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Marines VR Combat Readiness Tools

6/27/2013

26 Comments

 
“Marines Exploring Use of Immersive Virtual Reality Tech to Train Troops for Maintenance/Combat” 

VR may prove useful as a way to provide cheap and convenient training for maintenance tasks. Using off-the-shelf motion sensors, an HTC Vive headset and controllers with a trigger and sensing pad, the program takes a service member step-by-step through an aircraft repair job, from diagnosing the problem to re-testing the part after the fix to make sure it works.

The system is still a prototype, but the plan is to develop an automated guide so troops can train on key tasks with little oversight, wherever they are.

In the loaded virtual reality maintenance scenario, a windshield washer pump needed to be replaced in a Navy P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft. Using the controllers, users could flip switches to test the pump, then perform the needed maintenance step-by-step in a 360-degree simulation of the aircraft.

“Certainly, you could do it with just about any aircraft, things that require troubleshooting,” 

There are some things the system won’t do well. It can’t simulate resistance for more strenuous maintenance tasks, and a user can’t feel around in some area out of view to find a part, the way a maintainer might in a hard-to-reach area. But in an era of high operational tempo, when senior maintainers might be deployed or otherwise unavailable to train more junior troops,  engineers envision the system will allow troops to meet training goals and maintain proficiency wherever they are.

The system is designed to be lightweight and easily deployable. Troops can complete a virtual training session, then send a video of the session to a supervisor located anywhere in the world for approval or correction.

Development of the system is still in the early stages, but the system has so far received a warm reception at demonstrations for Air Force and Marine Corps audiences.

Army is gearing to launch the first iterations of its new virtual reality simulators, which will lay the foundation for synthetic training environments at multiple bases.

A squad advanced marksmanship trainer will be delivered to several Army locations next year for close-combat troops. A squad immersive virtual trainer will closely follow.

The building blocks that will become the synthetic training environment, or STE, will eventually include computer-generated avatars incorporated into the battlespace, among other virtual military elements.

The surroundings the trainers simulate will represent real environments around the globe, from "mega-cities" to dense urban areas.

 The service is collecting data to reconstruct cities, mountainsides, bunkers and more to more accurately represent what soldiers will see in the virtual-reality environment. Officials said that poses a challenge, but service members must get an accurate representation of what they may face in combat.

Soldiers will be exposed to more realistic combat scenarios, "enabling units to enter live training at a much higher level of proficiency.  The goal is to rely less on bulky hardware for simulations, and more on software and networks, including virtual reality goggles and iPads for streaming services.

While the Army is looking for more personalised training, the new, simulated environments are intended to boost the collective squad, which would face a high-end threat together.

Army is looking at it from a collective -- a squad, a crew, a team, a platoon and then on up. But we have to get the individual piece correct in order to be able to do that.

Referencing the service's unusually swift acquisition effort and collaboration with industry, cross-functional team had been asked to be disruptive, and Army believes they have done just that.

Training is changing as the Army pursues dynamic live, virtual, and mixed-reality training that offers data analysis supported by artificial intelligence and other smart systems.. Being able to take the data from your training to be analyzed for trend analysis and predictive analysis is going to be a game changer."

Let's say there's a four-man team preparing to clear a building in a training exercise. As the first man busts through the door, a biometric feedback sensor indicates that his adrenaline spiked off the charts while muzzle and eye tracking sensors showed the soldier looking one way while his gun pointed another. When the third man enters, a motion sensor indicates that he froze momentarily. 

And all this data is being run through machine learning systems for trend and predictive analysis, producing a readiness score for essential tasks.  Imagine soldiers training to fight augmented reality adversaries in virtual battle spaces, showdowns that like video games can take place in cities around the world. 

"We have these abilities, and have seen it from our industry partners. Instantaneous feedback. While the Army is not there yet, the service is quickly moving in that direction. 

Soldier lethality is one of the priorities of the newly-established Army Futures Command, a new four-star command focused on rapid research and development for future weapons and warfighting capabilities, as well as enhanced training options. 

"There are systems that we're looking at that can allow the soldiers to train as they will fight, train where they will fight and train against who they will fight while back in the home-station training environment.

