mt2 20.1 (march 2015)

March 2015Volume 20, Issue 1

www.MT2-kmi.com

Command Profile:Air Force SimulAtorS DiviSion

LVC Training O Language Instruction O Embedded Training

America's Longest-Established Simulation & Training Magazine

Maneuver Commander

Maj. Gen. Scott MillerCommanding GeneralArmy Maneuver Center of Excellence

AUSA AND ITEC ISSUE

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March 2015Volume 20, Issue 1military training technology

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Cover / Q&A

major General SCott miller

Commanding GeneralArmy Maneuver Center

of Excellence

16

Departments2 editor’S PerSPeCtive4 ProGram HiGHliGHtS/PeoPle14 data PaCketS26 team orlando27 reSourCe Center

Industry Interviewleann ridGewayVice President and General ManagerSimulation and Training SolutionsRockwell Collins28

“The Maneuver Center is

focused on understanding and describing

what future maneuver looks like and how our

maneuver leader development,

doctrine development

and capabilities development

result in dominant maneuver

forces that can win across the range of military operations.” –Major General

Scott Miller

Features

10teCHnoloGy for lanGuaGe learninGWith a pressing demand for personnel able to communicate and interact in a culturally appropriate way with people around the world, the U.S. military is becoming a leader in using adaptive, computer-based systems for foreign language instruction.

By Harrison Donnelly

19embedded in traininGAlthough some of the impetus for military embedded training—in which instruction is provided by capabilities built into or added onto operational systems or equipment—has waned amid a slowing operational tempo, advocates say it will remain an important part of training strategy.

By Karen e. THuermer

24i/itSeC 2014Military Training Technology recognized the winners of our Top Simulation & Training Companies 2014 competition at I/ITSEC 2014. The featured companies are from around the world and have made a significant impact on the military training industry across the spectrum of technologies and services.

6lvC for inteGrated traininGThe system-of-systems approach known as live, virtual and constructive (LVC), which seeks to integrate the three technologies into one seamless training event, represents a key underpinning of modern military training.

By PeTer BuxBaum

22air forCe SimulatorS diviSionAlong with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Warfighter Research Division, the Simulators Division is part of a virtual organization known as the Training System Product Group, which collectively serves as the Air Force’s center of excellence for training simulation research, acquisition and support.

commAnD ProFile

The story about military language instruction in this issue (“Technology for Language Learning,” p. 10) briefly mentions the use of a robot to help students learn foreign languages. While that idea hasn’t spread to the military yet, a new study by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) could lead to development of the next generation of avatars, robots and other human surrogates for military training.

ONR is working with the University of Central Florida, which recently installed a human surrogate in the lobby of its Institute for Simulation and Training. Under the control of a human in another location, it will greet and interact with passersby. Researchers plan to use the information they get from the experiment to see if surrogates can also be used in more complex situations.

The initiative is part of a three-year ONR program exploring how humans interact with surro-gates, both virtual (avatars) and physical (animatronics). The findings will help guide the office in making the best uses for surrogates in military training.

ONR is also supporting development of the Avatar Mediated Interactive Training and Individualized Experience

System, which will enable users to control different kinds of surrogates through voice modula-tion, artificial intelligence and network protocols.

With the system, a single instructor will be able to direct multiple surrogates using a handheld user interface and head-tracking software. The controller can be located off-site, and will be able to switch between various characters and training locations. One major benefit will be to reduce the need to pay actors to play roles in training scenarios.

I’m from a generation that grew up before avatars, and for me robots will always be those lovable residents of a faraway galaxy, R2-D2 and C-3PO. But it seems likely that these technologies will become a mainstay of future training of warfighters and just about everyone else.

Harrison DonnellyeDiTor

Recognized Leader Covering All Aspects of Military Training Readiness

editorialEditorHarrison Donnelly [email protected]

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Military Training Technology

Volume 20, Issue 1 • March 2015

eDitor’S PerSPectiVe

The military is increasingly turning to live, virtual and constructive (LVC) training technology, such as this LVC trainer from Rockwell Collins. [Image courtesy of Rockwell Collins]

Real-time screen captures are from MetaVR’s visualization system rendering 3D virtual terrain of Kismayo, Somalia, and are unedited except as required for printing. The real-time rendering of the 3D virtual world is generated by MetaVR Virtual Reality Scene GeneratorTM (VRSGTM). 3D models are from MetaVR’s 3D content libraries.Copyright © 2015 MetaVR, Inc. MetaVR, Virtual Reality Scene Generator, VRSG, the phrase “Geospecifi c simulation with game quality graphics,” and the MetaVR logo are trademarks of MetaVR, Inc.

With MetaVR visuals used for simulated UAV camera payload video in ground control stations and in manned aircraft simulators, UAV operators, pilots, and JTAC trainees can achieve fully correlated HD H.264 simulated sensor video with accurate KLV metadata that replicates the actual sensor payload imagery of ISR assets during MUM-T and other distributed training exercises.

www.metavr.com

The U.S. Army recently purchased 300 licenses of MetaVR visuals for embedded training in its Universal Ground Control Stations and for Institutional Mission Simulators.

Since 2002, the Army has used MetaVR visuals for simulated UAV camera payload video for Shadow, Grey Eagle, Aerosonde, and Hunter training.

Program highlightS Compiled by KMI Media Group staff

Air Force Brigadier General Patrick J. Doherty has become

commander, 82nd Training Wing, Air Education and Training Command, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.

Major General Robert M. Dyess Jr., who has been serving as director, force develop-ment, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8, Army, has been assigned as deputy director and chief of staff, Army

Capabilities Integration Center, Army Training and Doctrine Command, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.

Major General William C. Hix, who has been serving as deputy director and chief of staff, Army Capabilities Integration Center, Army Training and Doctrine Command, has been assigned as director, strategy, plans and

policy, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7, Army.

Major General Cedric T. Wins, who has been serving as director, requirements integration directorate, Army Capabilities Integration Center, Army Training and Doctrine Command, has been assigned as director, force development, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8, Army.

Compiled by KMI Media Group staffPeoPle

Brigadier General Patrick J. Doherty

FAAC Inc. and the Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation have selected Christie to power the visual displays for the Air National Guard’s Boom Operator Simulation System (BOSS). A compact, immersive environment designed to support the complete boom operator training curriculum, BOSS replicates the KC-135R Block 40 boom pod and control/gauges and features visual displays comprised of three Christie Matrix StIM WQ DLP LED simulation projectors and two 46-inch Christie FHD461-X LCD panels. Recreating the immersive environment of a KC-135 aircraft, BOSS features head-tracking technology, voice recognition and synthetic response, and sophisticated and detailed visual models, as well as full recording and debriefing capabilities. The aircraft physical model emulates the actual aircraft boom and uses Christie’s advanced, high-resolution, out-the-window displays, with realistic computer-generated images provided by MetaVR. Meeting Aerial Refueling Airplane Simulator Qualification standards, it allows refu-eling boom operators to perform the same complex aerial maneuvers critical to refueling an aircraft in mid-air.

Keith Klentz; [email protected] Army Program Executive Office for

Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) has awarded General Dynamics C4 Systems a $415 million order-dependent contract for total acquisition life cycle support to product managers operating within the Live Training Transformation (LT2) Product Line framework. In 2009, General Dynamics received the Consolidated Product-Line Management (CPM) contract from the PEO STRI, Project Manager for Training Devices, to

consolidate the management of the Army’s LT2 product line. The scope of the LT2 live training systems include more than 150 training ranges worldwide, with training that scales from indi-vidual soldiers up to and including full brigades participating in live force-on-force and force-on-target training. To date, LT2 and the General Dynamics’ CPM solution, working with experts in the fields of product line engineering and live training development, has delivered more than $570 million in cost savings to the Army.

The Army has purchased from Kratos Defense & Security two Maintenance Blended Reconfigurable Aviation Trainer (MBRAT) Virtual Immersive Environment (VIE) training systems with the CH-47F Chinook Avionics configuration. The order is valued at approximately $1.4 million, including life cycle support services for the next four years. The MBRAT VIE is a reconfigurable system designed and built by Kratos to provide avionics maintenance procedures, fault isolation, and remove and install training for multiple rotorcraft platforms, including the CH-47F Chinook and the UH-60M Black Hawk.

Architected to increase training options while reducing training costs, the MBRAT VIE is a virtually immersive, full-task trainer that blends spatial physical awareness with virtual environments and the appropriate aircraft platform’s system configuration. The MBRAT VIE can be installed at a training institution to support school instruction or delivered in a mobile configuration to facili-tate deployment to the warfighter.

Immersive Displays Support Boom

Operator Training

Army Orders Support for Live Training Transformation

Virtual Immersive Trainer Aids Chinook Maintenance

www.MT2-kmi.com4 | MT2 20.1

TRU_MilitaryAd_KMI_March.indd 1 3/4/15 10:43 AM

Military training is increasingly about the use of multiple training modes to deliver a single training solution. Department of De-fense policy encourages the integration of a variety of training systems and techniques to provide a richer, more realistic and more ef-fective training experience.

The Army, for example, makes extensive use of virtual first-person environments such as Virtual Battlespace, a simulation for ground troops based on gaming technology that can interface with computer-generated adversarial forces, which in turn are rep-resented in live real-world command and control systems. Collectively, this system-of-systems approach is referred to as live, virtual and constructive (LVC), and represents a key underpinning of modern military training.

LVC involves the integration of the three technologies into one seamless training event. Live training refers to real people per-forming actual exercise missions on real sys-tems, while the virtual domain involves real people operating simulated systems. The constructive domain involves machine-to-machine interactions—for example, when enemy forces and actions are represented in virtual re-ality systems or battle management, command and control, and weapons systems.

The idea is that combining training components from each of the LVC do-mains enables the training experience to emulate real operational conditions.

The U.S. military is seeking to determine the appropriate mix of live, virtual and constructive training methods that will ensure the highest levels of readiness while maximizing returns on investments. A key factor in this trend is the tight fiscal situation, which is putting pressure on expensive live events.

A study of Navy flight training un-dertaken by the Government Account-ability Office in 2012 suggested that the percentage of non-live training is

on the rise. In 2010, the agency found, Navy F/A-18 pilots completed 82 percent of their training using live-fly methods, compared with an expected 68 percent this year.

“LVC training has accelerated in recent years and has been fueled by two factors,” said Greg Schmidt, vice president and gen-eral manager for mission solutions and readi-ness at Northrop Grumman Technical Ser-vices. “First is the availability of technologies, including wearable devices and network-ing technologies, some of which has been adapted from the entertainment and gaming industries. The second is the current budget environment. LVC training provides very re-alistic training opportunities at significantly reduced costs.”

