Simulated Training Will Help Modernise Force to Accomplish Missions, Win in a Complex World
As Army forces modernise to project power from the land into the air, maritime, space and cyberspace, the joint force will experience increased freedom of movement and action. Integrating special operations and conventional forces with joint, interorganisational and multinational partners across the air, land, maritime, space, and cyberspace domains presents multiple dilemmas to an enemy. |
| Maj.Gen. Jon Maddux, Program Executive Officer, US Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation |
While ensuring the US Army remains ready for current missions while preparing for future, the modeling, simulation and training domain stands as the modernization forcing function given the operational climate and fiscal constraints. Now and into the future, the training needs of US Soldiers and that of our allied and coalition partners drive everything we do at the Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI). Our warriors deserve the most up-to-date, high-fidelity training devices to ensure they are trained and mission ready for any contingency. They have our full commitment.
Due to the high-tech nature of the training devices we field, we are carefully assessing the current and future state of our portfolio. As an example, the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) has been around since the early 1980s. Simply put, the system is to Soldiers what laser tag is to civilians. While originally developed to identify Soldiers who had been “hit” by simulated ammunition during training exercises, it has evolved to include weapons, vehicles and equipment feedback. We now have 13 MILES systems in the Army training inventory. The number of systems makes it very expensive to maintain.
Because MILES relies on lasers, there could be negative training associated with using this dated technology. Lasers won’t go through trees, but bullets will. When we use lasers in training, Soldiers get a false sense of cover and concealment security. A laser may not hit them in training, but a bullet will take them out in war!
We will continually seek technology upgrades to existing training devices or get them out of the inventory if they don’t meet the training needs of the Soldiers. With MILES, for example, we need to look at collapsing those 13 legacy programmes into one future programme that will not be based on yesterday’s laser technology.
We are strategically assessing our entire portfolio to instill the utmost level of interoperability into our wide range of training devices to support the modernisation of Army training, a concept called the Synthetic Training Environment.
For the last two years we have been fielding the Live, Virtual, and Constructive - Integrating Architecture (LVC-IA) using just a few of our training devices that are interoperable such as the Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (AVCATT) and the Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT). Besides adding Army Games for Training to LVC-IA, it is imperative that other training enablers are part of the Synthetic Training Environment so we can meet commanders’ training objectives under as many realistic operational conditions as possible.
After achieving the tenets of the Synthetic Training Environment, we will continue to play a major role in the Army’s modernisation effort called Force 2025 and Beyond by implementing the Future Holistic Training Environment/Live Synthetic. The concept will be similar to what viewers have seen on shows like Star Trek where Soldiers can be virtually transported to an environment to engage in a battle with their enemies or perform a peacekeeping mission. The types of missions and level of operations will be endless. This is the type of immersive environment that we are marching toward. It will connect live, virtual, constructive and gaming environments with augmented reality that will provide our US and coalition partners a first-rate training experience.
Now and into the future, PEO STRI stands as the center of excellence for acquiring, fielding and sustaining training and testing solutions for the US Army so that our troops remain trained and mission ready to win in a complex world.
Maj.Gen. Jon Maddux, Program Executive Officer, US Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation