real enemy platform to the sensors and systems on the aircraft as well as in the simulator.

Looking ahead, I am excited to see innovative new projects delivered to the fleet. For example, the littoral combat ship (LCS) suite of trainers will offer tremendous value to our Navy.

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I am proud that NAWCTSD was selected as the executive agent for LCS training. The Navy is making a big investment on the innovative and new way of business that the LCS brings to the fleet, and Naval Sea Systems Command is confident that NAWCTSD is the right organization to lead the training sys-tems acquisition for LCS, and we are poised to accomplish that task and have a big win for the Navy and the warfighter. LCS training differs from training on other surface ships because the LCS philosophy is based upon a ship (either the USS Freedom or USS Independence class) deploying while its next crew is training to qualify and training to certify while ashore. So when that ship comes back from deployment, the entire next crew takes over the ship trained, ready to deploy again without spending a large amount of time training aboard. We can conduct that training using simulation so as to suspend the disbelief of the trainees so that really are certified to fight the ship.

Advanced training systems like our LCS training suite don’t just happen; they require innovation and careful planning. This innovative thinking and expertise comes from our most important resource—professionals like those who choose to work at NAWCTSD. The people of NAWCTSD are so valuable to our mission that we made it a commandwide wildly important goal to improve our already good workforce satisfaction levels. This goes hand-in-hand with our ongoing goal of encourag-ing meaningful and formalized mentor/protégé relationships within the workforce. Mentoring is a valuable way of transfer-ring knowledge from the more experienced members of our workforce to our younger employees. This is important because approximately two-thirds of our workforce is over the age of 46, and nearly 40 percent of our employees will reach retirement age within the next five years.

In addition to investing in the professional development of our workforce, we make it a priority to ensure NAWCTSD is place where people want to work. Whether it’s taking pride in maintaining our facilities or celebrating the rich diversity of our workforce, we work hard at enhancing the quality of our workplace.

I am proud that our efforts to maintain a first-rate work envi-ronment have been recognized by the Orlando Sentinel as a Top 100 Organization for Working Families every year since 2007. Of course we don’t take care of our people just to receive accolades, we do it because we believe that a workforce that enjoys a high level of satisfaction is more likely to be innovative and conducive to exceptional teamwork.

With all of the great things that we can do with simulation, there is one area of concern for me, and that’s our national sup-ply of students pursuing degrees related to science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). Right now the numbers we predict coming through high schools, into college, graduat-ing from college and staying in the United States to do those STEM-type jobs is too small. Of the more than 4 million stu-dents who began 9th grade, it is estimated that only 4 percent, or approximately 166,000, will go on complete a STEM-related college degree. We see this as a huge problem, which is why we, along with all the members of Team Orlando, put a lot of effort behind captivating and nurturing the minds of generations toward STEM studies.

We are facing that problem along with our partners from the other services, industry and academia by encouraging robust STEM outreach activities. For example, during the annual Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Con-ference (I/ITSEC), we participate in special events including teaching the teachers how to educate students about underwater robotics. We also participate in giving students guided tours of the I/ITSEC exhibition. In addition to I/ITSEC, we participate in Orlando’s annual Otronicon, sponsored by the Orlando Science Center. Otronicon is a four-day exposition that demonstrates and celebrates interactive technologies. Events like these demon-strate how interactive and immersive technologies are applied to a variety of applications, and more importantly they help inspire young students to follow STEM-related careers.

In addition, we have a robust STEM outreach program that includes volunteer efforts by 95 of our employees. These employees dedicate time to talking to classes at several local public schools, including the Blankner School, our “adopted” K-8 partnership in education school. Our volunteers spend time mentoring and tutoring students, and many of them participate in camps at the Orlando Science Center.

The past two years as executive officer have been rewarding, and I’m looking forward to the next two years, as NAWCTSD and our partners from each of the military modeling and simulation organizations continue to take innovations out of the box … into the fight. O

Captain Steve Nakagawa is executive officer, Naval Air War-fare Center Training Systems Division Orlando.



Ensign Jared Hickey, assigned to the amphibious transport dock ship USS Ponce (LPD 15), uses a voice-recognition system to command a virtual simulation of Ponce in the Conning Officer Virtual Environment (COVE) ship handling simulator trainer development office at NAWCTSD during a visit by the ship to Port Canaveral, Fla., as part of a Navy outreach. The COVE can be programmed to replicate any ship in the Navy with any environmental conditions, allowing conning officers to practice ship handling skills in a controlled environment. NAWCTSD is located on the campus of the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Port Canaveral is the first of Ponce’s final three port calls before the nearly 41-year-old ship prepares for decommissioning in Norfolk, Va., in 2012. [Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy/by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Nathanael Miller]



DATA PACKETS Compiled by KMi Media Group staff

Increasingly recognized as promoting safer patient care, learning through simulation has become an essential component of health care educa-tion. Developed in collaboration with simulation users from many health care disciplines, Laerdal’s SimPad was designed with the consumer’s needs in mind. SimPad is easy, effective and affordable.

SimPad is virtually a “pick up and play” experi-ence, featuring an intuitive, interactive handheld touch screen, enabling simulations to be run easily and effectively. The SimPad System can be operated in automatic mode, using existing pre-designed scenarios, or in manual mode, allowing instructors to customize simulations, facilitating a broad range of educational experiences. In addition, the SimPad System can be used with a wireless patient monitor.

The SimPad System provides a comprehen-sive library of physiological patient parameters, including vital signs, ECG recordings, organ and patient sounds. The Log function allows instructors to keep track of simulation outcomes, a useful tool for debriefing and assessment. SimPad’s total porta-bility allows users to train for any situation, in any environment, bringing instructors closer to students for a more efficient and effective learning experience.

Compatibility with Laerdal simulators and mani-kins, both new and existing, allows institutions to integrate new technology and revitalize their current simulation platforms. SimPad is compatible with Laerdal’s VitalSim platform, as well as non-manikin activities such as standardized patients and task trainers. With SimPad, educators spend less time learning how to use the technology, and more time actually using it.

