Biggest ever virtual simulation (From Salisbury Journal)
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Biggest ever virtual simulation
9:53am Wednesday 6th February 2013 in News By David Falcke
Biggest ever virtual simulation
SOLDIERS from Bulford-based 2 Royal Welsh are taking part in the army’s largest ever virtual simulation experiment in order to better understand its future equipment and training needs.
Exercise Urban Warrior 5 uses advanced science and computer technology as part of a cutting-edge experiment designed to help the Army better understand the battlefield of the future.
Using virtual computer simulation technology at the Land Warfare Centre in Warminster, more than 200 soldiers from 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh have been playing out battlefield scenarios in a virtual environment based on the real-world Urban Warfare Training Centre (CENZUB) in France.
In the experiment, soldiers control avatars and vehicles in a similar way to popular video games such as Call of Duty.
By changing certain variables, such as the number of troops on the ground and the amount of surveillance and communication available, the experiment seeks to discover how best to equip and command the British Army in possible future conflicts.
The experiment follows a previous reallife simulation exercise in December 2012 at CENZUB, where soldiers worked with Warrior armoured vehicles and Challenger 2 tanks in one of the most realistic battlefield scenarios ever created.
Combining the real-life exercise with the virtual experiments and other computer modelling is offering commanders and MoD scientists a level of detailed and objective analysis of possible force variables hitherto unseen in the British Army. All the information captured from the experiment is being collected for further analysis by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in partnership with Niteworks, which developed the simulation programme together.
Colonel Tim Law, assistant director of concepts and experimentation at Army HQ, said: “It is all about the army looking to the future. We have established this experiment to determine what we need in order to win the battles that we will face.”
