Rheinmetall Defence Electronics took the opportunity of ITEC 2016 in London this week to showcase the results of its thinking in how to provide for more flexible and available urban warfare training (Military Operations in Urban Terrain, or MOUT) for small infantry units.
Building on its development of wireless technologies for dismounted soldier operations and live force on force training, the company has developed a series of sensors and capabilities that will enable small units to participate in MOUT operations in a rapidly established deployable environment – ideal for the requirements that special forces, for example, generate continually. “We can provide wireless solutions for every entity on the battlefield, from individuals to vehicles, crew served weapons and now buildings too,” said Enrico Grossman, Senior Sales Manager for Live Simulation at the Bremen-based company.
The challenges of wireless instrumentation of generic buildings for MOUT scenarios have been overcome in the intelligent design and deployment of a range of sensors that operate via Bluetooth to provide exercise and unit commanders with the facility to connect every entity and internal space. Externally mounted sensors record incoming weapons fire and can distinguish between a weapon that will probably not penetrate to the interior of the building – such as rifle fire – and one that will – such as an automatic grenade launcher. Data is then transmitted via Bluetooth to the internal sensors that will immediately process the data and determine wound/kill effects on personnel located in the various rooms of the training building. Even the pyrotechnics providing for visual and aural effects are wireless, further enhancing realism, facilitating rapid training setup and reinforcing the training effect in a range of applications from skills enhancement to maintenance of current capability.
“The entire training scenario can be conducted from the commander’s Smartphone, if required – and that is an ideal solution for small units up to platoon level, particularly Special Forces,” Grossmann told MT. The capability has been designed to operate “straight out of the box,” with minimal setup requirements. It would be tempting to say it is true ‘plug and play’ – except for the fact, of course, that being entirely wireless in nature, there is nothing that actually requires to be plugged in!
Tim Mahon, ITEC