UK Ministry of Defence,
UK and US military personnel have pioneered a groundbreaking method of training that will in the future allow joint training to be conducted between different nations in a combined live and virtual environment.
In a specially arranged training exercise a UK Forward Air Controller located on Salisbury Plain Training Area communicated directly with a US pilot in a simulator located several thousand miles away at the US Joint Warfighting Centre in Suffolk, Virginia. It's the first time that UK and US personnel have communicated over the US Joint Training and Experimentation Network (JTEN) during a training exercise.
Work on the project has been going on behind the scenes by personnel based at the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) at Northwood for some time. And their efforts finally paid off as the Salisbury Plain test demonstrated that they were successfully able to complete what is the first step in the evolution to develop a simulation network capability that could in future enable Coalition joint training to be conducted within the live, virtual and constructive environments.
Major Alex Beart, the SO2 Joint Force Readiness at PJHQ, believes this is just the start of what could be an exciting future for joint training:
“This is a very encouraging development on what we believe is just the first step in progressing this kind of training,” he said. “The training value of having a British Forward Air Controller talking in real time to a US pilot sitting in a simulator thousands of miles away can't be overstated.
“We work very closely with our US and Coalition colleagues on operations in Afghanistan and often when close air support is requested by UK troops it's an American aircraft that will arrive on task. For us to be able to replicate that scenario in the training environment is very valuable indeed and it comes at a relatively low cost in comparison to using real aircraft.”
For the past year PJHQ has been developing all aspects of Joint Collective Training by exploiting opportunities for future development in simulation technology and by enhancing the UK's distributed training capability. As part of this initiative PJHQ has been working with the US Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) to establish a link to the JTEN.
The benefits for both joint and combined training, in tandem with progressing the development of tactical and joint tactical level training, are immense as Lieutenant Colonel Jon Acornley, of the Joint Warfare Development branch at PJHQ explained:
“This will never replace live training but it will allow expensive types of training, for example Forward Air Controller training with live air, to be conducted with much greater frequency and at considerably less cost.”
In order to achieve the permanent and persistent link that was required it was necessary to complete three separate trials. The first of these, focused at the tactical level, used Exercise Druid's Dance at Salisbury Plain, to demonstrate the technological development. Using a set of Augmented Reality (AR) binoculars the Forward Air Controller was able to observe the 'fall of shot' in the form of an icon which was projected into his field of view. Using the AR binoculars the FAC was able to adjust the fire until the target had been successfully destroyed. Through electronic linkage to the Area Weapons Effect Simulation (AWES) the enemy were 'killed' by the activation of their Tactical Engagement Simulation (TES) equipment.
Steve Kostoff from the US JFCOM said:
“This is the first time we have ever had this kind of network-to-network connection with the UK before,” he said. “I was very satisfied that we were finally able to see success come out of two years effort, it was a lot of hard work.”
The new network capability provides better and more cost effective training by allowing US and UK forces to communicate through normal methods of communication without having to be in the same area of operations or needing special equipment in the field. This link will ultimately allow the UK, US, Australia and Canada to exercise within the virtual environment. It is hoped the next trial will be held in July as part of 3 Commando Brigade's Mission Rehearsal Exercise (MRX).