SimPad is powered by and integrated with the Laerdal suite of SimCenter products, including the content available on SimStore. Successful simulation programs require more than just a patient simulator. Launched last year, Laerdal’s SimCenter provides access to teaching, management and assessment resources to support and enhance every teaching experience. SimPad accesses the comprehensive online library of simulation scenarios from some of the health care industry’s leading organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Heart Association and the National League for Nursing. When combined with the newly released system for managing and administering simula-tion based education, SimManager, SimPad supports health care educators like never before.

Simulation Resources in the Palm of Your

Hand

Helicopters are ever more agile and bug-like in their abilities to take off verti-cally, hover and land almost anywhere. Yet pilots still face formidable risks of colliding with obstacles when navi-gating in sandstorms and other obscured conditions. Given the uncanny ability of insects to avoid the fly swatter and other threats, can principles of insect vision be applied to improve human piloting skills?

To address this challenge, Aptima, which applies expertise in how humans, think, learn and behave, has developed INSECT, the Intuitive Navigation System for Effective Collision-avoidance Tactics. A simulator-based training system, INSECT is designed to enhance the perceptual skills of helicopter pilots, enabling them to maintain awareness of their surround-ings and operate more safely in degraded visual environments such as dust, snow and sandstorms.

Developed with NAVAIR (U.S. Naval Air Systems Command), INSECT is designed to help pilots of UH-60 Black Hawk and other aircraft capable of vertical/short takeoff and landing to “see through the debris” and pick out

critical visual cues to avoid hazards such as buildings, power lines and enemy fire when flying in degraded visual conditions.

“In a whiteout or brownout it can be nearly impossible for a pilot to estab-lish awareness and gauge if the ground contour is safe to land, not veer into over-head lines, or determine whether someone is waving for assistance or aiming a missile,” said Courtney Dean, Aptima’s INSECT program manager. “Pilots must be able to pick out very subtle cues in poor conditions to avoid danger.”

The Aptima team applied a novel, multi-disciplinary approach to insect vision research, theorizing that pilots undergoing perceptual skills training would be better equipped to identify and safely navigate around, or away from hazards in degraded visual environments. The team included Dr. Thomas Schnell, associate professor and director of the Operator Performance Laboratory at the University of Iowa, and Troy Zeidman of Imprimis, a former U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot.

Courtney Dean;[email protected]

Trainer to Help Helicopter Pilots Avoid Hazards in Obscured Conditions

EiTechnology’s RTS-1000 Test Suite offers the full functionality of a spectrally pure broadband direct analog frequency synthesizer combined with a state-of-the-art digital AWG. This digital wideband arbitrary waveform generator is capable of creating advanced high-resolution waveforms.

The AWG provides 3 GHz of modulation bandwidth while simultaneously operating a broadband digital to RF converter with clock speeds up to 10GS/s and a 10-bit resolution. The system’s 32 mega-sample

memory stores multiple waveforms and seamlessly transitions between waveforms within one clock cycle.

The synthesizer/AWG combination delivers powerful capabilities. It seamlessly updates and instantly transitions between waveforms without any interruption in operations and simulates frequency hops, multiple contacts, incoming threats or custom scenarios within the full opera-tional band of 0.3 to 18GHz.

Gene Madiou;[email protected]

Direct Analog Frequency Synthesizer


Rear Admiral Donald P. QuinnCommander

Naval Education and Training Command

Rear Admiral Quinn is a native of East Rochester, N.Y. He gradu-ated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1979 and was designated a Naval flight officer in 1980.

He completed operational assignments with the “Knightriders” of Attack Squadron (VA) 52, based in Oak Harbor, Wash.; the “Night-hawks” of VA 185, based in Atsugi, Japan; and the “Fighting Tigers” of VA 65, based in Virginia Beach, Va. He also served as deputy chief of operations for commander, Joint Task Force Southwest Asia, directing Operation Southern Watch.

His shore tours include instructor duty in the A-6 Intruder Fleet Replacement Squadron; a tour as aide to commander, Medium Attack Tactical Electronic Warfare Wing Pacific, in-residence education at the Naval War College; joint duty in the Targeting Division of the Atlantic Intelligence Command, and a tour in Navy Personnel Command as director of the Aviation Officer Distribution Division. He holds a Master of Arts degree in national security and strategic studies and a Master of Science degree in general management.

In 1993, Quinn was chosen for transition into the EA-6B Prowler Community and commanded Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 139, VAQ-129, and Carrier Air Wing 9.

In September 2005, Quinn was promoted to flag rank. He has commanded the Naval Air Training Command, Strike Force Train-ing, Atlantic, and Navy Personnel Command. His awards include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Bronze Star.

Quinn became the 17th commander of the Naval Education and Training Command on January 30, 2012.

Q: In what ways will your leadership style differ from your predecessors?

A: Every new commander brings new vision and experiences to the job. My predecessors clearly did a magnificent job, attracting more than 150 other nations to seek training from the U.S. Navy along the way. As senior leaders, we understood coming into the job that our training provides an asymmetric advantage to our operating forces and our job is to maintain that edge through the right quantity and quality of train-ing. I believe my leadership focus will differ from my predecessors as a function the evolving mission areas our Navy supports and the need to become even more efficient with our finite resources to develop and deliver world-class training.

Q: How will your previous assignments and experience benefit you in your role as commander of NETC?

A: Throughout my career, I’ve been amazed at the quality and depth of training the Navy provides. This appreciation began in my early days as a student Naval aviator and matured through each and every tour.

