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Explosive Training
Written by Kenya McCullum
In order to combat IED tactics and strategies, the Joint Training Counter-IED Operations Integration Center (JTCOIC) provides realistic training exercises to soldiers in order to keep them abreast of the latest technologies that the enemy has developed, and provide strategies on how to counter these threats. In collaboration with the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), the center is able to offer soldiers up-to-date training by collecting intelligence from the battlefield about the latest in IED technologies and replicating those threats within a matter of days.
“We have access to operational information daily, so we are able to leverage that information and put it into a training environment,” said JTCOIC’s Director Jim Slavin.
“That way, the things we are learning today, both in Iraq and Afghanistan, can be put into practical application training units tomorrow.”
Part of what makes JTCOIC’s training exercises so robust is the center’s training database, also known as “the training brain,” which combines all of the operational, intelligence and logistics information that is collected on the battlefield and uses it to enhance training scenarios so that they are realistic and based on problems that soldiers may face in the theater. Slavin said this database has increased exponentially as intelligence has been rapidly reported. As a result of this information, the training brain has increased from six databases with 450,000 records to 23 databases with over a million and a half records. This treasure trove of information allows JTCOIC to choose which tactics, techniques and procedures should be made into training exercises.
“As we find something new and innovative that the enemy is using, we rapidly replicate that and get it into the training banks—sometimes within four days of notification,” said Mark Covey, the JTCOIC director of Systems Integration and Modeling and Simulations.
Among the training tools that JTCOIC uses are basic 3-D models of IEDs to show trainees what the threats look like; 3-D models that are incorporated into animation to simulate the outcome of an event; and dynamic applications that allow the trainee to participate in simulations with weapons and vehicles and learn from their mistakes.
Alion, as a subcontractor to BAE Systems, runs the Systems Integration Modeling and Simulations Directorate within JTCOIC.
OTHER INDUSTRY EFFORTS
Of course, these training exercises would not be possible without the help of the companies that partner with the military to provide products and services that help make the IED training as realistic as possible. Among the companies that supply products is Mil- Sim-Fx International Inc., a Canadian-based company that became involved in counter-IED simulation products quite by accident. When the company began in 2004, it was making a product that simulated paintball games. Once they launched their Website to market this product, the company received a call from the military expressing interest in using the product to enhance training for soldiers. According to Mil-Sim-Fx Spokesperson Janet Pettinger, when the company realized there were military applications for its technologies, it dropped paintball-related products from its catalog and focused on making tools that enable military training.
Mil-Sim-Fx’s products that assist JTCOIC with its training exercises include the suicide vest simulator kit, which contains realistic pipe bomb technology that explodes with powder to replicate the look and feel of these devices. In this and other nonpyrotechnic applications, a blast of carbon dioxide into a container of talcum powder, or similar substance, creates a cloudy explosion without fire.
Of note, Mil-Sim-Fx’s strategy to use newer, non-pyrotechnic versions of IED trainers is shared by its rival, Colorado Springs-based Combat Training Solutions. Other Mil-Sim-Fx efforts support mounted convoy operations, which give users the options of re-creating daytime or nighttime enemy attacks. They also include landmines, which can be easily installed and detonated and are highly adaptable to the military’s training needs.
Pettinger said these products are designed to produce the look and feel of IED threats, while eliciting the appropriate physiological and psychological responses associated with an attack.
“It’s the difference between having somebody behind you say, ‘boom,’ and actually having somebody with a suicide vest simulator behind you explode, and you’re both enveloped in powder and your ears ring because of the burst from the explosive,” she said. “It’s just a better way of training because it’s more memory enhancing.”
Mil-Sim-Fx and Combat Training Solutions’ product underpinnings contrast with those of pyrotechnic producers, including Swiss-based Ruag. At previous ITEC and I/ITSEC events, Ruag demonstrated the principles of its IED simulators for MT2. The company’s marketing philosophy notes that its safely engineered and safe to operate pyrotechnics add fidelity to the training experience.
Another company that provides vital products and services for JTCOIC’s training objectives is Cubic. Although the company does offer IED training products overseas, its main focus is on the training services it provides, which include personnel that will replicate all aspects of an attack, even role playing as the enemy that soldiers are fighting. In addition, the company videotapes the exercises in order to illustrate trainees’ strengths and weaknesses during an exercise.
Cubic’s portfolio includes the Mission Support Contract at Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk. “This enables the unit to see themselves and how they conducted a counter-IED drill,” said Thomas “Woody” Woodhams, deputy program manager for Cubic Applications Inc. “That’s an excellent form of feedback to the training units to see what they did wrong and how they can avoid it.” Agile and highly adaptive terrorist and insurgent groups in Afghanistan and Iraq use a variety of ordnance in their IEDs. Inert Products includes these most recent battlefield developments in its IED training products. This year the company produced a new line of solid replica ordnance made from an unbreakable material specifically designed for use as military ordnance training aids. “These replica items include many foreign military munitions commonly used in IED construction. These foreign items are nearly impossible to find in the U.S.; however, they are required materials for even the most basic IED training,” Robert Rozzi, president, Inert Products, told MT2. The company’s popular new replica products include 155 mm artillery projectile; 155 mm M1A1 artillery projectile; 152 mm Russian artillery projectile; 130 mm artillery Russian projectile; 122 mm Russian artillery projectile; 107 mm rocket; 82 mm Russian mortar round; PG-7 rockets; and most recently, the rocket-propelled grenade launcher, which loads the complete replica rockets. Rozzi added that during the next six months, Inert Products “will be adding several more ordnance training kits, including a landmine training kit, as well as replica 120 mm tank rounds, PG-9 and other various rockets, and a complete range of hand grenades.” NEW FRONTIER Orlando-based Harrington Group’s Vigilance IED game caught the community’s attention at 2007 I/ITSEC. Vigilance won a Serious Game Award at the conference and provided DoD trainers with a new frontier to explore for IED training. The Harrington Group collaborated with video game mainstays Crytek and Scaleform to advance the product. The Army has evaluated Vigilance for its training program. ♦
For more information, contact MT2 Editor Marty Kauchak or search our online archives for related stories .