Editor's Perspective
The winds of war are changing. With the heightened emphasis on the nation’s economy, it may have been easy to lose track of President Obama’s order to send an additional 17,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan—with the ossibility of more forces on the way.
This deployment and the shift of focus from the Iraq to Afghan theaters have huge implications and opportunities for the government/industry team. General Martin Dempsey, commander, TRADOC, noted there will be “changes in the training on how to work with the local population and operating in a different physical environment.” And that’s just for starters.
DoD is also ready to compete the contract for the MRAP all terrain vehicle—specifically designed to operate in an Afghanistan-like environment. This new fleet of vehicles is expected to require technology-enabled instruction for its operators and maintainers. And there will be an expanded requirement for technology-enabled learning for languages and cultures that are found in the Afghan theater of operations. More requirements are certain to evolve in short order.
Shifting course, I continue to closely follow another trend: DoD’s insatiable appetite for unmanned aerial systems. As the UAS fleets expand, I remain impressed with the increased fidelity in the systems’ training processes for operators and maintainers. The service/industry team has responded magnificently to the warfighters’ unyielding demand for high-fidelity training. The service men and women who take these systems into harm’s way use part-task trainers, scenarios with geo-specific databases and other tools to learn and refresh their skills. There is no room for error in UAS missions, and the fielded training systems help meet these expectations.
MT2 will dedicate a significant part of its editorial program in issue 14.4 (August) to DoD UAS training developments.
I look forward to your comments and feedback.