As commanding officer of the EA-6B Prowler Fleet Replacement Squad-ron, Electronic Attack Squadron 129, we provided aircrew training for the entire Prowler community. As chief of Naval Aviation Training, I gained extensive experience leading sailors, Marines, government civil-ians and contractors in coordinating a large, complex training effort. At Strike Force Training Atlantic, we trained across a wide spectrum of mission areas, weapons systems and platforms, further broadening my scope of experience and providing valuable lessons on the impact of training to operational readiness and mission success. As the director of Aviation Officer Distribution Division at Navy Personnel Command, I developed a strong appreciation for the power of supply chain manage-ment principles in managing training pipelines and believe that many of these principles can be leveraged to further improve the execution of officer and enlisted training across the NETC domain. All of these expe-riences have taught me two valuable lessons. First, training requires a dedicated team to be successful; that is, committed to the mission and always striving to improve. Second, for all the lines and numbers on production charts we use to measure success, we can never forget that they represent flesh and blood people with dreams and goals, who are depending upon us to make the right investment decisions that enable them to win in combat while enhancing their opportunities for future growth.

Q: What changes do you plan to implement in 2012 at NETC?


Efficiency CoordinatorTechnical Training in an Ongoing Competition for Resources

Q&AQ&A

A: Although not necessarily a change, I do plan to continue to build upon the work of my predecessors in improving the efficiency of our training pipelines to deliver trained sailors to the fleet at the right time and with the right skills. This is easier said than done. It requires the coordinated efforts of many partners from within the Navy’s Manpower, Per-sonnel, Training and Education enterprise, as well as our fleet customers. Over the last 18 months we have worked together to implement the Navy Enlisted Supply Chain Planning & Execution [NESCP&E] Program. This col-laborative effort is led by the Business Improvement Team, composed of senior officers from throughout the Navy. I co-chair this leadership group as the NETC commander, representing the thousands of great Americans who work hard every day to turn recruits into motivated sailors and Marines with the technical skills to fight and win the nation’s battles. The NESCP&E Program seeks to better align planning and execution efforts to sustain the high level of motivation all our recruits possess following recruit training by reducing the time they spend awaiting instruc-tion. This increased motivation level and reduced time to train will clearly enhance fleet readiness. This year, we are continuing to mature our cross-functional teams, develop-ing improved and more relevant metrics, and aligning the decision processes to accelerate process improvement. Our mantra today is to provide the right sailor with the right training, at the right time. As we stabilize these processes, cost will be added to the mix of decision metrics, but past experience has shown me that you don’t want to do that too soon and risk losing sight of the reason we exist.

Our initial NESCP&E efforts included an extensive review of exist-ing planning and processes, which revealed that our enlisted supply chain was not a series of linked steps, but a series of unlinked planning and training events that worked exceptionally well in isolation, but not in the aggregate. As a result, thousands of young sailors were sitting somewhere in the system, usually between training stops, with the predictable losses in motivation and performance. What was needed was transparency and alignment from beginning to end. Given bet-ter visibility into the linkages and relationships between phases in a pipeline, we are already seeing leaders in the system self-correct to improve efficiency. This effort cannot be something we do in addition to our “day jobs.” The principles that underpin this effort must become part of our daily operations in order to increase training effectiveness and reduce the inventories of students sitting idle at various points in the training pipelines. Planning is clearly the high payoff area here. We are engaged in ongoing work to identify accurate, linked demand signals throughout each step of the supply chain. Timely, accurate and stable demand signals enable training efficiency and effectiveness, thus maximizing the impact of the finite resources we are given.

Early results have been impressive. With about 22,000 sailors and Marines in our enlisted accession training pipelines at any moment, this group’s efforts have reduced the total waiting time in FY11 by over 1,200 man-years. That’s 1,200 more sailors in the fleet relative to the previous year. I believe these results are just the beginning, but the results of the planning decisions made today will not become apparent until FY13. The FY11 and FY12 recruits are largely in the system or in the delayed entry pool waiting to be shipped. Patience and persistence is required.

Q: What are the greatest challenges for you in assuming your new role?

A: I expect my greatest challenge to be the ever-growing demand for technical training against the backdrop of an ongoing competition for resources. Pressures on the Department of Defense budget will grow and we need to constantly keep our eye on the people impacted by those decisions.

Today’s recruits are as talented and motivated as any I have seen in my 33 years of service. Keeping them motivated and growing through the training pipeline will be our second biggest challenge. These young Americans are patriotic and join us with a strong desire to serve their country. They love to take on and overcome tough challenges; there-fore, they consistently seek out the toughest jobs and the satisfaction of being able to succeed where others have failed. We must enable them to succeed.

As our systems grow increasingly complex, there will also be con-stant pressure to provide more technical training. I think our third biggest challenge will be in the balance between better investments in the systems—for example, built-in fault isolation capability—versus investment in training for the sailors and Marines that operate and repair them. We are an expeditionary force. Once that ship or squadron deploys, it must be self-sustaining. That is likely to be more and more challenging as we field more complex hardware.

Q: How important is partnership with industry to NETC reaching its goals?

A: It’s crucial. We fully appreciate the value of partnering with industry to leverage their capabilities and understanding of leading edge tech-nologies in order to provide timely, cost-wise readiness to the fleet. We have many commercial partners helping us deliver training, from contract instructors to science and technology research firms who are developing new and exciting ways to train and educate. Our sailors are

Surface Warfare Officer’s School (SWOS) students navigate their virtual vessel through a number of simulated hazards in the school’s full-mission bridge. Simulators have become a mainstay of training at SWOS. Relocating the machines to the school has allowed the students to receive additional training whenever their schedule allows for it. SWOS trains the SWO community at the most critical junctures in their careers. [Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy/by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jason McCammack]


touched by technology at every step along the way, from Battle Stations 21 in recruit training to more recent innovations like Digital Tutor at the Center for Information Dominance.