One option for the Army is next-level synthetic training environments, where troops can train individually or in groups in both fixed or mobile live, virtual, or mixed-reality battle spaces of all sizes. 

This is a big deal given the inadequacies of some of the existing training platforms.  The current training systems are limited in their capabilities. For example, the technology for the existing virtual trainers does not allow the Army to bring in all of the enablers, such as logistics, engineering, and transportation teams. 

“We can only bring air, ground platforms, and a few other capabilities. We need to train combined arms to prepare for large-scale combat.

Terrain is also a huge challenge. "We are trying to get to one-world training," the general introduced. "Terrain is a stumbling block We are trying to get after that quickly." 

User assessment testing for re-configurable virtual trainers began earlier this year. Within the next two years, the Army wants AI-driven trend and predictive analysis based on biometric and sensor data collected during training exercises. 

"Right now, we are only as good as someone's experience and their eye and what they catch or what we see in video. "We want to be able to assess training, and we have some of that capability right now, but not to the degree we need." 


For much of the U.S. military’s history, live training has been key to preparing personnel for their missions. However, staging a live training event can consume significant physical and fiscal resources, from aircraft, ground equipment and ships to all the personnel involved. Plus, the risk of accidents resulting in damage to equipment, or worse yet, endangering personnel, can increase. 

That’s why the military started utilising virtual training to provide many of the same positive benefits while minimising the negative impacts of live training. These benefits, including personnel safety, readiness improvement and cost reduction, have led the military to take training a step further and utilise live, virtual and constructive, or LVC, training that brings together multiple systems using networking and even cloud capabilities.
 
LVC training allows personnel not physically present at a live training event to participate virtually and through constructive simulations that inject battlefield effects and simulated or constructed threats into live systems. 

A recent example of LVC training is the Air Force’s investment in a common software architecture for its training simulators, creating the Simulator Common Architecture Requirements and Standards program. Also, the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force are all looking to connect simulators and live assets to enhance air warfare training.

As LVC technology advances, commercial off-the-shelf technologies play an increasingly critical role. By leveraging the advances in commercially available IT, DoD can gain significant advantages, including reduced development and deployment times as well as the ability to reuse capabilities to gain significant efficiencies. Advanced server technologies and cloud capabilities can maximise reusability and rapid reconfiguration of infrastructure for numerous training needs.

As the military continues to explore the use of LVC training and simulation, and blends real equipment and personnel with virtual assets, commercial off-the-shelf IT capabilities will enable high fidelity, speed and immersive training experiences to grow skills and develop proficiency for our military forces. 

Identify and mitigate risks quickly: To keep up with evolving threats, an intent-based network can serve as both a sensor and enforcer of security policy, leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to move at machine speed and counter advanced threats. Software-defined networks can also provide the ability to rapidly reconfigure given changes in real-world conditions or across various training scenarios.

Reduce the attack surface: Zero trust or white list segmentation can greatly reduce a cyber adversary’s maneuverability within an operational space in the event of an attack. Maintain an accurate and timely view of the threat landscape, segment access based on roles for devices, people and applications, and utilise security policies that are software-driven to support rapid changes based on threats and real-world environments. 

By combining LVC with the right network strategy, DoD can securely achieve significant benefits in costs and efficiencies, as well as lower stress on existing systems, reduce wear and tear on operational systems, and decrease the chance of mishaps, which can occur using traditional live training. Building LVC capabilities on a sound network architecture minimises risk and ensures the mission is accomplished.


26 Comments

Marines Turning to VR

6/27/2013

0 Comments

 
“Services Turning to Virtual Reality for Advanced Training Make Available Combat Readiness Tools  to Experienced Officers and Smart Machines”

In this demonstration, Marines experienced an immersive VR training scenario, put on a head-mounted display for VR application and used hand-held devices for training scenarios.

The immersive VR scenario allowed users to walk inside a hangar with a piece of munition positioned for maintenance. The user could look around the hangar, interact with the munition, pull up the technical order in a full-view mode or even watch a video of someone successfully installing that specific item on the munition. Essentially, the user could take apart and reassemble a munition from the barracks.

