Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/235053
Special Report Simulation and live fire Innovation take training to a new level The Canadian Armed Forces began using simulation for marksmanship training in the '90s. The technology at the time allowed a young recruit who was having difficulty on the live fire range to engage a virtual target on a Firearms Training System (FATS). Together with a marksmanship instructor and the FATS system, deficiencies were indentified in the recruit's form. A tethered C7A2, the virtual shot pattern of the recruit on the FATS, and the guidance of a marksmanship instructor allowed for time away from the live fire range, in a controlled environment, to create a skilled marksman. Today, the concept has not changed. This idea of combined live fire and virtual training provides highly realistic, costeffective training solutions for readiness and marksmanship proficiency. This continued focus has forced training manufacturers to look beyond today's technology and improve vehicle trainers, weapons trainers, indoor and outdoor targetry systems, ensuring that all evolve as advancements in technology continue. Part of the realism must come from the weaponry being used for training. Fully sensored weaponry is a must for virtual 30 DECEMBER 2013/JANUARY 2014 small arms trainers and vehicle trainers. Current and future training systems will require a wider range of weapons, as law enforcement and military agencies will increasingly fight (and train) as part of a multinational coalition in future conflicts. Companies like Meggitt Training Systems have created fully sensored wireless weapon systems, known as Bluefire®, that use commercial wireless Bluetooth® technology to communicate with the virtual marksmanship training systems, giving full range of motion while maintaining true form, fit and function. "The ability to train law enforcement and defense personnel on virtual marksmanship ranges and CGI-based judgmental trainers more effectively takes personnel from a weapons familiarization state to weapon confident," said Peter Longstaff, president, military sales, Meggitt Training Systems. "It's important to point out that 'smart' weapons are not simply tetherless weapons, but are fully sensored weapons that provide realtime data that can be used by the trainer.' 'In order to effectively train within a virtual environment, it is critical that the weapons are as true to life as possible. www.vanguardcanada.com Using Meggitt's BlueFire® wireless smart weapon technology and Meggitt's FATS® M100 flexible architecture trainee feedback is immediately delivered to the instructor for realtime instruction. With the advanced training possibilities with BlueFire® technology and Meggitt's FATS® M100 flexible architecture, we are able to train in the most realistic virtual environment on the market to date." Crawl, Walk, Run Today's defense forces around the globe are using a number of shooting technologies to ensure that they are ready to put steel on target. Initially, troops are using small arms simulation trainers with tether and tetherless weapons to crawl young defense personnel through the early phases of weapons training and familiarization. Some of those crawl procedures are consistently shooting in the same spot (grouping), ensuring that they aim at the target correctly (sight picture), make sure that they breathe naturally when engaging targets (breathing), and ensuring that they manipulate the weapon properly (trigger squeeze). All of these can be achieved in a virtual environment. Using wireless weaponry, like Meggitt's BlueFire®, the soldier or law enforcement officer is able to use any number of weapons that they might use in the field. The sensored weapons employ true ammunition ballistics and allow the trainer to jam or cause misfires within the weapon. This allows an expe-