“There is a limited amount of adversary activity that can be represented in live ranges where fifth-generation pilots of F-22s and F-35s train,” said Lou Olinto, senior man-ager for business development at Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training. “The

capacities of the aircraft exceed those ranges, and budgetary constraints mandate the re-duction of flight hours.”

Simulation limitationS

Still, live training is not about to disap-pear. While naval aviation makes significant use of simulators for skills practice, for exam-ple, graded training events are still primarily conducted using live-fly methods.

“Part of this has to do with inherent limi-tations in the simulators’ fidelity cues,” said Webb Stacy, Ph.D., principal investigator at Aptima for the Navy’s Cognitive Fidelity Syn-thetic Environment project. “For example, subtle cues such as the ship’s wake are not fully represented. As a result, it can be diffi-cult for pilots to accurately judge the ship’s speed and the surrounding sea state.”

Aptima is conducting a series of experi-ments to explore the effects of targeted simu-lator fidelity improvements on pilot learning

and performance during the final ap-proach and landing phases of continu-ing qualification training.

Maximizing and optimizing the mix of training from within the LVC domains ultimately promotes training flexibility and reduces costs. In the case of the Navy, the ability to train while at sea or in port provides distinct ad-vantages.

“A ship doesn’t have to be tied up at port to be connected to a distributed network,” said Mike Mahoney, a project manager at Alion Science & Technol-ogy. “Combining virtual and construc-tive training elements while out at sea makes it easier to schedule training within the ship’s schedule. Including more virtual and constructive training reduces the overall costs of training.”

On the other hand, the crew of a ship in port can also train on systems that make them feel like they are on the high seas. “The systems displays look like they are under way,” said Craig

the live, virtual and conStructive approach createS SeamleSS training eventS.By peter BuxBaum , mt2 correSpondent

lou olintoGreg Schmidt

Webb Stacy

[email protected]

mike mahoney

[email protected]


Langman, senior director for training and simulation so-lutions at General Dynamics Information Technology. “The radios are blaring like they are under way. All the action but-tons on the console look like they are under way. Within about 20 minutes, most peo-ple believe they are under way, and after the exercise they walk out on deck and realize they are still in port.”

The bottom line is that it really shouldn’t matter whether a given training element is live, virtual or constructive, training experts suggest. “As long as the systems present ap-

propriate scenarios, the warf-ighters can train and build proficiency,” said Olinto.

In the case of shipboard exercises, an Aegis-equipped vessel can insert synthetic information into shipboard systems to conduct opera-tional training. “Crews can use live and virtual systems to engage constructive tar-gets when training on ballis-tic missile defense systems.

This can also be expanded to make it a fleet exercise by bringing in live, as well as con-structive, Navy and Marine Corps assets,” said Langman.

diStriButed ScenarioS

At the technology level, today’s LVC training is enabled by a number of develop-ments. “One of the biggest advancements has come from networking infrastructure,” said Ryan Frost, manager of immersive and mobile training technologies at Northrop Grumman. “These developments support distributed training scenarios to include dis-parate locations and systems.”

Northrop Grumman has partnered with AT&T on the Army’s Combat Training Cen-ter-Instrumentation System contract, with the goal of bringing faster, easier and lower-cost solutions to the customer through the integration of voice, data, video and real-time

craig langman

integration of virtual simulation into training regimens could help improve u.s. military readi-ness while reducing costs by more than $1.7 billion over five years, according to a new study.

The report, “Going Virtual to Prepare for a New era of Defense,” was commissioned by rockwell Collins and produced by the Government Business Council. its conclusions assess the promise of vir-tual training based on secondary research, inter-views with training and simulation experts and a survey of 310 active duty and civilian Department of Defense personnel.

at a recent press briefing, leann ridgeway, vice president and general manager, simulation and Training solutions for rockwell Collins, hailed the study as validating the company’s extensive investment in live, virtual and constructive (LVC) training programs for the military.

“We commissioned this research because we are investing a lot here in being able to enable LVC,” Ridgeway said. “We believe that the technol-ogy is ready today, and we have customers asking for it, yet we’re not moving ahead fast enough to be able to take advantage. What we wanted from this study was to answer questions about LVC, help us assess the readiness of DoD and our customers to the adaptation of this virtual training, and un-derstand some of the barriers that may be holding us back.

“While some of the information in the study may seem intuitive, what i think is very important is that we now have some facts and a baseline from which to move forward. you’ll be surprised at how supportive the survey respondents were to LVC. That was the big ‘aha’ moment for us. They believe

in the value proposition, and the data shows that LVC can bring both reduced cost and increased ef-fectiveness in training,” she continued.

The findings are particularly important, ridge-way suggested, in the face of what many in the military see as a looming crisis in readiness caused by a combination of economic factors and the changing nature of warfare. “There is a real belief today that our forces are less prepared and able to respond today to changing world contingencies,” she said.

That conclusion was backed up by the survey, which found that just 23 percent of the survey’s respondents are confident current training levels will meet readiness needs, while 28 percent are confident that current live training capabilities can satisfy training needs.

The survey also supported ridgeway on the cost-saving potential of the LVC approach. “The re-search tells us that live and virtual blended training has the ability to improve effectiveness and reduce costs, saving hundreds of millions of dollars accord-ing to estimates from the military services them-selves,” she said. “We see evidence that defense leaders believe that live and virtual can improve training effectiveness across multiple domains.”

The research found that:

• The Air Force projects savings of $1.7 billion between fiscal year 2012 and FY16 by offset-ting a decrease in live flying hours with virtual training.

• The Navy expects to save $119 million annu-ally beginning in 2020 by increasing virtual training for just two types of aircraft.

• 57 percent of respondents identify reduced cost as a significant benefit of integrating live and virtual training.

• 85 percent of the respondents indicated that blending live and virtual training, as in the case of LVC training, would reduce costs for at least one of four types of training tasks.

“it’s obviously safer,” ridgeway added. “There are a lot of scenarios where you would not choose to do live training because of the safety of pilots and operators. it offers a safer methodology to train, and we can push the training envelope. With our new-generation aircraft like the F-35, you can’t train on their full capabilities in a live setting. so be-ing able to blend that together synthetically offers opportunities. you also have the ability to train with joint operations and to train the way you fight.”

The survey also indicates that virtual training is viewed as necessary to keep up with evolving technology and more complex forms of warfare. Two-thirds of those responding said that the incom-ing generation of servicemembers will learn better through multimedia training programs, while about half said that integrating live and virtual training sig-nificantly enhances the ability to conduct exercises involving multiple operational domains.

“We know that LVC is not a panacea or the answer to everything, and there are still concerns and challenges out there,” she said. “We want to find out what those are, so that government and industry can together address them.”

The report identified insufficient fidelity of simulations and a lack of understanding as key obstacles moving forward.

LVC Hailed as New Era in Training By Harrison Donnelly

[email protected]

www.MT2-kmi.com MT2 20.1 | 7

communications capabilities. “Leveraging this 4G/LTE en-vironment allowed us to bring the latest commercial tech-nologies to military training and to greatly lower the cost to the Army,” said Schmidt.

Interoperability of sys-tems remains a significant technological challenge, ac-cording to Langman. “The biggest challenge is how to interoperate between the different services and their simulation engines,” he said. “We have developed middle-ware that allows these dis-parate systems to talk to one another.”

“Today’s LVC exercises typically include four or five technology architectures requiring multiple bridges to allow systems to work to-gether,” added Pat Murray, director of busi-ness development for mission solutions and readiness at Northrop Grumman. “A demon-stration we conducted last winter of an aerial refueling exercise involved the integration of three different and geographically dispersed simulators, which required 70 software bridges to get them to all work together.”

In enabling systems to interoperate, one imperative is to standardize messaging for-mats within and between training and live systems, as well as among the military ser-vices and other government agencies and nongovernmental organizations with which they may train. “We have set up standards for interoperability of trainers used in our envi-ronment,” said Mahoney. “This has helped us to expand the next generation of the distrib-uted network that we use, and has allowed us to make more bandwidth available to ships at sea, which makes a big difference.”

Cross-domain solutions, which allow in-formation from different levels of classifica-tion to be viewed together and to interact, have also contributed to a seamless LVC experience. “Different training assets oper-ate at different classification levels,” noted Langman. “Coordinating live, virtual and constructive assets across multiple security levels is not an easy nut to crack.”

One step forward in LVC training was shown recently during a flight demonstra-tion at the company’s aeronautics facil-ity in Fort Worth, Texas. During the flight test, a pilot flying in a live F-16 engaged in

a synthetic training exercise with a pilot flying as wing-man in a ground-based F-16 simulator.

Simulated sensor data sent from the ground into the aircraft provided a shared constructive training sce-nario for the live and virtual aircraft. The two F-16s co-operated to engage multiple simulated aggressors and de-fend against simulated sur-face missile threats in real time.

“Our Advanced Com-bat Enhancement System program integrates several technologies to move data between ground and aircraft sensors, helping pilots train with simulators, computer-generated forces and other aircraft in the same synthetic

environment,” said Olinto. “This demonstra-tion marks the company’s progress towards providing a technical solution that can im-prove operational readiness while reducing training costs and reliance on airspace or adversary aircraft. Future demonstrations will validate this capability on additional platforms and training scenarios in prepa-ration for integrating LVC into fourth- and fifth-generation pilot training.”

game-BaSed SolutionS

In 2013, Calytrix Technologies, in part-nership with Bohemia Interactive Simula-tions, the maker of Virtual Battlespace, was selected as the prime contractor on the Army’s first-person shooter training system, Games for Training (GFT). The Program Ex-ecutive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation awarded Calytrix a contract to provide program management and deliv-ery of an Army-wide, enterprise-level license for a game-based training solution for up to five years.

As the prime contractor, Calytrix Tech-nologies is responsible for delivering the re-quired software, training and technical sup-port, explained Peggy Gies, the company’s director of sales and marketing.

Calytrix and Bohemia Interactive have worked on several collaborations ever since the latter company released the original Vir-tual Battlespace 1. “For GFT, Bohemia Inter-active delivered its new Virtual Battlespace

3, which provides a flexible and extensible simulation capability tailored for use on a range of Army simulation programs,” said Gies. “The complete software package being fielded for GFT combines Bohemia Interac-tive’s virtual training environment with oth-er modules from Calytrix and SimCentrics.”

Calytrix will also be providing technol-ogy to a major National Guard exercise to take place this spring. Among the Calytrix products to be used at that exercise is the Comm Net Radio (CNR), a simulated radio and intercom solution delivered by way of a desktop computer. “The CNR suite provides a full set of communications services from basic voice communications to highly real-istic environmental degradation,” said Gies. “This allows users to practice radio com-munications without having to use actual radios.”