“In a controlled setting, VR allows for instant immersion into the field to help Marines understand the content better, faster.”

If VR is fully implemented into its training processes, Marines could have virtual hands-on experience much earlier in their careers, which could bridge the training-to-experience gap challenge the Service now faces.

The in-garrison mission may be different from the deployed mission. That gap can become noticeable if a Marine who has a home-station duty on a certain airframe or munition deploys and must work with unfamiliar equipment or in a joint environment. VR could be used as recurrent or just-in-time training to bolster the combat capabilities of users when they are deployed.

Demonstrations like these are designed to combat today’s challenges through innovation and collaboration among  top subject matter experts. It’s a way to increase combat capability and solve complex security issues by partnering with experienced  organisations to create platforms to house the application.
Virtual copies of support equipment can be evaluated by "performing" maintenance activities with them. Digital Twin Simulation reliability updates could allow technicians to view virtual information panels "superimposed" using augmented reality techniques on the actual equipment. 

Virtual Reality can be used to check machine status at a glance, or as a visualisation tool in planning out installations. Perhaps most intriguing of all, VR can be used for remote expert support, giving the engineers at HQ the ability to “see” through the eyes of workers in remote locations. 

The advantages of VR have been demonstrated in the context of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul MRO applications. For example, the ability to enter information via voice input in place of pen-and-paper checklists can streamline inspections and maintenance routines. 

Experienced workers equipped with VR devices can narrate routine maintenance and inspection tasks as they perform them, enabling companies to build up libraries of instructional materials over time with relatively little effort. 

Eliminating the need to switch back and forth between a task and a checklist for that task could also reduce the risk of error by keeping inspectors and maintenance technicians more focused. 

The ability to overlay a worker’s visual field with step-by-step instructions—including animations depicting the proper assembly or disassembly of parts—offers the potential to reduce lead times and error rates in MRO operations. 

Remote expert advice is an obvious application for VR in MRO. Field service often requires experts to travel to remote worksites, but the telepresence afforded by VR means a single expert can service multiple sites without ever having to leave the office.

It’s been said that there’s no substitute for a hands-on education, but whoever said that hadn’t see what VR can do. Many of the biggest players in manufacturing have begun to take advantage of what this unique technology can offer. 

Simulation for industrial robots is a valuable tool for robotic system integrators and robot programmers, allowing users to design robotic work cells and generate robot programs through offline programming. 

However, simulation requires accurate digital models of each piece of tooling and equipment in order to be useful. In most cases, users must export files from legacy tools, then import them into the simulation space. However, as any professional user knows, exporting, importing, and managing different file types and compatibilities can be a headache. 

VR plugins are designed to make tasks easier when programming for welding, drilling, machining, setting approach angles, and for importing many parts from legacy systems to simulation more rapidly. 

For example, when welding assembly is loaded into the simulation, knowing the exact position of welding joint start and end points can be challenging. Using the plugin, the user selects the surfaces, points and edges surrounding each weld. Next, the assembly automatically appears and the welding program is generated. This generated program can then be edited.

Next, the video illustrates how a common workflow for importing a model into simulation involves saving the part in a different file format before it can be imported. With the plugin, the user can click a button in the toolbar, and the model will automatically load.

0 Comments

Armed Aerial Scout [AAS] programme to replace Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter & continue to develop Eurocopter V3

6/27/2013

0 Comments

 

This ticket schedule item is currently under review by several dispatch teams. Installations have not yet responded with a quote


The Armed Aerial Scout programme replaces the previous Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter programme. An analysis of alternatives is underway and a Request for Proposals is planned to be issued in 2014. The U.S. Army had until December 2012 to decide whether to proceed with the
programme. Army officials decided to proceed with the Armed Aerial Scout program to acquire a new scout helicopter. In January 2013, the Army began redrafting the presentation before they decide  move ahead with a competition w/ request for more data from the voluntary flight demonstrations done on  helicopter entries, as well as taking into account the pace of other  technologies, such as unmanned capabilities and future sensors.