We primarily collaborate with industry through our vendors. During implementation of the Enterprise Training Management and Delivery System, NETC’s new learning management system, the ven-dor employed agile software development methodology as part of the software development process. Agile is an approach to software develop-ment based on collaborative efforts between software industry partners and their customers. When it’s time to update or build new training systems to support new platforms acquired by the Navy, we work closely with industry to ensure we provide the right quantity and best quality of training to our sailors. Recent partnerships with Navy acquisition programs include the Navy’s littoral combat ship, DDG 1000 and the Ford [CVN 78] Class aircraft carrier.

This culture of partnership is a vital ingredient in developing low-cost, effective, flexible and innovative approaches to training that enable our sailors and Marines to fight and win. We will continue to form partnerships with industry, academia and the other service branches to produce win-win solutions.

Q: How does NETC adapt its mission execution in response to evolving technology?

A: As the Navy continues to invest in leading-edge technology for ships, aircraft and weapon systems, we keep pace through a very deliberate end-to-end process of updating curriculum and associated training systems. When new or updated weapon systems prepare to enter the fleet, program offices develop Navy training system plans that trigger the appropriate stakeholders, including NETC, to ensure a training solution is in place to properly train and qualify personnel who operate and maintain the equipment. This includes identifying the knowledge, skills and abilities required for sailors to be successful in a given job, task or function, and then designing customized, efficient and effective training to satisfy those needs. In the process, we seek to identify and employ the technology that best enhances student performance while minimizing training time and costs.

Initiatives that directly touch the sailors include increased use of personal computer simulation, as well as interactive media and gaming to quickly satisfy new training requirements. As an example, the hull technician initial skills training course is using welding simulators to train personnel in a variety of operational settings unique to fleet opera-tions. The early results are very promising with significant increases in apprentice level welding performance, and opportunities for effec-tive practice and remediation between deployments. Other initiatives include use of virtual technology at the Submarine Learning Center to immerse personnel from Virginia Class submarines into command and control and combat systems scenarios, providing a level of real-ism often cited as similar to that experienced underway. Last year, the NETC enterprise logged more than 500,000 graduations from more than 2,000 courses. Most of these courses already employ some level of current technology, with many leveraging the very latest in gaming and simulation technologies.

Q: With advancements in technology, what are some ways NETC is providing education at anytime and anywhere?

A: Given the demands for a more technology savvy force and advances in training delivery systems, NETC has partnered with other DoD

organizations, academia and industry to capture best practices and incorporate them with the proven methods we employ today. Partner-ships with the Naval Postgraduate School, U.S. Army, Defense Acquisi-tion University and Old Dominion University, to name a few, have led to robust distance learning initiatives using collaborative learning environments, mobile technologies and multiple delivery methods, including both onsite and distance learning. These new tool sets will enable us to meet the emerging training and education requirements of an agile, lean and ready Naval force that is regularly forward deployed around the globe in support of our national security strategy.

Like the other services, we also use simulators to teach complex, repeatable skills in a safe environment. The Conning Officer Virtual Environment system is a state-of-the-art navigation and ship handling trainer used to teach surface warfare officers how to safely maneuver ships in and out of crowded harbors. The simulator enables us to provide more students more opportunities to practice their restricted navigation skills, without having to get a ship underway.

One of our primary education imperatives is to improve sailors’ critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making ability. More than two-thirds of our enlisted jobs in the Navy are technical in nature. The use of technology in some of the most technical programs helps sailors improve cognitive readiness and develop skill sets that may otherwise be unachievable through legacy training systems. One highly technical job is the Information Systems Technology rating. This occupational specialty includes more than 10,000 personnel who operate and maintain the Navy’s telecommunications systems, main-frame computers, networks and micro-computer systems. In support of this training, we are testing a digital tutor to provide initial skills train-ing. Although still an R&D project, initial results are very promising, demonstrating that students trained by a Digital Tutor will outperform those trained by current methods.

In support of personal educational desires, our sailors are increas-ingly using the Tuition Assistance [TA] and Navy College Program for Afloat College Education [NCPACE] programs to enroll in accredited distance learning courses, at sea and abroad, provided by partner civil-ian colleges and universities. The expanding use of Internet technology allows our sailors to continue their education, with approximately 75 percent of TA funded courses and 50 percent of NCPACE courses deliv-ered via distance learning.

Q: How do operational requirements drive NETC?

A: Plainly said, operational requirements are why we exist. They define the work that NETC translates into learning objectives and then train-ing courses that produce the right sailor, with the right training, at the right time. NETC currently delivers more than 2,000 courses of instruction to support the fleet’s training requirements. In order to stay aligned with both current and future fleet requirements, NETC per-forms a periodic review of each course, called a Human Performance Requirements Review [HPRR], at least once every three years. The HPRR process provides the fleet commands, as well as manpower man-agement personnel from the Naval Personnel Command, an opportu-nity to review existing training against validated fleet requirements, system requirements, and community or career management needs. Working as a team enables us to identify human performance issues and/or trends which may require evaluation and validation as potential training requirements. The HPRR is an opportunity for our fleet cus-tomers and subject matter experts to review a course to determine if it still satisfies current training requirements for operational success.


If it does not, we implement a course development and revision end-to-end process to update the course.

As a professional training organization, we also use industry stan-dards to measure our training, including the Kirkpatrick model of training evaluation, throughout our training domain. This feedback is essential to meeting operational needs and improving schoolhouse knowledge. Part of the process includes accessing graduate perfor-mance, employing surveys and exams to measure the transfer of knowl-edge, skills and/or attitudes to the job. Our surveys are administered to both graduates and supervisors, providing the cornerstone of our assessment of the operational environment. The surveys capture infor-mation on critical tasks trained, including the subordinate’s confidence level and motivation to perform the task. We also gather information on current training tasks that should be discontinued as well as tasks that should be added to the formal training environment. This feedback is critical to ensuring the effectiveness and accuracy of our training in meeting the fleet’s operational requirements.

One final way we satisfy operational requirements is by using our uniformed personnel to serve as instructors at our schoolhouses between fleet tours, continually bringing a fresh perspective to the classroom regarding how things work in our ships, squadrons and battalions.