In addition, Calytrix offers LVC Cost Counter, a software system that monitors the simulation network and accumulates and displays the individual, category and total costs associated with LVC simulation events. “LVC Cost Counter enables users to accurately measure and conduct deeper analysis into the application and cost savings being achieved through the use of simula-tion,” said Gies.

“The system also provides the hard finan-cial data that justifies simulation systems,” she continued. “It accurately calculates the savings being delivered by the simulation and allows accurate cost information to be part of simulation-based decisions. Cost Counter also allows users to develop budgets for live training by modeling and running the planned exercise in simulation and ap-plying different costing models to compare and contrast results.”

The purpose of the experiments under-taken by Aptima, meanwhile, is to develop a data-driven method to identify cost-effective simulator design and fidelity improvements that can improve simulator-based training for the final approach and landing phases of carrier qualification training. “Historically, next-generation simulation requirements have been determined entirely by eliciting subject-matter expert opinion,” said Stacy. “Unfortunately, even the best subject-matter experts have limited insight into the require-ments for effective training, and they don’t always agree with each other.”

Aptima’s experiment involved 15 F/A-18 pilots, with eight novices and seven experts. “Each pilot flew 12 passes with a standard image generator and 12 passes on

ryan Frost

Pat murray


an enhanced image genera-tor,” Stacy explained. “Based on prior work, we identified several critical simulator en-hancements that we believed would improve learning and performance.”

The enhancements in-cluded improved visual reso-lution and scene generation effects and improved motion cues, Stacy added.

Performance measures included simulator output, such as mea-sures of glideslope, lineup and angle of at-tack errors, as well as landing signal officer ratings and neurophysiological measures of eye-tracking and workload. “Preliminary re-sults suggest that while the improved image generator initially degraded performance for novices, over time their performance became statistically indistinguishable from that of experts,” said Stacy.

Similarly, while motion also initially de-graded performance for novices, over time they caught up with the experts. This pat-tern of results indicates that the visual and motion fidelity improvements contribute to training effectiveness. “We expect this re-search to help acquisitions officers acquire simulators with optimal and cost-effective levels of fidelity,” he said, adding that Aptima may also eventually develop a software tool that will allow acquisitions personnel to ana-lyze the impact of various aspects of simula-tor fidelity on training efficacy.

enhancing realiSm

The U.S. military and its industry part-ners are committed to developing LVC train-ing opportunities that will enhance the re-alism of non-live training and expand the breadth and scope of training possibilities, while also tailoring training experiences to the needs of individual warfighters.

Calytrix is enhancing its LVC training products to improve trainees’ audio experi-ence. “They will be able to put on a set of headphones to experience highly realistic audio,” said Gies. “The sound of helicopter rotors will indicate whether the aircraft is coming closer or moving away. Trainees may experience the degradation of commu-nications signals, just as they may in a live environment. All of this will make for much more immersive training and a more real-istic experience of what warfighters face in the field.”

Future LVC systems will include haptic feedback, which uses the sense of touch to apply vibrations and mo-tions to the training experi-ence, according to Langman. “We have seen the improve-ment in the visual and au-dio environments, but it is important to incorporate the other senses as well,” he said. “Tactile feedback is critical to making sure we are providing

a fully realistic environment.”Augmented reality technologies will al-

low the fusion of real and synthetic environ-ments. “Trainees will be able to wear goggles on a ship, and the system will add additional elements such as enemy fire, casualties or an attack by intruders to the real environment. That way, warfighters can train in their own environments and do more training and keep their perishable skills sharp. Warfighters will be better trained, and the costs of training will come down. That is really why there is so much promise in LVC,” said Langman.

The U.S. military has been conducting LVC training on an ad-hoc basis for more than 20 years, noted Olinto. “And yet LVC as we know it today is still in its early stages,” he said. “We are still developing standards and maturing technologies. A lot of progress will be made in those areas in the next two to three years.”

During that interval, Olinto expects greater realism and more integration to help with platform-level training such as aviation. In the longer run, he anticipates that LVC will expand to a much wider scope.

“What we will see in 2030 and beyond is an LVC that integrates capabilities across four, if not five, domains: air, land, sea, cyber and space,” he said. “The future for LVC is one that will expand beyond a single domain.”

But Schmidt foresees a trend in the other direction as well. “We will see the con-tinued incorporation of the LVC concept not only to large-scale training, but also training that is tailored down to the individual train-ee,” he said. “Technology is currently being developed that will provide the backbone for this type of capability. LVC will continue to provide training opportunities for DoD while providing significant cost savings.” O

Peggy Gies

[email protected]

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

To a man, every

Soldier questioned

said that the XCTC

Rotation was the

best training they

had ever experienced.

The main areas

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With a pressing demand for personnel able to communicate and interact in a culturally appropriate way with people around the world, the U.S. military is becoming a leader in using adaptive, computer-based systems for foreign language instruction.

Together with easy online access, techniques such as virtual role playing and customized, role-based scenarios are helping ser-vicemembers learn new languages quicker and, perhaps equally important, retain their abilities over time and changes of station. One company is even experimenting with talking robots, although not yet for the military.

To be sure, the military has long recognized the importance of foreign language capabilities, with the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center serving as the premier language provider to the Department of Defense, not only for resident instruction but also for online training materials.

The wide range of military needs for language abilities—not only for tongues from every corner of the world but also for different types of job special-ties—is spurring technological innovation.

“Language skills have been a military interest for several purposes,” observed Lewis Johnson, president and CEO of language technology provider Alelo. “The military recognizes that language skills are impor-tant for certain military jobs, such as linguist/signals

specialists. But they are also focusing on task-based curricula aimed at people who are going to deploy overseas. It’s related to a general area that we see in language learning, which is language for specific purposes.

“This is something that the military, particularly special forces, puts heavy emphasis on. For example, the Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg, N.C., has had an ongoing language training pro-gram. They’ve been very interested in technologies that can sup-port language learning by providing more training opportunities, as well as remote learning,” Johnson said, adding, “There is an on-going recognition that this is a critical area where training invest-ment needs to occur.”

“The problem is enormous,” said Michael Quin-lan, CEO of Transparent Language, which supports language instruction available to all federal employ-ees through DoD’s Joint Language University (JLU). “It is clear to everyone that the lack of language and culture training in a military that is working around the world creates risk and denies us opportunities. Language is one of the few areas in which Ameri-cans, including the military, are less capable than both our friends and enemies.

“We need more language capability for our mili-tary and intelligence operations to be successful. But language is so expensive and time-consuming

virtual role playing and cuStomized ScenarioS are helping meet the military need for foreign language SpeakerS.

By harriSon donnelly, mt2 editor

lewis Johnson

[email protected]


to train. The only solution is to find a way to train faster and more reliably, and not fall off in your skills when you are doing some-thing else. People realize that technology has to change the met-rics of language training in terms of time, cost and where it can happen,” Quinlan said.

unique needS

Although computerized language programs have become pop-ular in the consumer market in recent years, those working with military and intelligence customers say different types of curricula and methods are needed for their unique needs.

“The software you may hear about for helping consumers learn a language is completely irrelevant to the communities we deal with. Our communities are required to have language capability for professional purposes,” said Quinlan. “So how do they train faster, more reliably and visibly to their administration, and how do they do it for all the languages of interest to the government, and in particular for all of the domains and curricula? People need to excel at the course of study that they are in.

“There are 20 distinct Arabic curricula commonly used around the military. The people we deal with need to excel at that curricu-lum in that program and then sustain it effectively through the course of their career,” he continued.

Military needs in this area have three unique aspects, Johnson explained. “There is a need for rapid training. Schools have the luxury of time, but military members have a lot of things they need to learn, so it’s a question of how quickly people can be brought up to speed in a particular area.

“They also need task-oriented training,” he continued. “How well can the trainee apply their language skills in a certain type of task or mission? They’re also interested in general proficiency, but the task orientation is key. Finally, there is language sustainment, which is a major concern. Frequently, people will go to language school, but then something will come up and there is a gap before they deploy.”

The simulations and other advantaged technologies used by companies like Alelo and Transparent Language are well-suited to these military imperatives, as well as to the need to monitor each student’s progress.

“In terms of advanced technologies, the simulation-based ap-proaches are very helpful for rapid and task-oriented training, as well as sustainment,” said Johnson. “By putting someone in a sim-ulation, we can tell pretty quickly whether they are up to speed or are getting rusty. When we couple that with personalized courses of instruction, you can really get a powerful training capability that is focused on learner needs.

“For example, we are currently working on a project where we put trainees in a virtual role play, see where they get stuck or take too long to respond, and then use that information to dynamical-ly select a set of review lesson materials for the trainee. Then we can reassess them and see if they have been able to recover those skills,” he added.

role playing

Virtual role-play technology is a key component of Alelo’s lan-guage and interpersonal skills training programs. It is a game-based technology in which learners are put in a situation where

they have to use their language skills to communicate with an ar-tificially intelligent role player.

“It’s particularly effective in the language learning area because we incorporate speech-understanding technology, so the virtual characters can understand what the learner says and respond,” Johnson explained. “We have dialogue technology for virtual role play—specialized speech recognition that we teach to understand language learners, as opposed to native speakers.”

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Alelo delivers effective virtual role-play tools and solutions that help people acquire knowledge, develop new skills, and improve their performance. Our decade-long history show consistent on-time delivery within budget.

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Language instruction programs work in tandem with cultural awareness training provided through simulated situations and insights on culture and patterns of life. [Image courtesy of Alelo]


Alelo integrates the technology with other types of learning activities, such as online courses and immersive training. For ex-ample, the company offers a plugin for the Army’s flagship train-ing environment, Virtual Battlespace (VBS), called VRP Mil, which makes it possible to populate a VBS world with virtual role players, so trainees can employ their language skills as part of carrying out a military mission. “This is unique and addresses what we see as a military need to enable trainees to apply their language skills as part of simulated missions,” Johnson said.

Alelo is currently experimenting with lifelike robots as a lan-guage learning technique at a school in Virginia, and sees interest in such capabilities in mixed live, virtual, constructive training for the military. For example, he noted, a training range could have pop-ups representing people whom trainees would talk and inter-act with as in a real environment.

“The general theme we have been concerned with is how we can integrate language training better into the way the military trains. It’s not something you do off in the schoolhouse, but part of the overall training and readiness activities that units engage in before deployment,” Johnson said.

