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© Thyssenkrupp




















        MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE





             The future of armed forces training is on the cusp of a major revolution


                                                     By JAY MENON

                odern military operat-      more intuitive ship training with   Management System, which is used
                ing environment is ever     digital twins of its battle ships and   to operate the automation soft-
       M changing and increasing in  submarines.                                ware. The tactical simulator trains
        complexity. As warfare and sys-     “In case of an emergency during     all areas of combat management
        tems become more complex, so do     submarine operations, such as the   issues.
        requirements for military training.  failure of the platform management   “Basically, you can run a boat with
        Recognising the need to be able to   system, a crew is under immense    these two simulators.
        sense and understand the com-       stress and time pressure. In such sit-
        plexities, militaries across the world   uations, it is essential that necessary   But ViSTIS is the extension into the
        are trying to orchestrate integrated   procedures have previously been   crews on board,” Braß noted. The
        responses at an increasing tempo,   internalized and can be carried out   crews are integrated into ViSTIS
        and fully indulge in immersive train-  without wasting precious time,” said   through avatars. Typical exercises
        ing environments, that replicate the   Stephan Braß, Head of Training   include situations such as the
        multiplicities of current and future   & Information Systems Group      failure of the automation system,
        conflict zones.                                                         when the boat has to be operated
                                            Manager Training Technologies at    analogously and on site. But every-
        Towards this, governments and       thyssenkrupp Marine Systems.        day procedures on board are also
        defence forces are increasingly                                         part of the training. With ViSTIS,
        looking at high performance and     New demands on ship training are    a detailed simulation of the boat’s
        cost-effective alternatives such as   also reflected among thyssenkrupp   interior allows the crew to train
        the use of simulation and synthetic   Marine Systems’ customers. “Today   as realistically as possible and to
        environments to prepare their       we no longer have to convince them   internalize where instruments are
        personnel for analysis, training and   to use ViSTIS (Virtual Ship Training   located.
        mission rehearsal, and operational   and Information System). On the
        decision-making.                    contrary, virtual training systems   Recently, the UK Royal Air Force
                                            are increasingly being requested in
        Singapore’s Ministry of Defence     tenders,” said Braß, reflecting the   (RAF) announced the opening of a
                                                                                new distributed synthetic multi-do-
        (MINDEF) is studying how closely    development.                        main integration training system,
        simulations can mimic reality to                                        christened Gladiator.
        its advantage. It’s using Artificial   Before ViSTIS was established,
        Intelligence (AI) to train soldiers in   training was already conducted with  “Gladiator will enable our forces to
        a simulated environment without     simulators. Today, there are two    trial, test, and practise their tactics
        having to actually deploy tanks or   different simulators: the naval simu-  in a secure environment, linked
        be on the battlefield. Singapore    lator and the tactical simulator. The   across all operational domains. It
        Navy is also imparting virtual      former usually consists of a steering  is an invaluable training tool for
        training to their seamen using      station and includes the Platform   the next generation of warfighters
        ASIAN DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY                                                     JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2024  | 15
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