Q: How does NETC use a continuum of learning?

A: Career progression for sailors requires a lifelong pursuit of train-ing and education. Initial skills training is done in a blended learning environment with brick and mortar schools and hands-on labs and simulation. Following this apprenticeship level training, the sailors are assigned to commands around the world where they work under the skilled tutelage of more senior sailors, gaining experience and specific knowledge regarding the equipment, systems and operations at that command. Along the way, career milestones require sailors to demonstrate the maturity, leadership, management and technical skills necessary to take on more responsibility and progress through the ranks. To assist sailors as well as their supervisors on tracking their progress, NETC has developed Learning and Development Roadmaps [LaDRs] for every enlisted rating. LaDRs are fleet-focused products that provide guidance to sailors to progress along a learning and develop-ment continuum. These rating-specific, online guides assist in the sailor’s journey, explaining in detail what each sailor needs to succeed at specific points in their career. The LaDRs include information about certifications embedded into the appropriate rank category for each rating that will help sailors demonstrate their professional competency and leadership skills. This gives every sailor a complete, consistent and logical progression beginning with recruit training and continuing up through master chief petty officer.

Q: How is training the Navy’s asymmetric advantage?

A: There is an inherent premise that asymmetric warfare must deal with unknowns. While we can and do know a great deal about nations and rogue states that may pose a threat to America, there are always unknowns. The ability of our maritime forces to respond quickly to crises and eliminate threats is a direct result of our exemplary training. The technical expertise gained, combined with developed critical think-ing skills, gives our sailors the ability to evaluate what needs to be done to fight and win. This advantage is continuously leveraged in many other missions besides combat. The discipline, technical expertise and

esprit de corps that enable us to win in combat enabled the U.S. Navy to step in and create control out of chaos following Hurricane Katrina, coordinate humanitarian relief in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, and assist in any number of other crises at home and abroad. If you want a picture of what our asymmetric advantage looks like, look at the sailors who man visit board search and seizure teams that track and deter pirates in the Indian Ocean, the 20-something-year-old flying an FA-18 Super Hornet off an aircraft carrier in the Pacific, or the seabee building the first school in a remote African village.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to say that I have not asked?

A: I am excited and proud to be part of this great organization. NETC’s training and educational programs are widely recognized and receive numerous honors due to the superb efforts of more than 12,000 dedi-cated men and women who make up this global organization. Since 2009, 11 NETC training practices have been recognized by the world’s largest association dedicated to workplace learning, the prestigious American Society for Training and Development, for “Excellence in Practice” awards. In 2011, our surface warfare simulation training was selected as one of only 16 award winners. For the third time in the last three years, NETC has been ranked in the top 20 of training organiza-tions in the country on Training Magazine’s Top 125 list. These awards are clear testimonials to the dedication and expertise of our team and their role in making America’s Navy—A Global Force for Good. O

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The Army Basic Airborne Course (BAC) at Fort Benning has three one-week phases, according to Master Sergeant Eugene Knutson of 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The first week teaches individual tasks in ground school. The second week, tower week, com-bines tasks into team skills for exiting aircraft. The third week, jump week, is an accumulation of earlier lessons with five jumps. “After Basic, they can do Basic Airborne Refresher (BAR) at any airborne unit,” Knutson explained.

Most BAC students are soldiers, but Marine, Air Force and Navy personnel also attend. Roughly 1,600 students went through BAC in 2011, down from 1,800 in past years.

The 507th does two other types of airborne training: Pathfinder is for soldiers who set up drop zones, while Jumpmaster is for checking out gear of paratroopers.

The hardest part of BAC is learning to fall correctly. The Jumpmaster primary inspection test is challenging, with three minutes to inspect two non-combat loads and one combat load without missing any major faults and only a limited number of minor faults. The hardest part of Pathfinder is working with sling loads correctly.

All three courses are taught hands-on or in class-rooms, but the Army is looking at adding automation to Pathfinder and Jumpmaster. It could automate training on figur-ing formulas for sling loads and viewing loads on a screen to inspect for defects. And automation might help train students to thoroughly inspect student rigging.

All U.S. Air Force personnel deemed at high risk of isolation are required to attend combat survival training at Fairchild Air Force Base. The school also provides training for sister services and coalition forces, noted Senior Master Sergeant Travis Butikofer. About 4,000 students take the 19-day course annually.

The first week is classroom lessons in personal protection, environ-mental considerations, shelter construction, food and water procure-ment, navigation aids like maps, compasses, GPSs and radios, survival medicine and evasion techniques like camouflage.

The second week is field training and instruction is by demonstra-tion and performance. Students must be able to accomplish all the tasks given to successfully complete the course.

The third week focuses on conduct after capture as students learn the Code of Conduct and how to apply its principles.

The primary survival course does not include airborne training, but eight hours of parachute training is offered at Fairchild. Para-chute characteristics, landing procedures and emergency egress and bail-out procedures are taught. Students are introduced to extraction recovery devices used by recovery forces and experience a live extrac-tion via a helicopter hoist.

Butikofer said private contractors help with all aspects of the pri-mary survival school and are part of the instructor staff, but Fairchild cannot disclose the firms involved.

The Enlisted Aircrew Undergraduate Course at Lackland Air Force Base is a three-week course on fundamentals of airborne crew operation for all Air Force career enlisted aviators. About 2,300 students take the course each year, including aviators from the Air National Guard, reserve forces and foreign countries.

A 14-day, 120-hour course in fundamentals is con-ducted with workbooks and PowerPoint slides, but no simulation, said Chief Master Sergeant David Dillon II of 37 Training Wing. After this course in fundamentals, students go on to specialty courses.

There is a 14-day course for boom operators. Some simulation is used and Dillon would like to see more, particularly for viewing the underside of aircraft.

The flight-engineer course takes 30 days. Dillon does not think simulation would help much with this course.