As they go through these activities, the learners are constantly being assessed as to their mastery of different communicative com-petencies, and Alelo is using that information to provide tailored programs of instruction that address those competencies. “We find this to be particularly useful in providing refresher training. A big problem in the military, which school education does not look at

much, is how to help people retain skills over time. You don’t re-peat the language class they had, but instead provide them with tailored activities that focus on the particular competencies that they are starting to lose,” he added.

declarative acceleration

The prominence of Transparent Language’s core product, the CL-150 Technology Matrix for Critical Languages, got a boost last summer when it was announced that all federal employees and programs had free access to it through the JLU. Previously, it had been licensed only for language-intensive agencies such as the De-fense Language Institute and Special Operations Command.

The CL-150 offers a variety of content and capabilities in over 120 languages. Material is oriented to both general proficiency and dozens of specialized government purposes, such as humanitar-ian relief. It offers a broad set of resources for language learners, instructors and program administrators.

The program incorporates the concept of declarative accelera-tion, which Quinlan described as allowing students to be assigned to learn words, phrases and short sentences associated with a les-son that a unit is about to study, and then using the computer to deliver mastery of that lexicon.

“We have computers do what they do well, which is to drive mastery of the lexical stuff needed for the lesson. Then we deliver students to a classroom, where all that lexicon and prior lexicon they learned is exercised by communicative and task-based and peer-based activities. Students who go through a methodology like this know more lexical material, which is vital to language proficiency, but their skill training is also stronger,” Quinlan said, adding, “We think that is the best way to learn a language using technology.”

Transparent Language works closely with language profes-sionals in the military, intelligence and other communities with language requirements for acquisition, sustainment and enhance-ment, according to Matthew Carr, the company’s director of de-fense initiatives.

“Our technology is oriented toward those communities. It is the infrastructure that supports interaction between instructors and students in the classroom, and the students after graduation,

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In virtual role-play technology, learners are put in a situation where they have to use their language skills to communicate. [Images courtesy of Alelo]


For more information, contact MT2 Editor Hank Donnelly at [email protected] or search our online archives

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

to sustain and enhance their skills. We spend most of our time doing training or orientation with the instructor community, which includes thousands of people and scores of languages. The more the instructors understand how to use our tools, the better they adopt them in the classroom,” Carr said.

That environment is likely to encourage fur-ther innovation, he added. “The long trend is to-ward rapid improvement. When I look at the gov-ernment language space as an ecosystem, it is a perfect incubator for coming up with emerging best practices.

“Anybody who deploys has a language require-ment. We know what those requirements are in terms of outcomes. The traditional methodologies for developing proficiency take too long. There are thousands of people who are experts in this area who are constantly looking at this problem. A lot of best practices are being developed in this ecosystem because there is such an extreme need for it.”

Quinlan also sees a bright future for language instruction tech-nology.

“In the areas where people need language for professional pur-poses, we are getting to the point where you will be able to do that learning as quickly as your brain can absorb language,” he pre-dicted. “There is a minimum time for learning a language because you have to change the connections in your brain. But wherever you are and whatever language you need to learn, technology like

ours is going to deliver the memorized information you need, as well as the collaborative experiences with instructors and peers that you need. You will be able to optimally put that together to build your language capability as fast as you are capable of doing it. In ad-dition, the people who are telling you to do that are able to see that you are doing it successfully. That’s a transformational change.” O

Language instruction programs can be offered on a wide variety of desktop and mobile devices. [Image courtesy of Alelo]

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Data PacKetS

The Artillery Tactical Trainer (ATT) from Elbit Systems is a complete virtual-constructive and networked solution for force-on-force training of field artillery gun crews ranging from individual vehicles to multiple battalion formations. The mobile simulator allows effective training of joint fire real-time decision-making scenarios, anyplace and anytime, by connecting to the actual, operational C4I and communication backbone of real platforms and weapon systems. ATT incorporates a wide range of enemy and friendly computer-generated forces, as well as computer models of C4I systems, weapons, munitions and fire control units all built into a portable easy-to-move training shelter, allowing real-time man-in-the-loop simulation of complex operational and tactical scenarios, and extensive after-action review. In addition, ATT seamlessly integrates with existing target acquisition and range determination systems.

Ofer Segal; [email protected]

Network Defense Trainer from Scalable Network Technologies integrates cyberwarfare with traditional kinetic warfare training, allowing attacks in one domain to affect the other. The system integrates real and simulated cyber-attacks,

wired and wireless virtual networks, live and virtual equipment and applications, and tradi-tional kinetic warfare training simulators into a full, instrumented, synthetic cyberwarfare training environment. It allows for monitoring

trainee performance centered on awareness, reaction time and correct action, along with the ability to work through a degraded cyber-envi-ronment and complete a mission to be monitored and evaluated.

The Army has released improvements to its premier training manage-ment tool aimed at making it easier for commanders to plan exercises and keep track of their soldiers’ training records. The new version of the Digital Training Management System allows users to communicate and coordinate across the chain of command. It also features calendars to plan and schedule training. Improvements include: a calendar drag and drop feature that facilitates the scheduling of training events; shortcuts to frequently used functions such as reports, unit organizational hierarchy tree views and soldier management; a job book and leader book function to assist small-unit leaders in managing individual soldier training and small-unit collective training; and software updates that improve system performance and reliability, increase training management support to divisions and above and provide capabilities for the future.

Artillery Trainer Offers Real-Time Scenarios

System Integrates Cyber, Kinetic Warfare Training

Army Enhances Digital Training Management System

CAE has launched the next generation of its CAE Medallion-6000 image generator. The CAE Medallion-6000 image generator is CAE’s proven, long-standing visual system designed to help provide realistic, high-performance synthetic environments specifically for the defense and security market. The latest CAE Medallion-6000 image generator is based on COTS graphics processors from NVIDIA, and delivers a range of new features and capabilities, including increased sustained polygon capacity of more than 400,000 polygons for extremely detailed synthetic environments and realistic night scenes. The CAE Medallion-6000 image generator fully supports the Common Database (CDB), an open, public database specification designed to make the creation, modification and correlation of run-time databases much faster to support training and mission rehearsal. The CAE Medallion-6000 is also designed to be part of CAE’s Dynamic Synthetic Environment (DSE), a comprehensive inte-grated solution that creates a virtual synthetic environment to more accu-rately and realistically simulate the real world. CAE’s DSE takes advantage of CDB capabilities to dynamically change the terrain to introduce or modify features such as craters, weapons effects and localized damage on any 3-D content or vegetation.

Chris Stellwag; [email protected]

Image Generator Provides Realistic Environments

A new program from Rockwell Collins will equip pilots and flight line maintenance and service repair technicians with intuitive and realistic on-the-go training on mobile devices. The first mobile courses include the familiariza-tion training application on the Rockwell Collins MultiScan ThreatTrack weather radar on a tablet.

In addition, the company is introducing new capabilities that enable customers to view its technical publications and training products elec-tronically from any mobile device. Options enable customers to download specific training tasks and specific publication references, focusing resources to save time and money.

Mobile Devices Offer Flight Line Maintenance Training


Adding Game-Quality 3-D Content to

SimulationsM&S Suite 14 from Presagis expands on

previous releases by enabling system integrators and manufacturers to add game-quality 3-D content to their simulations at a fraction of the time and cost previously required, reducing the need for large art teams. Each product in the suite features significant enhancements that support the Presagis focus on higher-quality visuals. For example, Creator 14 includes new lighting and surface effects, model fracturing and physics simulation tools that allow content creators to easily define damage states and rapidly optimize simulation models. M&S Suite 14 provides an open-standard simulation develop-ment framework designed to support a full range of simulation applications across the air, land, sea and public safety market segments. The M&S Suite 14 launch is accompanied by an expansion of the company’s international footprint and an increase in the range of professional service offerings.

Stephane Blondin; [email protected]

Deployable System Trains Up to 300 Players

The Saab Manpack 300 is a portable, readily deployable training system that enables instrumented training exercises to be conducted with up to 300 players. ManPack 300 is a development of Saab’s ManPack 120 and Gamer family of deployable, mobile and fixed CTC-instrumented training systems. It is a real-time system that enables exercise command and control, together with during and after action review/statistical analysis of instrumented company-sized forces. The system handles up to 300 players and has the same computing power as a full-scale system, but with significantly lower procurement and support costs. It is designed to operate in a man-portable or vehicle-mounted mode. This means it’s a system that can travel with the area of interest as the exercise moves in the terrain. This mobility enables observer/controllers to follow a maneuver and actively view and control the unfolding action in real time. ManPack 300 allows the instructor at any time during an exercise to quickly present a playback of the exercise on the display screen for a small group or via a projector for larger audiences. The exercise can be selectively replayed, zooming in and jumping to sequences and events of interest. A comprehensive set of tools enhance the feedback and clear the fog of war.

Steve Parrish; [email protected]

Looking Ahead to 2015(Editor’s Note: The following submission was inadvertently omitted

from the story titled “Looking Ahead to 2015: Providers see increased use of simulation technology in the year ahead,” which appeared in the December 2014 issue of MT2.)

Mike FlanaganVice President of Training Solutions & ServicesCACI International

Whether training our nation’s elite forces or assisting our military in training coalition part-ners, experienced professionals in this area have several common challenges ahead.

Our warfighters must prepare for the most complex operating envi-ronment in our history while dealing with a declining budget, reduced manpower, and technologies that can easily overwhelm decision-making. Our armed forces and the supporting defense industry have significantly advanced the use of commercial information systems, integrating those technologies from the dismounted soldier through the highest levels of command.

Similarly, the science of the human domain has entered most aspects of the military, especially training. The immediate challenge will be in the

requirements and capability developments space, since traditional training strategies that rely on “hands-on” live training won’t be able to meet the challenges of the complex environment and expanded missions and skills amidst shrinking budgets.

Our armed forces will need to focus on a broad range of training techniques and technologies, such as live, virtual, constructive and gaming, that can be executed anywhere with very little overhead. Additionally, our armed forces will be asked to step up training our allies and coalition partners, which introduces the additional challenges of language, regional and ethnic cultures and customs, literacy and a broad range of skill levels.

CACI understands the challenges our armed forces face firsthand, since many of our employees work alongside our military on installations, in training facilities and while deployed. Combined with the technologies and simulations we develop, CACI brings mission understanding and solutions together. Our work with SOCOM, the USARC and ARNG mission training centers, our support to combatant command exercises programs and our development of tailored modeling and simulation solutions, such as ACE-IOS, enable training across DoD.

CACI has also been conducting partner-nation training for several years and has overcome the additional challenges in those environments. CACI solutions surrounding mobile application training and simulations can help our partner nations grow in capabilities, competencies and security.

