Way back in the now distant 1980s, I wrote about the U.S. Army training tank crews using a video game simulation for Science Digest Magazine. The game saved expensive ammunition and let the crews make errors in a digital realm rather than on actual terrain where they could be costly.
Since then, the military embraced simulation training in many areas. Now, faced with Global economic downturns, armed forces reorganisation and allied troops withdrawals from Afghanistan, the training and simulation (T&S) market is being pushed to come up with more customized solutions.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan , Global Military Training and Simulation Market Assessment, finds total expenditures of $36.88 billion in 2012 and estimates this to increase to $46.09 billion by 2021.
The research covers end users (air, land and naval forces), military capabilities (platform-based training, system-based training and platform maintenance-based training), and training types (live training, virtual training, constructive training and live, virtual, constructive (LVC) training.)
Battlefield lessons learned
“In addition to military equipment modernisation driving the global T&S market, lessons have been learned from battlefields in the Balkans and the Middle East,” noted Frost & Sullivan Aerospace & Defence Research Analyst Alix Leboulanger .
“The key lesson has been that conventional training types are no longer fully adequate to prepare armed forces for military operations other than war.”
As a result, apart from live training, virtual and constructive training will also grow at very dynamic pace. The increasing trend of blending training types will be stimulated by developed countries looking for more realistic but affordable training solutions.
Fully immersive environments
End users are looking for training solutions providing fully immersive, seamless and realistic environments to solve the delicate equation of training costs, place and time issues. Military end-users globally will use more complex weapons systems, C4ISR capabilities and are also expected to conduct more joint operations in shorter turnaround times.
“Therefore, the T&S industry has to develop new training solutions based on the LVC type, by enhancing new technologies such as Augmented Reality, haptics and embedded systems integration to enable military end-users to train faster and more effectively within an increasingly interactive and networked centric environment,” remarked Leboulanger.
We’ve actually seen a number of these fully immersive simulation training systems at TechMedia events over the years. Some even provide tactile feedback as soldiers walk a simulated battlefield landscape. Others allow pilots to familiarize themselves with actual terrain and targets.
Before LVC training takes over and whilst live and virtual training remain highly expensive, a strong demand for constructive training is forecast during the next ten years.
This is also due to a growing number of constructive training solutions being made available under the commercial off the shelf (COTS) format, hence offering a cost-affordable training solution for both transitioning and cost-saving end-users economies. — Allan Maurer
© 2013, TechJournal. All rights reserved.