The Army has concluded that its decision for the AAS program will  result in either
a new development effort or a service life-extension  program (SLEP) for the OH-58F Kiowa. Evaluations of commercial off-the-shelf designs were made from voluntary flight demonstrations in 2012. The five candidates included the OH-58 Block II, AH6i, AAS-72X/X+, MD 540F and AW139M used for demonstration, with AW169 AAS offered as a candidate. The Sikorsky S-97 Raider was offered, but no prototype was available for demonstration.



Army  evaluations concluded that no current aircraft met requirements. A  decision on the Armed Aerial Scout program is expected in 2013. Boeing had attempted to stop MD Helicopters from offering its MD 540F in the programme, since it shared the same  airframe design as Boeing's AH-6. In July 2013, MD Helicopters was  allowed to continue to promote its offering in the programmme

0 Comments

F-16 Fighting Falcon upgrade include active electronic scanned array radar, high-resolution display unit & single-point EWC access

6/27/2013

0 Comments

 

This ticket schedule item is currently under review by several dispatch teams. Installations have not yet responded with a quote


The F-16 has been a front-line fighter for the Air Force for more than 30 years, and SABR will keep it there for decades to come. Active electronically scanned array innovation deliver fifth generation fighter radar capability to the F-16. SABR will provide F-16s unprecedented operational capability, greater reliability and viability in threat environments beyond 2025.


The conclusion of the AESA radar competition marks the next chapter in Fighting Falcon development.  Next generation radar will  deliver unprecedented capabilities to the most widely used 4th  generation fighter ever flown. Northrop Grumman's newest airborne fire control radar, SABR is an affordable, multifunction AESA radar designed for low risk retrofit in  current F-16s and is scalable for integration in other aircraft. SABR  provides improved situational awareness, greater detection,  high-resolution SAR maps, automatic target cueing, electronic  protection, interleaved air-to-air and air-to-surface mode operations, and precision strike capability.


SABR's affordability, proven performance, and low risk make it a goodchoice as the baseline AESA radar for new F-16 production  aircraft and upgrades. Other AESA radars currently flying on the Block 60 F-16, F-22 and F-35 Lightning II.

0 Comments

Ka-52 "Alligator" attack helicopter replace Mi-24s w/ 30mm cannon, 80mm unguided rockets & air-to-surface missile upgrades

6/27/2013

0 Comments

 

This ticket schedule item is currently under review by several dispatch
teams. Installations have not yet responded with a quote


With the Ka-52 now in Russian army service and being touted for export,  the design bureau is busy working on a maritime version for the Russian Navy  Kamov has designed side-by-side seating for the Ka-52, promoting crew coordination. In its Russian army version,the Ka-52 has a weapons suite including 9K120 Ataka and 9K121 Vikhr-1 missiles. It has a 2A42 30mm cannon and the ability to carry S-8 80mm unguided rockets. It can also carry  Igla-S air-to-air missiles as part of the Strelets system.




The  helicopter is well protected with the President-S self-defense suite. Kamov is working on new weapons capability for the Russian Navy Ka-52K Kamov in line with NATO standards, bringing in foreign equipment. The Ka-52K is intended to serve from a variety of Russian navy vessels,  but primarily the two Mistral-class amphibious assault vessels that  Russia is buying from France. Ka-52K, will fly as soon as the French  deliver Mistral vessels.


0 Comments

F/A-18 upgrade infrared search and track [IRST] w/ passive forward-looking infrared sensor to locate jets & helicopters

6/27/2013

0 Comments

 

This ticket schedule item is currently under review by several dispatch
teams. Installations have not yet responded with a quote

0 Comments

F-35 Lightning II combines advanced stealth w/ speed, sensor info& network ops to replace A-10, F-16, F/A-18 & AV-8B Harrier

6/27/2013

2 Comments

 

This ticket schedule item is currently under review by several dispatch
teams. Installations have not yet responded with a quote


With the delivery of four Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft, an important milestone was achieved as the Department of  Defense now possesses more operational-coded F-35s than test aircraft.  A total of nine F-35s were delivered in a year's time, giving the DOD a total of 30
aircraft fleet-wide. Of these, 16 are operational aircraft  and 14 are test
planes.