Compiled by KMI Media Group staff


Major General Scott Miller Commanding General

U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence

Major General Scott Miller was commissioned in the infantry upon graduation from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1983. As an infantry officer, Miller served in a variety of tactical assignments in mechanized, light infantry and special operations units. He has served in the 82nd Airborne Division, 2nd Infantry Di-vision, 75th Ranger Regiment and Army Special Operations Com-mand.

Miller has served in numerous joint command and staff assign-ments, including as deputy director of special operations; direc-tor, Pakistan-Afghanistan Coordination Center on the Joint Staff; and commander, Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command in Afghanistan. He has commanded at every rank from captain to major general, including combat tours in Somalia, Af-ghanistan and Iraq as well as support for contingency operations in Bosnia and Latin America.

Prior to his arrival at the Army Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Benning, Ga., Miller was the commander of NATO Special Operations Component Command-Afghanistan/Special Operations Joint Task Force-Afghanistan from June 2013 to June 2014.

Miller holds a Master of Science in strategy from the Marine Corps University in Quantico, Va., and is also a graduate of the Ar-my’s Command and General Staff College.

Q: Can you take a minute and describe the Maneuver Center’s mis-sion?

A: The Maneuver Center of Excellence provides trained, agile and adaptive soldiers and leaders ready to operate across the range of military operations. To put that into perspective, in fiscal year 2015 we will train more than 64,000 infantry and armor soldiers who rep-resent the foundation of the future maneuver force. As a center of excellence, we must be focused on excellence as our standard in all we choose to do. Looking forward, the Army needs maneuver sol-diers, leaders and formations that are smart, fast, lethal and precise. When I talk about “smart,” I am focused on our ability to generate adaptive situational understanding routinely. With “fast,” I am try-ing to describe the need for us to physically and cognitively out-pace our adversaries. “Lethal” is exactly that—deadly in our ability to apply force. We must be “precise” in our application of either military power or soft power to ensure we deliver and achieve the desired effect. By combining these four elements, we can and will present multiple dilemmas to our adversaries and ensure we set the

conditions to win. The Maneuver Center is focused on understand-ing and describing what future maneuver looks like and how our maneuver leader development, doctrine development and capabili-ties development result in dominant maneuver forces that can win across the range of military operations.

Q: How do you accomplish that mission?

A: A key point to understand is that the Maneuver Center of Ex-cellence belongs to the Army’s maneuver forces, and collaboration with the operational force is essential. To support and strengthen the operational force, we must operate in three “time zones” simultane-ously: now, the future and always. “Now” refers to our efforts to train and educate world-class soldiers and leaders through relevant and rigorous training. The outcome is soldiers and leaders who are phys-ically dominant and cognitively capable of operating and winning in a complex environment. We expect our soldiers to be masters of their primary weapon system—from the M4 carbine to the M1 tank—and master trainers of the weapons in their formations. Our junior leaders must be expert at troop leading procedures and lead their organizations to accomplish the mission under any conditions. The “future” centers on our efforts to understand and describe the centrality of “future maneuver” to defeating our nation’s adversar-ies and winning in a complex world. We must understand the chal-lenges associated with shaping, preventing and winning across the


Maneuver CommanderProviding Smart, Fast, Lethal and Precise Soldiers

Q&AQ&A

range of military operations. Finally, “always” simply encompasses those areas of our Army and Maneuver culture where we cannot fail: our commitment to care for our soldiers, civilians and families.

Q: How can science and technology contribute to the successful execution of future maneuver?

A: Science and technology are central to developing the required ca-pabilities we need to effectively execute combat operations now and in the future. As we look at the concepts for how we will fight in the future, consistent with the Army operating concept, it is important that we clearly describe the capabilities required for us to win. We are leading the development of the future movement and maneuver concept with broad collaboration across the operational force, TRA-DOC and the Department of the Army. We know it is critical to have active participation from the operating force in our examination of future concepts and our evaluation of science and technology. While our campaign of learning is certainly not over, there are a few ma-jor areas in which science and technology can better enable future maneuver. I think we need to focus on three areas: first on the net-work, next on our vehicle and lethality requirements, and third on unmanned systems.

An effective, capable mission command network is essential for victory. I think we need much more than just sufficient bandwidth at lower tactical levels. We need a tremendous amount of bandwidth in the hands of squad leaders and vehicle commanders in order to

enable situational understanding and the timely and effective ap-plication of joint combat capabilities. When I was a platoon leader, for example, SALUTE reports originated with the unit in contact. Today, we often find ourselves in the opposite situation, where a SA-LUTE report is provided from some far distant, higher headquarters to the unit in contact. We must reverse that trend to empower the junior leader in order to benefit from the initiative resident in the American soldier. For the man on the ground to effectively employ higher-echelon capabilities, joint assets, and interagency and mul-tinational forces, we must push our bandwidth to the lowest tacti-cal element. To have bandwidth choked off at battalion or company command posts creates a digital divide that disadvantages the soldier at the point of contact. We need to refocus our energy at building the pipe up from the squad, rather than solely down through multiple echelons. I recognize that our primary challenge is to provide large amounts of bandwidth to dismounted forces operating at extended distances in austere environments. This is where we must expend our intellectual and research energy if we are to truly affect our abil-ity to fight and win in the future.

Future maneuver forces will be centered on joint task forces of differing sizes but made up of units and elements from across the services, the interagency and our multinational partners. These outfits must be readily task-organized to provide the best combina-tion of mobility, protection and firepower to commanders, enabling freedom of movement and freedom of action. Our desire for agile forces must be equaled by the agility of our networks. We must have

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the ability to configure our networks on the fly as commanders task organize into new and ad-hoc organizations, including our Joint Interagency Intergovernmental Multinational partners. We must be able to do this in contact with the enemy without losing situational understanding and our links to our mission command systems.

We are engaged in continuous efforts to improve soldier lethal-ity, mobility and protection. As we look at our aging combat vehicle fleet, which continues to serve us well, it will soon be paramount to chart the way forward past the life of the Bradley and the Abrams. The maintenance, upkeep and modernization of our combat vehicle fleet is integral to the Army’s ability to seize, retain and exploit the initiative. Lighter-weight materials with greater protection, im-proved automotive performance, lethality upgrades and reduced logistics burdens are important S&T areas to support expeditionary maneuver. Based on unknowable future mission variables, combi-nations of platforms are required to execute global contingencies across the full range of military operations. Our challenge is to de-ploy combat vehicles that are capable of protecting soldiers against threats, delivering lethality “overmatch” and providing both tactical mobility, the ability to traverse a wide variety of terrain, and global responsiveness, the ability to deploy combat vehicles from the Unit-ed States or bases in allied states.

We continue to study the employment of robotic or unmanned systems. It’s been a top-line lesson of the last decade’s combat that ro-botic, unmanned systems, in conjunction with manned systems, allow maneuver forces to reduce troop density in uncertain conditions and

extend the area and time in which they can be effective. Unmanned aerial systems have proliferated in both capability and capacity during our current operations; a similar opportunity is upon us for unmanned ground systems. Development of autonomous and semi-autonomous capabilities has application in the areas of lethality, mobility, protec-tion and sustainment. Soldier-borne sensors, man-transportable ro-botic systems and appliqué capabilities allow manned and unmanned teaming from squads through BCTs.

Q: What are your thoughts on how U.S. maneuver forces will meet the challenges posed by emerging threats and technologies in a complex operational environment?

A: I am optimistic about the future because we have the best-trained and equipped soldiers in the history of our Army. These young men and women are tough, and can absorb exponentially more informa-tion than previous generations. They are non-linear thinkers who reason their way through complex problems, only needing the infor-mational “tags” to process critical from routine information rapidly.

When our junior leaders are linked laterally and vertically to networked command, fires and intel, there is no military problem they can’t solve. Our current junior leaders have combat experience working in and among local peoples while partnered with their host nation security forces. They have fought alongside our joint, inter-agency and multinational partners in the most complex environ-ments. That is much more than what I was asked to do when I was a company commander!

Surely we currently require more training on Joint Combined Arms Maneuver tasks. But we have the training infrastructure to al-low us to rapidly regain our proficiency in those tasks. Our challenge will be to regain proficiency on those tasks without losing the skills we honed in Iraq and Afghanistan. We cannot allow the professional and personal relationships that have been built to atrophy; rather, we must find novel ways to maintain and even invigorate them through whole of government and multinational exercises.

Are there going to be challenges and setbacks? Sure. Although we have the most talented people looking to the future, there is no way for them to envision every possible technology or tactic the threat could use against us. What these smart, creative future leaders need is an environment that empowers them with the information they need and allows them to iteratively develop winning solutions. Our soldiers and leaders are more than capable of going the distance to victory. I am optimistic about the future. “One Force, One Fight!” O

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After dismounting a Stryker, soldiers raid and seize a structure during the Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment’s Spiral I at McKenna Military Operations and Urban Training Site, Fort Benning, Ga. [Photo by Patrick A. Albright /U.S. Army Photo].


Although some of the impetus for military embedded training—in which instruction is provided by capabilities built into or added onto operational systems or equipment—has waned amid a slowing opera-tional tempo, advocates say it will remain an important part of train-ing strategy.

Embedded systems pose significant technical challenges com-pared with traditional simulators, but a number of companies are continuing to develop innovative tech-nologies to help military trainers use this approach.

“It’s part of a spectrum of training options, leading up to training on the ‘real thing,” commented Paul Jen-nings, head of innovation, embedded graphics, Presagis.

There are multiple aspects to embedded training, such as those for avionics and communications, as well as combat training using virtual targets. All have value in keeping troop skills sharp and up to date.

“If a student trains virtually with gear that differs from the real gear, then he or she gets distracted by the change in tactile feel and loses time adjusting to it,” commented Steve Parrish, director, business develop-ment, Saab Defense and Security USA.

For that reason, it is critical that the virtual envi-ronment replicates the actual gear as closely as possible. “When the virtual experience is almost identical to real-ity, then the training will prove more effective,” Parrish said. “Students learn much faster, and the procedures are easier to remember.”

Simulators must accurately represent and cor-rectly display data, functionality and control positions to enable the operator’s greater system familiarization while ensuring no false, negative or unrealistic habits transfer to trainees, explained Del Beilstein, vice presi-dent, business development simulation and technology solutions, AEgis.

“Maintaining system operation proficiency is an important directive for all military forces,” Beilstein said. “When possible, training military personnel virtu-ally on actual systems reduces the learning curve and improves basic operator skill training. This also pro-vides opportunities for the simulated environment to actually be richer or more complex than training with-in the physical confines of live training and exercises.”