A 20-day load-master course trains students in loading cargo and passengers while maintaining center of gravity. No simulation is used.

The airborne mission-systems course takes 48 days training students on troubleshooting and limited repairs of systems in flight. Lackland uses legacy simulation from Randolph Air Force Base that Dillon would like to update.

For 24 days the airborne-operations course trains crewmembers who will operate equipment like sensors and radios. A school for the small number of airmen who will prepare onboard meals requires 25 days and 200 hours of instruction.

The gunner course takes 13 days. Lackland uses simulation tools provided by Ngrain to train gunners in understanding, disassembling and reassembling guns.

learning to fall CorreCtly.by henry Canaday, mt2 Correspondent

Chief Master Sgt.David Dillon II


training firms

Ngrain uses 3-D technology for technical training and operations support, explained CEO Gabe Bat-stone. “Now 70 to 90 percent of training is outside of classroom,” Batstone said. “In the age of austerity, that will become even more important.”

Simulation can accelerate training, getting more students through a course or more content in the course. “The aim is to improve the first-time right rate,” Batstone emphasized. “That is, the first time they go to do a job they get it right.” About 85 percent of Ngrain’s work is in aerospace and defense.

Lackland’s challenge in gunner training was a lack of access to both equipment and subject mat-ter experts. “They wanted to focus on inspection, operation and in-flight maintenance of those weap-ons,” Batstone said. “But it cost too much to get enough equipment, especially if you factor in an eventual demilitarization cost of $600,000.” He esti-mates that Ngrain simulation saved the Air Force a total of $2 million. Ngrain has been helping Lack-land with simulation in the gunner course for four years.

Ngrain also offers simulation authoring tools so clients can develop their own simulations. “It’s easy,” Batstone said. “If you can use Microsoft Office, you can use these tools.”

Ngrain simulation is also used by the 110th Avia-tion Training Brigade at Fort Rucker to train Army pilots on the AH-64A Apache, AH-64D Longbow Apache, CH-47 Chinook, UH-60 Black Hawk and other aircraft. “We familiarize pilots with operation and maintenance of the equipment,” Batstone said.

As at Lackland, Fort Rucker lacked enough real equipment to do the training. And it was hard to train on hidden parts of the equipment Rucker had, like fluid systems. Ngrain can provide 3-D models of these hidden systems.

Fort Rucker uses Ngrain authoring tools to modify simulations for different versions of the same aircraft. The military prefers vendors that provide initial train-ing simulations but include the ability to modify these later.

Ngrain is now working on training tools for the F-22 Raptor, the DHC-6 Twin Otter and for mainte-nance on light armored vehicles.

Rockwell Collins has built very robust training capabilities through a series of acquisitions that started in 2003, noted LeAnn Ridgeway, vice president and general manager for Simulation & Training Solu-tions. Rockwell Collins recently launched its EP-80 image generator, a second-generation environment processor and real-time software that runs on state-of-the-art, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) per-sonal computers and graphics boards.

The EP-80 is used for high fidelity visual simulation on a number of aircraft, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, F-16 Fighting Falcon, UH-60 and CH-47.

Rockwell Collins also provides a portable version has been developed for air crew on the MH-60. “We can get there in the field where they are and train for specific missions,” Ridgeway emphasized. The Army recently added more of this portable simulator, the Transportable Black Hawk Operations Simulator (T-BOS), for deployment in the field.

For the JSF, Rockwell’s leading-edge image gen-erators surround pilots with 360 degrees of images from 25 projectors, noted Nick Gibbs, senior director of products. And these high-resolution images are real time.

Rockwell Collins COTS-based, open-architecture training tools allow it to partner with other firms. The firm is also working with a laboratory at the University of Iowa on what Ridgeway said is the next level of train-ing, “live virtual constructive.” This means combin-ing real people and assets with virtual environments and equipment, for example, simulated adversary aircraft.

For real adversary planes, Airborne Tactical Advan-tage Company provides about two dozen aircraft along with their pilots as opposition forces for military train-ing. The company’s Matt Bannon said ATC pilots aver-age 3,000 flight hours and come from top Navy, Air Force and Marine flight schools. Airborne Tactical’s

“advantage” as an outsourced opposition force is that the services do not have to retain or use up expensive people and assets for training. “Their assets cost $100 million and are good for 6,000 to 8,000 hours,” Bannon explained. “It does not make sense to use them for training, but save them for war fighting.”

Operating from four permanent and a total of eight locations, the company operates MK-58 Hawker Hunters, Israeli F-21 KFIRs and the Czech L-39 Albatros. It flies these planes to help the services train their own pilots, to train joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs) and to train Navy battle groups in defense against aircraft and missile attacks.

Airborne Tactical flies about 4,000 hours a year in support of defense training and has flown a cumula-tive 25,000 hours in this support.

Tactical Communications Group develops soft-ware and provides it for training in Link 16, a tactical data exchange network for data-link equip-ment, explained Gary Zimmerman, director of Strategic Programs. Zimmerman said Link 16 has been used for air-to-air communication and is now going into air-to-ground communication. “The Army is just now getting into Link 16. We are work-ing with the Army so that we can support it.” Link 16 could be used by JTACs. Tactical Com-

munications would offer software for training, but not do training itself. O

Gabe Batstone

[email protected]

Nick Gibbs

[email protected]

LeAnn Ridgeway

[email protected]



Gary Zimmerman

[email protected]


Mission: To preserve war fighting capabili-ties and enhance the force by providing a safe and healthy environment for soldiers, civilians, families and contractors through execution and management of the U.S. Army Explosives and Chemical Agent Safety Programs.

The genesis of USATCES was as a result of recommendations by a General Officer Steering Committee (1985-1987) that studied a total of 30 ammunition-related accidents up to that time. The formal recommendations of that committee included the establishment of an executive director of explosives safety (EDES), the current Army Materiel Command (AMC) deputy commander; the Department of the Army Explosives Safety Council; and the forma-tion of USATCES. USATCES was established as an element of the Defense Ammunition Center in 1988 by AMC Permanent Order 60-1. Prior to this date the Army did not have any orga-nization that had explosives safety program management in its charter.

