The military pours plenty of money into training and simulations, but their video game-style trainers are often dull and static, and involve sitting or standing in front of a large, unmoving screen. So now the Army is trying out a more immersive approach with a new training helmet that allows trainees to move around in a 360-degree virtual environment.
Defense firm Cubic announced yesterday that it had won a $4.8 million contract to supply 27 COMBATREDI systems to the Florida Army National Guard, along with four Warrior Skills Trainers, a vehicle simulator that works with COMBATREDI. It's the first sale of COMBATREDI, which the company rolled out at a simulation and training conference last December. (Cubic isn't the only company in the business: The Army has teamed up with outfits like the Institute for Creative Technologies in Los Angeles to tap gaming technology; Army Training and Doctrine Command even has its own – video game unit.)
As opposed to many skills trainers, COMBATREDI is a tetherless, user-worn system. The set is built around a high-definition, helmet-mounted OLED video display with an integrated 3D stereo headset; the user also carries a wireless, scoped sim rifle that requires magazine swap-outs and fire selection.
According to a company news release, the system is supposed to boost realism by allowing trainees to actually move around in the virtual environment. Compared with the Army's Engagement Skills Trainer, which teaches soldiers on "shoot/don't shoot" scenarios, it seems to be something of a step ahead: The EST, also made by Cubic, is built around a high-resolution projector that shows trainees images on a large fixed screen. That's more like training on a traditional range; the new system is a bit more like going through a shoot house.
The image shown after the jump is from the COMBATREDI virtual reality environment. The Warrior Skills Trainer, a projector-based system, puts users through scenarios from the military's Virtual Battlespace 2 training system.
[PHOTOS: Cubic]