Realistic, embedded simulators also present cost-efficient opportunities to replace expensive and dan-gerous training. “Learning how to perform all of the

precursor and supporting activities to an aviation mission in a simu-lator—such as communications, pre-flight and initiation processes and functions—is much more cost-effective and lower-risk than conducting this training while actually

flying an aircraft,” Beilstein emphasized.The challenge for industry is to be creative in de-

signing the training devices. Not only do they need to be lightweight and easy to install and dismount inte-grate with other elements of training, but they must also reduce the learning curve and improve basic op-erator skill training.

“The more flexibility a system has, the more read-ily it can be expanded,” commented Parrish.

Cost savings are another key factor. “Extensive training using lower-cost alternatives will make the scarce hours spent on the real platform more valu-able, since it will not be necessary for pilots to gain familiarity with basic operations while using the final platform. It will allow concentration on higher-value training of flight systems under unusual situations or combat training,” Jennings said.

This reduces fuel costs and airframe wear and tear. In addition, simulation training often eliminates the need for a trainee to travel a great distance to train at a physical training site.

“This in turn enables warfighters in many situ-ations to train remotely in networked environments to learn new skills, gain accredited training hours and keep current on their skills—all with the goal of im-proving combat readiness,” stressed W. Garth Smith, president and co-founder of MetaVR.

muScle memory

A number of embedded training systems are available. Saab Defense and Security, for example, offers high-tech systems that use realism to elicit faster cognition and muscle memory development. Its tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided missile (TOW) Indoor (Virtual)/Outdoor (Live) Trainer is an exact replica of the actual weapon right down to its weight, assembly and haptic feedback at the time of firing.

companieS continue to develop innovative technology for training that uSeS capaBilitieS Built into operational SyStemS.

By karen e. thuermer, mt2 correSpondent

Paul Jennings

Del Beilstein

Steve Parrish

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]


“The optics are of the highest quality,” Parrish said. “The gun-ner’s view is enhanced with launch obscuration (such as smoke or vegetation), as well as beacon and impact visualization. The TOW also provides six models of implemented missiles, each of which re-sponds with the correct dynamic flight behaviors.”

The TOW trainer uses a realistic missile replica to ensure a smooth transition when trainees progress to the real equipment. The system tracks the trainee’s sighting and hit records, and can be used for later evaluation. Finally, the TOW can be used either virtu-ally as a mounted weapon or in a live training environment with its tripod.

“The training system is as close as to reality as possible, without the inherent risks in using the real weapon,” Parrish said.

The Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation recently approved a contract for the TOW trainer for use in supporting U.S. allies.

The trainer’s simulated missile dynamics have been verified by the missile system’s original equipment manufacturer and the Army through other TOW-training applications. These include the Preci-sion Gunnery System and the Combat Vehicle Tactical Engagement Simulation System.

Presagis’ current offerings comprise tools, embedded products, and services to help companies build custom targeted training sys-tems. “Presagis is in a unique position, with products that have long been used to create ground-based simulation systems by our custom-ers and embedded products that can be used in aircraft flight control systems,” Jennings said.

The company has been involved in many certification programs for software used to control aircraft flight systems.

“Embedded training brings these needs together. On the one hand, there are the tools for creating a syn-thetic or virtual environment and managing a training scenario, and, on the other hand, there is the experi-ence of integrating products with real aircraft avion-ics and certifying those products for flight,” he said. “Presagis products have been used to manage training scenarios and to introduce virtual targets into in-flight weapons training systems. This means we can assist flight training by making the avionics in a lower cost plentiful aircraft look and behave like the avionics in a high cost scarce aircraft, and assist in combat training by enabling trainers to introduce virtual threats and targets for the pilot to engage while under the stress of real flight.”

Presagis products can be easily customized to create the final sys-tem. “We put tools into the customer’s hands so that the customer’s domain expertise can be used in crafting a solution that matches ex-actly what is required, resulting in lower costs for the customer and higher fidelity to the system being trained,” Jennings said.

moving target SimulatorS

AEgis offers training devices from embedded trainers for un-manned aircraft systems and unmanned ground vehicles to larger full-motion, manned flight training devices. Utilizing COTS products, open-source initiatives and a highly experienced engineering staff, AEgis offers fully configured simulation and training solutions that include hardware, software and services. These simulation systems are currently used for training in all branches of the military.

“Our simulation training systems incorporate the actual weapons, controls and interfaces whenever possible for more realistic training,” Beilstein reported. For example, AEgis is currently delivering two Im-proved Moving Target Simulators (IMTS) for the Marine Corps.

“The IMTS simulates battlefield conditions and provides an eco-nomical and safe training environment for teaching and maintaining Stinger missile and crew-served weapon gunner proficiency in engage-ment procedures,” Beilstein explained. It enables a training instructor to develop tactical training scenarios by specifying the targets, target activity, terrain, weather conditions and objectives of the exercise, and the location and movement of the enemy forces.

The IMTS consists of a 40-foot dome engagement area with a 360-degree operational field of view that supports the simultaneous engagement training of up to three Stinger MANPAD teams and a sec-tion leader in a fully immersive air defense simulation environment. This system uses real (inert) missile tubes and is tied in with sensor-to-shooter cueing from an accurately modeled situational awareness interface.

Benefits of the IMTS design include a focus on high-fidelity moving targets and fully immersive virtual environments, such as the eight dif-ferent terrain databases required for the IMTS training systems.

“3-D terrain databases are built from satellite source imagery to ensure they provide realistic environmental cues and the scene density expected in the specific geographic region where the simulated train-ing takes place,” Beilstein said. “These databases accurately model the actual size and location of a building obtained from satellite imagery, LiDAR data or aerial photography.”

For the IMTS, AEgis’ design provides realistic visual scenes, mul-tiple simultaneous air targets (aircraft, missiles, UASs, friend and foe),

diverse weather conditions, flares, thermal terrain ma-terial encoding, missile fly-outs, missile back-blast and explosions.

graphicS engine

MetaVR’s main product is a 3-D visualization software called the Virtual Reality Scene Generator (VRSG). The software employs a real-time 3-D graphics render engine that can render very large, expansive and realistic geo-specific areas. VRSG has been used for a number of years in training simulators for UAS opera-tors. VRSG is COTS and runs on game-level Windows computers.

A key feature of VRSG is its ability to stream real-time, high-defini-tion-quality simulated video with KLV metadata using the H.264 proto-col, which is indiscernible in composition from actual UAS video feeds. “This means that when UAS operators/trainees are not flying an actual UAS, they can fly a simulated UAS using the same hardware they use to operate the real system, using the JTC/SIL MUSE air vehicle and data link simulation software and VRSG,” Smith explained.

For input to its render engine, MetaVR developed the MetaVR Ter-rain Tools plugin to Esri ArcGIS, which leverages GIS standard tools and enables customers to build high-resolution geo-specific terrain with whatever imagery, elevation and culture data sources to which they have access.

“To aid in the fidelity of building realistic, highly detailed 3-D ter-rain, MetaVR’s new remote-controlled portable aircraft collects imag-ery data at 1-inch resolution,” Smith explained. “After orthorectifica-tion, the images can be used as imagery source together with accurate

W. Garth Smith

[email protected]


elevation data to compile terrain at 1-inch resolution with MetaVR’s Terrain Tools. The resulting geo-specific synthetic environment can then be rendered in VRSG.”

High-resolution geo-specific synthetic environments are critical for achieving the level of realism required in successful training envi-ronments, he said, adding, “The realism of the synthetic environment in sensor mode is particularly important.”

VRSG’s physics-based IR sensor modeling capability includes real-time computation of the IR sensor image directly from the visual data-base. It combines automatic material classification of visual RGB im-agery with a physics-based IR radiance and sensor model. This means that VRSG’s simulated sensor scene emulates the proper heat signature of terrain as well as vehicles, characters and objects found in the scene.

“This makes it possible for our software to generate video feeds that do not differ in format and content from the real UAS data feeds,” Smith said.

In addition, the company recently released a game-level-like edi-tor, VRSG Scenario Editor, for creating dense 3-D scenes and pattern-of-life scenarios to run in VRSG. Users can create and edit real-time scenarios on MetaVR’s terrain or on terrain they have built to play back in VRSG.

“Users can drag-and-drop culture and move models directly onto the 3-D terrain, create paths with waypoints, assign things like appear-ances and animations and then sequence the activities in a timeline. Users can play the scenario in VRSG and share it in a network exer-cise,” Smith explained

In addition, MetaVR has built extensive model libraries containing over 5,000 models installed with VRSG. These are constantly updated with new models in support of Combat Air Force Distributed Mission Operations requirements.

“We also have built a wide variety of geo-specific 3-D terrain da-tabases in our round-earth Metadesic terrain format, which we make available to customers for free or at a nominal cost with a VRSG li-cense,” Smith added.

MetaVR’s software is used by the Air Force, Air National Guard, Army and Army National Guard, with growing use within the Marines. “Our image generator, VRSG, is used in a variety of applications such as UAS payload operator training, manned flight simulators, mission planning and rehearsal, joint terminal attack controller (JTAC) simu-lation training, urban operations training and aerial refueling boom operator training,” Smith said.

In the domain of UAS payload operator training, VRSG supplies simulated video feeds for various intelligence gathering platforms. “We provide geographic-specific detailed terrain and entity models that are used by our customers to generate both simulated video and geo-referenced still-frame imagery,” Smith said.

MetaVR’s visuals have been used for a number of years in UAS training simulators, mainly through the Joint Technology Center/Systems Integration Laboratory Multiple Unified Simulation Environ-ment/Air Force Synthetic Environment for Reconnaissance and Sur-veillance simulation system, which is used at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., and other UAS training sites.

The Army uses VRSG in its Shadow Crew Trainer, and in Grey Eagle, Aerosonde and Hunter trainers in portable, classroom and em-bedded configurations. “VRSG simulates the UAS camera payload by streaming simulated real-time UAS KLV metadata multiplexed into an HD H.264 transport stream,” Smith said. “Tactical exploitation sys-tems can use this streaming MPEG feed to visualize sensor payload imagery in real time and extract the UAS metadata. The HD H.264

stream can be transmitted live over UDP to any remotely-operated de-vice that can play back video from an ISR video feed.”

VRSG is embedded in the Army’s Universal Ground Control Station (UGCS) for training operators of the Shadow, Grey Eagle and Hunter UASs in its Universal Mission Simulators (UMS), the next-generation simulator to manage multiple UAS platforms. The UGCS is a NATO STANAG 4586-compliant command-and-control platform.