Since the foundation of USATCES’ charter is Army explosives safety, the organiza-tion is under the operational control of the director of Army Safety (DASAF) and his staff. USATCES exists as the Army’s explosives safety center of expertise answering the call of not only the DASAF, but also being the commu-nication link between the highest levels of explosives safety, the Department of Defense Explosives Safety Board; the deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health; and the EDES, to the worldwide Army munitions community. Technical support and execution of the DASAF’s explosives safety management program is conveyed on his behalf to all Army commands, Army service component commands, direct reporting units, field operating agencies, and chief, National Guard Bureau. To accomplish this critical mission, USATCES is staffed with a diverse group of safety and munitions profes-sionals from Army Career Programs 12, 20 and 33. These include safety engineers, safety

and occupational health specialists, quality assurance specialist (ammunition surveil-lance), and logistics management specialists. Additionally, the organization is supplemented with technical information/database managers and administrative personnel to provide quality information management and distribution.

The deep-rooted tenet which USATCES must constantly consider, evaluate and advise is referred to as the “Cardinal Principle of Explosives Safety.” Simply stated, the prin-ciple is to “expose the minimum amount of personnel, to the minimum amount of explosives, for the minimum amount of time.” Inherently, all activity with regard to ammuni-tions and explosives (A&E) has some level of risk. To educate and reinforce the “Principle” concept, USATCES has established, by regula-tion or event, the following functions: explo-sives and chemical agent safety site plans; hazard classification for A&E; technical assis-tance/guidance for A&E considerations; explo-sives accident/mishap investigation support; explosives safety assistance visits; explosives safety risk assessments; and explosives safety policy and regulatory development.

Being physically located at the Defense Ammunition Center (DAC), McAlester, Okla., coordination is possible with expertise existing in all of the directorates (Training, Engineering, Technology and Operations). This synergy between the DAC and USATCES facili-tates a highly informed approach to solving critical explosives safety situations or ensuring the application of explosives safety tenets to worldwide ammunition life cycle issues. Since 2002, the DAC, with USATCES as its Explosives Safety Directorate, has been ISO 9001:2008 (E) certified, with the highest priority being customer support. As a tenant of the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, USATCES also plays an active role in maintaining its ISO 14001 registration.

As education is the most important step for establishing and maintaining a well-founded

and effective explosives safety management program, USATCES actively works with mili-tary and commercial training professionals to present the highest quality information as required by today’s A&E community. Key USATCES personnel currently participate on both Department of Defense and Army-level training and education working groups that, after the gap-analysis was executed, are actively identifying and instituting explosives safety certification requirements for Army A&E profes-sionals.

Since 2008, USATCES has provided an in-theater presence in both Iraq and Afghanistan, not only to provide technical assistance and explosives safety training, but also to identify the need for updates to both DoD and Army doctrine with regard to A&E safety. Additionally, teams have been requested and provided to both the theater and other OCONUS locations to not only solve some specific concerns but also provide an on-the-job training experience for the explosives safety core of the organizations being assisted.

The most significant future challenge for the USATCES is the continuing evolvement of military installations, activities, doctrine and operations into a joint environment. On any given day, the Army either has the lead or subservient role in a scenario. To eliminate the need for internal conflict resolution with the other military services, USATCES is commu-nicating with the respective explosives safety elements of the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. What allows USATCES to see the “light at the end of this tunnel” is that all the organiza-tions live by the same “Cardinal Principle.” O

Dr. Upton Shimp, Ph.Ed., is the acting director of USATCES and the DAC.

United States Army Technical Center for Explosives Safety (USATCES)

COMMAND PROFILE Operations in Hazardous Environments


expose the minimum amount of personnel, to the minimum amount of explosives, for the minimum amount of time.by dr. upton shimp, ph.ed.


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MT2 RESOURCE CENTER

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June 13-14, 2012Training & Simulation Industry Symposium (TSIS) Orlando, Fla.www.trainingsystems.org/events

To learn more about Aptima, see article in this edition of MT2: Trainer to Help Helicopter Pilots Avoid Hazards in Obscured Conditions (page 19)

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Cover and In-Depth Interview with:

Insertion Order Deadline: April 24, 2012 • Ad Materials Deadline: May 1, 2012

NEXTISSUE May 2012Vol. 17, Issue 3

General Edward RiceCommanderAir Education and Training Command

OrgAnizATiOnAl PrOfilE:Chief of Naval Air Training

iTECiSSUE

fEATUrES:

SPECiAl SECTiOnEuropean Roundtable


John Ponsonby, OBESenior Vice President Training

AgustaWestlandHaving served in the British Army, John

Ponsonby was commissioned into the RAF in April 1983. He retired as Air Vice-Mar-shal in January 2007 to take a commer-cial role as senior vice president training with AgustaWestland. Since Ponsonby joined AgustaWestland, his main focus has been to integrate all training activities within the company with emphasis on increasing market share, customer satisfaction and quality.

Q: Can you describe AgustaWestland’s history and evolution?

A: AgustaWestland has come a very long way from its roots of performing military ‘train the trainer’ programs and civil helicopter type conversions. In 2011 we trained over 4,500 students and delivered more than 25,000 flight hours on simulators and real helicopters. This is twice as many students and a four-fold increase in flight hours over 2007. As well as our training academies, we are delivering training solutions and services at our custom-er’s sites. Examples of this are the delivery of Apache training for the U.K. Army and recent contracts with the U.K. MoD to establish and run a comprehensive training service for their Lynx Wildcat fleet.

