October 11,
2008: A Swedish firm (SAAB) has
developed a portable "electronic battlefield", by creating a portable
(three 40 foot shipping containers) version. This DTES (Deployable Tactical Engagement Simulation) provides training for a company sized (200
troops) unit. Several countries are buying this "sim in a can".
The United
States Army revolutionized the training of ground combat troops in the 1980s
with the development of MILES (laser tag) equipment for infantry and armored
vehicles, and the use of MILES in a large, "wired" (to record all
activities) NTC (National Training Center). Other countries soon realized the
importance of these innovations and a few built their own NTC clones. One of
the best of these is in Israel, the Tactical Training Center (TTC) at Ze'elim.
In addition to wide open areas for the training of armor, infantry and
artillery units, there are several villages and urban areas wired for training
troops to fight in close quarters.
Twenty years
after the U.S. Army started using its revolutionary National Training Center
(NTC) to give troops combat experience in peacetime, China is opened its own
version. The Chinese NTC is larger than the U.S. one (359,000 acres in the
Mohave desert at Ft Irwin, California.) The Chinese center is to be used for
training divisions, while the U.S. one trains only a brigade at a time.
The SAAB
version enables troops to quickly get very realistic training in urban warfare
situations, as well as dealing with roadside bombs, and booby traps IEDs, or
improvised explosive devices) in general. The SAAB DTES uses the network of sensors deployed around
the training area, and on the troops and vehicles, to provide a very
realistic IED training. For example, the
DTES staff use typical military training explosive devices (which are big on
the bang and smoke, but not much harmful blast or fragments) to simulate the
IED going off, then use their sensors and the exercise computer, to immediately
calculate the damage to vehicles and troops close enough to the exercise to be
killed or injured. If the OPFOR (opposing force) troops are also staging an
ambush (as is common in Iraq and Afghanistan), the troops get a very intense
few minutes of realistic (but non-fatal) training. DTES uses the same
techniques when training troops to be wary of IEDs in an urban area, or even
buildings.
DTES was
developed with off-the-shelf technology, including some very clever adaptations
of paintball weapons, sensors and simulation software. Another SAAB innovation
is to lease the system out on a per-exercise basis. For many smaller nations,
that's cheaper than buying a DTES, and not using it all that often. But even
for large nations, that want to keep troops overseas, perhaps on peacekeeping
duty, ready for trouble, leasing DTES for some exercises on the spot, is cheap
and effective.