“It incorporates the JTC/SIL MUSE Tactical Common Data Link, which sends secure data and streaming video from reconnaissance air-borne platforms to ground stations and transmits radar, imagery, video and other sensor information. In normal operation, the GCS is used to control the flight of the UAS and receive its telemetry,” Smith said.

The TCDL can use VRSG’s streaming HD H.264 feed to visualize the simulated sensor payload imagery in real time and extract the UAS metadata. Coupled with VRSG’s physics-based IR, which has a material classification system that emulates the proper heat signature of terrain and objects in the scene, the simulated real-time sensor imagery is very realistic and virtually indistinguishable from the real sensor imagery.

One aspect of training UAS operators entails interacting with JTAC trainees in joint mission training. Increasingly, JTACs on the ground use the video feed from sensor pods in UASs in order to cross-reference targeting for a mission.

“Training together in a networked synthetic environment, the UAS operator trainee and the JTAC trainee work together to identify the same target in a scene,” Smith said.

flexiBle SyStemS

Shrinking military budgets are forcing contractors to get very cre-ative in designing training devices that are lightweight, easy to install and dismount, and easily integrable with other elements of training.

Consequently, contractors see a continuation of flexible systems that can be more readily expanded.

Other trends include higher-resolution imagery in terrain databas-es used for simulation training, greater connectivity among training simulators and increased use of simulation training to supplant live training.

This will grow to a ratio of 100 to 1 between simulation training and live training events, Smith contended. “As simulation technology improves, this ratio could even go as high as 1000 to 1 in favor of simu-lation training,” he said.

The future also depends upon the replacement of poor-quality simulators and the acquisition process. Smith predicted that there will be more competitive fly-offs between 100 percent commercial systems already built with demonstrated capabilities, rather than with contrac-tors who propose to develop new but untested capabilities.

“In the future, the acquisition process must be designed to favor companies who spend their own R&D funds to build a functional sys-tem,” he argued. “Good examples of such companies are Harris with its radios or General Atomics with its UASs. The acquisition process would design competitive fly-offs to favor hyper-competitive com-panies that build systems to the known needs of users rather than companies that simply build monolithic specs that are out of touch with reality. This must be the way of the future if the simulation com-munity is to survive and succeed.” O




Located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, the Simula-tors Division is the primary acquisition agency responsible for the procurement, modification and sustainment of Air Force training systems. Along with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Warfighter Research Division, the Simulators Division is part of a virtual organi-zation known as the Training System Product Group (TSPG), which collectively serves as the Air Force’s center of excellence for training simulation research, acquisition and support.

A unit of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, the Simula-tors Division is organizationally aligned within the portfolio of the Air Force Program Executive Officer for Agile Combat Support, providing technology solutions essential to the effective operational employ-ment of Air Force weapon systems.

Under the leadership of Colonel Daniel Marticello, the division includes more than 400 military, government, civilian and support contractor professionals, representing the program management, engineering, contracting, finance and logistics career fields. Division personnel perform all requirements development, source selection, contract negotiation and performance monitoring activities neces-sary to obtain the systems and services that, when delivered to their designated operating locations, provide an unmatched capability for training Air Force operators and maintainers.

The division is organized into integrated product teams (IPTs), each responsible for the management of a specific training system program. The IPT structure mirrors the operational commands served by the division, falling into air combat, air mobility, special operations and air training mission areas.

The division currently manages more than 45 distinct programs, providing and supporting all ground-based training assets for the majority of Air Force aircraft flight and maintenance training. These programs are generally dedicated to a single weapon system, although some provide trainers for a number of different aircraft sharing a com-mon mission area, such as special operations.

The managed programs vary in scope from part-task trainers in support of a subset of training tasks associated with a specific aircraft, to hardware and virtual maintenance training devices, to complexes of multiple full-mission simulators. While most of its programs focus on the simulation of aircraft functionality, the division also manages a few programs for training non-aircraft assigned personnel, such as air traffic controllers and joint tactical air controllers.

In addition to the variety of platforms supported, the type of work managed under these contracts is also diverse. While the highest-profile contracts are asso-ciated with the development and production of train-ing devices, these comprise only a few of the ongoing projects. Reflecting the Air Force’s continued reliance

upon mature weapon systems, the majority of Simulators Division contracts likewise involve the continued operation and update of leg-acy training systems, providing contractor logistics support services, concurrency and obsolescence modifications, and courseware devel-opment and instruction.

Support centerS

In general, each simulator system is supported by a training system support center whose staffing and operation is included in the contract as well. Contract values vary from a few million dollars to almost $1 bil-lion, depending on contract duration, number of sites and devices sup-ported, developmental activities included, and a variety of other factors.

While most of its contracts are focused on the support of train-ing devices for individual aircraft series, the Simulators Division is also heavily engaged in the acquisition and support of cross-platform training capabilities, which enable aircrews to gain proficiency in re-alistic wartime operations involving dissimilar aircraft. To this end, it manages the Distributed Mission Operations (DMO) programs for both air combat and mobility simulators.

DMO provides a secure, long-haul networking capability to inter-connect trainers around the globe, enabling the conduct of training scenarios involving aircrews assigned to different weapon systems at different geographic locations. DMO networking is supported by col-laborative interoperability standards working groups, scenario plan-ning and execution cells located at multiple distributed training cen-ters, and bridges providing connectivity to other training networks.

Investments in DMO over the last 15 years have resulted in a ro-bust, highly flexible training capability that cannot be found elsewhere in the world. While currently primarily a network of ground-based simulations, DMO is poised to accommodate the integration of actual aircraft systems into its network, as live-virtual-constructive integra-tion becomes a viable training capability within the Air Force.

While the majority of programs address Air Force training re-quirements, the division also manages approximately a dozen foreign

military sales (FMS) simulator programs on behalf of allied nations. As a result of the dominant capabili-ties of U.S. combat aircraft, numerous foreign nations work with the U.S. Air Force to acquire these systems for their own military forces.

Likewise, recognizing the technical superior-ity of U.S. Air Force training systems, many of these countries also choose to obtain training solutions from U.S. suppliers. The Simulators Division supports these actions by establishing and executing acquisi-tion programs for these systems. FMS programs, while generally based on the analogous Air Force programs,

commanD ProFile

By tony dalSaSSo

Air Force Simulators Divisionunit SupportS all ground-BaSed training aSSetS for the majority of air force aircraft flight and maintenance training.

col. Daniel marticello


typically result in unique devices as the result of minor variations in foreign aircraft configurations. The division’s FMS portfolio includes programs supporting C-17, C-27, C-130, F-15 and F-16 simulators for various countries, the largest percentage of which are F-16s.

Although the majority of Air Force training systems are managed by the Simulators Division, some systems supporting newer aircraft, such as the F-22 and F-35, are managed by other program offices. The division maintains cooperative relationships with these organizations in order to share technical information and ensure consistent applica-tion of processes across the Air Force. A notable contribution provided by the division is support in integrating these external systems into the DMO network.

cyBer-iSSueS

Although fundamentally dealing with the application of existing commercial technologies, the Simulators Division faces numerous unique technical challenges across its portfolio. Protection of sensi-tive military information is paramount, and a great deal of attention is placed on verifying and maintaining the security of Air Force systems, especially when they are connected through DMO networks.

As a consequence, cybersecurity assurance is a growing part of the training simulator systems engineering process, and is anticipated

to grow in the foreseeable future. Over the past few years, division staff has grown to include a number of cybersecurity specialists whose responsibilities include conducting the analysis and certification pro-cesses necessary to ensure the continued security of critical training system assets.

As the capabilities of simulation-based training become ever great-er, and the application of simulation continues to expand and evolve, the Simulators Division will remain at the forefront of acquiring, up-dating and supporting this essential component of the Air Force train-ing toolkit. Through its strategic alliance with the Air Force Research Laboratory, membership in the TSPG, and its close working relation-ships with the Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation and its counterparts in the other military branches, the division will adapt and evolve as necessary to provide relevant, effective and timely train-ing solutions, thereby contributing to the continued superiority of Air Force training and readiness. O

Tony DalSasso is chief engineer, Simulators Division, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center.

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Military Training Technology recognized the ribbon winners of our 2014 Top simulation & Training Companies competition at i/iTseC 2014. The featured companies are from around the world and have made a significant impact on the military training industry across the

spectrum of technologies and services. These companies’ products and services allow u.s. airmen, marines, sailors, soldiers and Coast Guardsmen to train and rehearse for mis-sions in theater or prepare for deployment at their home station. Those who made the most

significant contributions to the training com-munity are recognized with one of the following awards: Best Programs, High revenue, innova-tion, and Up & Coming. Featured are photos from i/iTseC, which was held December 1-4, 2014, in Orlando, Fla.


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1. The Asta Group – Dr. Tim Buehner, linda Brent and natalie Drzymala

2. Rockwell Collins – Conni Kerrigan and leann ridgeway3. CAE – Jeff mcKaughan and Chuck morant4. AVT Simulation – robert abascal, Conni Kerrigan and

Cliff ingari5. Cole Engineering Services Inc – mike Chandler and

Bryan Cole 6. D-Box – Claude mcmaster and sébastien lozé7. Christie – Conni Kerrigan and Kieth Klentz

8. Calienté LLC – John Farfaglia and Conni Kerrigan9. Elbit Systems LTD – yoav Ben shem, alon afik,

Tal levy and rob Dixon10. AEgis Technologies Group – Conni Kerrigan and

Brian Holmes11. FlightSafety International – Jeff mcKaughan and

ron ladnier 12. Meggitt Training Systems – Jeff mcKaughan, Phyllis

Pearce and michelle Henderson13. MetaVR – Conni Kerrigan and Philip Winston

14. L-3 Link Simulation & Training – Jeff mcKaughan and Joe rivera

15. Saab Defense and Security USA LLC – Jeff mcKaughan and Cyndi Turner

16. Disti Corporation – scott ariotti and Christopher Giordano

17. SAIC – Josh Jackson and Conni Kerrigan18. VT MÄK – Conni Kerrigan and Dan schimmel19. Lockheed Martin – Janina Baxter, Jackie schmoll,

Conni Kerrigan, Heather Kelly and sharon Parsley


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The National Center for Simulation (NCS) last year established the NCS Modeling & Simulation Hall of Fame and inducted its first 10 inductees—all pioneers, visionaries and leaders in the development and advancement of modeling, simulation and training technologies.

This year, NCS will honor four inductees at the ceremony on May 12. However, one of the inductees, Lieutenant Colonel Earle L. Den-ton, was honored early in a ceremony on February 11, at the Rio Pinar Country Club in Orlando, Fla. About 200 friends and family members attended the ceremony and learned about Denton’s history, getting glimpses of his life from his early years as a second lieutenant to the present.