To date, the F-35 program has focused on system development and fligh testing and most recently transitioning to low rate initial  production A critical threshold was reached with the LRIP 3  delivery. Four  aircraft were formally accepted, the first jets manufactured as part of Low Rate  Initial Production (LRIP) Lot 3. Three of the jets are F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL)  variants The 5th Generation fighters will  be used for pilot and maintenance training at the F-35 Integrated  Training Center.


The F-35 Lightning II is a 5th Generation fighter, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment. Three distinct  variants of the F-35 will replace the A-10 and F-16 for the U.S. Air  Force, the F/A-18 for the U.S. Navy, the F/A-18 and AV8-B Harrier for  the U.S. Marine Corps, and a variety of
fighters for at least nine other countries.

2 Comments

Type45s replace Type42 frigates w/ 114mm Mk8 mod 1 medium-calibre guns, EOGCS& Principal anti-aircraft missile system [PAAMS]

6/27/2013

6 Comments

 

This ticket schedule item is currently under review by several dispatch teams. Installations have not yet responded with a quote


The delays in signing for the PAAMS MoU delayed the remainder of the Horizon programme. The UK effectively put a hold on further progress by refusing to sign the Supplement 1 to the Project Horizon MoU until the three partners had reached agreement over PAAMS in that they should find a cost-effective technical solution that also met national work share arrangements.  The UK also had a desire to derive maximum long-term benefit from the radar for PAAMS and had reservations about the performance of EMPAR. Issues of work share, cost and competition complicated the final decisions over two major PAAMS subsystems - the Long-Range Radar [LRR] and vertical launch system [VLS].



Three MoUs were finally signed in March 1996.  They covered  the general rules governing the three partners' collaborative effort for overall development and production of the PAAMS programmethe PAAMS Full Scale Engineering Development Initial Production Phase [PAAMS MoU Supplement 1] and a supplement to the Horizon programme covering the design definition phase [CNGF Programme MoU Supplement].



As the programme continued, problems continued to arise.  There were disagreements in early 1997 over the type of vertical launch system to be employed.  The French and Italians favoured the Franco-Italian Sylver A50 developed by DCN and Alenia, and licensed by BAe Dynamics.  The UK however, had shifted to support the Mk 41, supplied by Lockheed-Martin, which
would allow the installation of US SM-3 based theatre missile defence missiles. The UK had also been refusing to negotiate a full-scale engineering development and initial production contract for PAAMS on the terms that had been offered by industry to the PPO, and had resisted moves by France and Italy to relax the PAAMS performance specification set out in the original agreement.  





6 Comments

HMA2 Wildcat helicopter helicopter replace Lynx on destroyers & frigates w/ Sting Ray torpedoes & .5in M3M machine-guns

6/27/2013

0 Comments

 

This ticket schedule item is currently under review by several dispatch
teams. Installations have not yet responded with a quote


The replacement of the long-serving Lynx helicopter as the air power of the Royal Navy’s destroyers, some of her frigates also operating the Merlin, and whichever warship or Royal Fleet Auxiliary requires an aircraft for its global mission. Wildcat carried out deck landing trials at sea on RFA Argus and HMS Iron Duke as test pilots, specialist engineers and technicians noted the
helicopter’s flight characteristics to help them set the limits so it can be safely operated at sea by the Fleet Air Arm.


Although Wildcat looks very similar to a Lynx the two are very different. The new aircraft has more powerful engines – giving the pilot around one third more power than its predecessor – and new avionics w/ four large colour display cockpits, replacing dials and screens of the old fleet. In  addition to Sting Ray torpedoes, and a .5in M3M machine-gun mounted by the side door it has new light and heavy versions of the Future Anti-Surface Guided Weapon – the next-generation missile for use against targets at sea and on land.

0 Comments

F-15s and F-2s combat capabilities upgraded w/ improved radars, medium-range air-to-air missile and modernized data systems

6/27/2013

2 Comments

 

This ticket schedule item is currently under review by several dispatch
teams. Installations have not yet responded with a quote

2 Comments
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