In the civil market, our growth has been dramatic. AgustaWestland started offering time on AW139 and AW109 full flight simulators in 2006. Since then we have added an AW139 simulator in the U.S., with further sales to third party operators. To meet forecast demand we are now constructing a nine-bay simulator facility at Sesto Calende, which will include full flight simulators for our new AW169 and AW189 helicopters.

Q: What are some of your key products in the military training and simulation industry?

A: Training products range from the supply of desktop computer-based training through to the extensive U.K. Apache and Lynx Wildcat training service solutions. Recently, we have also been focusing on developing cost-effective training aids, examples of which are a newly designed full motion simulator with direct projection visual and COTS technology and a new training service being provided to the

European Defence Agency using a low-cost network of full crew helicopter tactics trainers.

Q: What are some of the new training/simulation technologies AgustaWestland is developing?

A: We have made a significant impact on the cost effectiveness of full flight simulation and are now working on the development of distance and distributed learning solutions including the application of tablet PCs in the distribution and delivery of training. There are big savings to be had by reducing the time students have to spend traveling and being away from home.

Q: How are you positioned for the future within the military?

A: We have a good track record of delivering large complex helicopter training programs to military customers around the world. This is a key advantage we have over our competitors, as customers no longer consider training as an add on to worry about later; it is something they are looking at from the outset. We are the only manufacturer to have dedicated flying training and operational flying training centers that can take students from basic flight train-ing right through to fully operational trained aircrew.

Q: What is AgustaWestland’s connection with the training and simulation community?

A: AgustaWestland has strong ties with the training and simulation industry both in North America and Europe. Specifically, we have joint ventures with Boeing [ATIL] and CAE [Rotorsim] and have developed simulation

products with Indra, Frasca and Rockwell Collins. In February this year we signed a collaboration agreement with Priority 1 Air Rescue for the delivery of helicopter rear crew training courses.

Q: What is an example of your success in the military, and what are some of your goals over the next year?

A: A very recent success has been securing contracts with the European Defence Agency to design, develop and deliver a rotary wing full crew, multi-platform mission training capabil-ity to prepare and rehearse aircrew for multi-national operations.

We are going to expand the volume and range of operational training courses and to roll these out internationally. We want our customers to have access to our training at shorter notice and without having to travel great distances.

Q: How do customers benefit from AgustaWestland’s varied resources and expertise?

A: AgustaWestland prides itself in adaptability to meet customers’ needs and this is reflected in the range of training products and services we offer. In recent years we have listened to our customers and developed a new cost-effective approach to rotary wing flight simulation and created partnerships to extend our reach. Ulti-mately the benefits of AgustaWestland training for the customer are that it helps them operate their helicopters more safely and effectively.

Q: How do you measure success?

A: We constantly measure customer satis-faction to make sure we are delivering the training the customer wants in an effective way. Every student is asked to complete an evaluation form at the end of their course and we are very pleased to say the feedback we get is excellent, with students ratings us as better than our competitors. However, we are not complacent, so we will continue our close per-sonal contact with customers to make sure we continue to meet their needs and resolve any problems quickly. O

[email protected]

INDUSTRY INTERVIEW Military Training Technology


MAY 17.3

COVER Q&A:Gen. Edward RiceCommanderAir Education Training Command

SPECIAL SECTION:European Roundtable

FEATURES:Night Vision

Shoulder Mounted Missile Training

Vehicle Maintenance Training

TRAINING ORGANIzATION PROFILE:Chief of Naval Air Training

TRADE SHOW:

ITEC*

CLOSING DATE:May 1

JUNe 17.4

COVER Q&A:Vice Adm. David ArchitzelCommanderNaval Air Systems Command

SPECIAL SECTION:PEO STRI Contract Awards

FEATURES:Submarine Navigation

Aircraft Missile Targeting

Artillery Training

TRAINING ORGANIzATION PROFILE:The Basic School

TRADE SHOW:T&S Industry Symposium*Capitol Hill M&S Expo*

CLOSING DATE:June 6

AUGUst 17.5

COVER Q&A:Col. Craig LanghauserDirectorSimulation and Training Technology Center

SPECIAL SECTION:Medical Simulation

FEATURES:UAS Training

Navy SEALs Virtual Training

Firearm Discipline

TRAINING ORGANIzATION PROFILE:Army Modeling and Simulation Office

TRADE SHOW:AUVSI

ADL ImplementationFest

Training Support System Workshop

CLOSING DATE:July 20

sePteMber 17.6

COVER Q&A:Maj. Gen. Raymond C. FoxCommanding GeneralMarine Training and Education Command

SPECIAL SECTION:JIEDDO Who’s Who

FEATURES:Marine Recon Training

Serious Gaming/Virtual Worlds

Language Training

TRAINING ORGANIzATION PROFILE:LAFT – Low-Altitude Flying Training

TRADE SHOW:Modern Day Marine

AFA

CLOSING DATE:August 27

OCtOber 17.7

COVER Q&A:Col. Peter EideDirectorAir Force Training Systems Product Group

SPECIAL SECTION:Top Simulation & Training Companies Annual List

FEATURES:Land Vehicle Gunnery

Sea-to-Air Targeting

MOUT Training

TRAINING ORGANIzATION PROFILE:Army Mountain Warfare School

TRADE SHOW:

AUSA*

CLOSING DATE:October 3

DeCeMber 17.8

COVER Q&A:Dr. James BlakePEOPEO STRI

SPECIAL SECTION:PM TRASYS Who’s who

FEATURES:Sniper Trainer

Bomb Diffusion

Vehicle Assault

Behind Enemy Lines

TRAINING ORGANIzATION PROFILE:Aberdeen Proving Ground

TRADE SHOW:

I/ITSEC*

CLOSING DATE:November 12

This editorial calendar is a guide. Content is subject to change. Please verify advertising closing dates with your account executive. *BONUS DISTRIBUTION

Upcoming issues of

Military Training Technology

©2012 Laerdal Medical. All rights reserved. Printed in USA. #12-12154

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