Orange County Mayor Theresa Jacobs paid tribute to her friend in a moving acknowledgment of his impact and leadership on her life.

Later, Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas L. Baptiste (Ret.) ex-plained the importance of the Hall of Fame and gave a summary of the inductees before introducing the induction ceremony.

“The induction of 10 early leaders in our inaugural ceremony in 2014 gave us insight to early adopters of modeling and simulation,” stated Baptiste, president and CEO of NCS. “Today, we recognize a local hero, who over his lifetime has continued to make an impact on our world of modeling, simulation and training.”

Mary Trier, a member of the NCS board, then recounted Denton’s inspirational story, which captured the attention of the friends and family. Excerpts of the story follow.

“Just three years after the 1950 signing of the interservice agree-ment between the Army and Navy—the foundation upon which Team Orlando is built—a young Army Second Lieutenant Denton, approximately 22 years old, found out what it meant to be a leader. He was up to the task,” Trier said.

The place was South Korea, and the U.S. Army was struggling to regain control of a strategic location called Pork Chop Hill. No doubt, she suggested, Denton was aware of the fighting that had already taken place on Pork Chop Hill, where Easy Company had been under ferocious attack by the enemy and lost about two-thirds of its men in the battle. The company commander had radioed for artillery fire and reinforcements.

The battalion commander ordered 3rd Platoon of Love Company, under Denton, to reinforce. He was to lead his men to Hill 200 to meet with F Company. His platoon was mortared in the approach, and when he got to Hill 200, F Company was not there. Denton led his men, as ordered, to reinforce.

“Imagine that strategic position—Pork Chop Hill—a vital posi-tion for the U.S. Army, surrounded on three sides by the enemy. It was under fierce attack,” said Trier. “In the fog of war, with men’s lives on the line, Earle did not waver. As I imagine a young 22 year old, I think about how Earle must have felt: fear for his comrades and himself. But Earle was brave, he was smart, and he was a leader.”

In addition to his service in the Korean War, Denton commanded the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam. He

retired from active duty in 1973. During his military career, he re-ceived a number of awards and decorations, including the Silver Star, Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman badge and the Korean Ambas-sador of Peace and Appreciation medallions.

“It is my firm belief that these experiences were instrumental in creating that burning desire in Earle Denton to contribute to the de-velopment and deployment of superior training devices and simula-tions, preparing future forces for what they may encounter on the real battlefield. In his pursuits, throughout his military and civilian career, Earle has focused on that passion, and I believe it has been his life’s calling—how to prepare the men and women of the U.S. Army—and how to bring them home,” Trier added.

Denton continued his service after retirement for more than 40 years. As an inductee, he was recognized for his mentorship to lead-ers in the modeling, simulation and training field, as well as local, state and national government officials. Following his Hall of Fame induction, Denton was also awarded the Order of St. Maurice medal from the Army.

Denton’s induction into the NCS Modeling & Simulation Hall of Fame was a crowning recognition.

Slowly and with evident humility, Denton walked to the podi-um to make a few comments. “I only hope that I can live up to this award,” he said.

Denton is an American patriot, a true American hero, and a Hall of Fame Inductee, Class of 2015.

Visit NCS (www.simulationinformation.com) for more informa-tion on Denton and his fellow Hall of Fame members. O

(Editor’s Note: Lieutenant Colonel Earle L. Denton passed away not long after the ceremony.)

By mary trier

NCS Inducts First Member of 2015 Hall of Fame Class

Lieutenant Colonel Earle L. Denton (Ret.)(left) was the first member of the 2015 National Center for Simulation Modeling and Simulation Hall of Fame to be inducted in a special ceremony in February. 11. NCS President and CEO Lieutenant General Thomas Baptiste (Ret.) and Board Member Mary Trier presided over the ceremony that recognized Denton’s Army career and his life’s dedication to the MS&T industry and community.




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mt2 reSoUrce center

Calendar

March 31-April 2, 2015AUSA Global Force Symposium and ExpositionHuntsville, Ala.www.ausa.org

April 13-15, 2015Sea-Air-SpaceNational Harbor, Md.www.seaairspace.org

April 28-30, 2015ITECPrague, Czech Republicwww.itec.co.uk

May 4-7, 2015AUVSI Unmanned Systems North America Atlanta, Ga.www.auvsishow.org

September 14-16, 2015Air and Space ConferenceNational Harbor, Md.www.afa.org

October 12-14, 2015AUSA Annual MeetingWashington, D.C. http://ausameetings.org

S I M T H E T I Q E S T O R E . C O M

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AEgis Technologies Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18www.aegistg.comAgustaWestland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13www.agustawestland.comAlelo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11www.alelo.comAlenia Aermacchi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .C2www.aleniaaermacchi.itAptima . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27www.aptima.comHavelsan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1www.havelsan.com.trI/ITSEC 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23www.iitsec.orgITEC 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12www.itec.co.ukMetaVR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3www.metavr.comResponder Training Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9www.rtsglobal.coRockwell Collins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17www.rockwellcollins.com/simulationSAAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .C3www.saabgroup.com SAIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .C4www.saic.comSimthetiq Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27www.simthetiqestore.comSundog Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27www.sundog-soft.comTRU Simulation & Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5www.trusimulation.com

NEXT ISSUEMay 2015

Vol. 20, Issue 2

Cover and In-Depth Interview with:

Rear Admiral Michael S. White

Insertion Order Deadline: April 14, 2015 Ad Materials Deadline: April 21, 2015

CommanderNaval Education and Training Command

Special Section:Medical Simulation Resource Guide

command Profile:Army Center for Initial Military Training

Features:• UAV Operator Training• Projection Technology• Night Vision Training• Close Air Support

America's Longest Established Simulation & Training Magazine


LeAnn RidgewayVice President and General Manager

Simulation and Training SolutionsRockwell Collins

Q: Can you describe Rockwell Collins’ his-tory and evolution?

A: Founded in 1933 as Collins Radio, today Rockwell Collins’ core capabilities include communications, data links, optics, displays, integrated avionics, controls, navigation and targeting. Our Simulation and Training So-lutions business was born out of a vision we had years ago to leverage our core capabilities and bring enhanced simulation and training to our customers. We identified the simula-tion and training capabilities we needed and began to acquire them. In 2003, we gained our initial footprint in the simulation and training systems market with the acquisition of NLX, a leader in simulation and training products, systems and complete simulators for commercial and military applications. We acquired Evans & Sutherland in 2006, gain-ing hardware and software for highly realistic visual imagery for simulation and training. In 2008, we acquired United Kingdom-based SEOS, adding state-of-the-art displays for simulators, and two years later we acquired Blue Ridge Simulation, specialists in radar simulation systems for both commercial and military applications.

Our vision and strategy also includes part-nering in order to fill gaps and accelerate our global expansion. Today, we can uniquely offer customers fully integrated systems including simulation, training and life cycle support around the world.

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

A: We are a provider of integrated training and simulation products and systems and ex-cel at providing solutions to complex simula-tion and training needs. Some of our capabili-ties include:

• Industry-leading visual display systems for flight and ground-based training devices, including image generators, projectors, databases and displays

• Operator and maintenance training solutions, such as part-task, desktop, hands-on and procedures trainers

• Multiple radar simulation solutions• Air and ground operational training

devices, up to Level D certified• Electronic training and publications

development and delivery• Instructional system design as well as

instructor-led, computer-based, web-based and mobile training

• All tied into our CORE simulation architecture, an open development environment for ease of customization and concurrency between subsystems and simulators.

Q: What are some of the new training/simulation technologies Rockwell Collins is developing in 2015?

A: We are unveiling our new image genera-tor in Orlando, Fla., at the end of March at a customer open house and technology dem-onstration. This new product will enable customers to direct more training tasks to the simulator due to its extremely high fi-delity, while reducing operational and life cycle costs.

We recently commissioned some broad-based market research that concluded mili-tary users were hesitant to move more live training to the simulator due to concerns about the fidelity of the synthetic environ-ments. I can tell you that our new image generator will be able to allay those con-cerns with many new features.

In addition, we are integrating live weather into our sensor simulations so that real scenarios can be integrated into

the training curriculum. As we know, there have been multiple instances across the in-dustry over the past 12 to 18 months indi-cating the need for more robust training in this area.

We will also be rolling out our new model update service for airport/airfield da-tabases, which will allow delivery of updates via the cloud and allow for more instanta-neous updates for our customers.

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

A: We are well-positioned with our core products and system platforms to grow with, and in some cases outpace, the mar-ket growth. Regarding the future, we pride ourselves on staying ahead of coming tech-nology trends and, when we can, helping to shape the trends. Among others in the simulation industry and military, Rock-well Collins is driving demonstrations of live, virtual and constructive (LVC) train-ing to help bring this capability to market to address the need for more collaboration in networked training environments. Our advantage is that we can bring subsystems such as display, navigation, networking, multi-level security and live range training systems, and simulation all based on our CORE simulation architecture and deliv-ered through our secure high-bandwidth data links, to facilitate interoperable, net-worked, low-cost, real-time, concurrent LVC.

It’s clear that the services want to move toward more virtual as opposed to live train-ing, with a preference for a blended mix in order to cut costs and improve the effective-ness of training. There is plenty of evidence that indicates increasing a portion of virtual training generates significant cost savings. For example, the cost of one hour of simu-lated flight training for a fast jet is roughly one-tenth the cost of an actual flight hour.

LVC is a growing trend, and it’s here to stay. We will continue to beat the LVC drum to help generate awareness and facilitate faster adoption by the services. O

[email protected]

inDUStry interVieW military training technology


Imagine a portable, instantly deployable training system that enables instrumented training exercises with up to 300 players. Then picture it all fitted inside a box. What you see is the all-new ManPack 300 – an instrumented training system that will give your capability the edge and take your live training experience closer to reality.

ManPack 300 supports company-sized exercises with capabilities for Combat training, MOUT/FIBUA, CBRN and Counter-IED training as well as precision gunnery training. The system is fully independent, has a powerful new radio and provides 24-hour operation. By linking ManPack 300 to an existing CTC it can also be used to extend the training area footprint to facilitate larger scale exercises and scenarios.

Customers all over the world rely on Saab’s thinking edge to provide innovative, highly realistic and effective training solutions that will prepare them for current as well as future challenges.

www.saabgroup.com

CHANGING THE GAMEMANPACK 300 – DEPLOYING THE FUTURE IN LIVE TRAINING

ManPack 300, new

instrumented training system:

• Up to 300 players

• Scalable – add on to CTC

• Moves with the action

SAIC’s services and solutions, powered by our expertise as a technology integrator, make us ready to tackle your most complex challenges.

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