Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff

With sadness, KMI Media Group announces the passing of our friend and co-worker, Copy Editor Diana L. McGonigle, who died August 15. A skilled editor with a fierce dedication to accuracy and timeliness, Diana had been a valued member of the KMI team since 2005. She will be missed.

ADF Taps VBS2 Lite

Calytrix, in partnership with Bohemia Interactive, has delivered VBS2 Lite to the Australian Defence Force. Providing similar functions to the full version of VBS2, the ‘Lite’ version focuses on specific missions.

in Afghanistan. Calytrix has used specially developed terrain to replicate Tarin Kowt in Afghanistan to enable ADF members to visualize the terrain overseas and practice specific missions. Shawn Parr, managing director, Calytix, told MT2 that VBS2 Lite ADF ships with highly detailed and correlated terrain sets for VBS2, JSAF and OneSAF. “The JSAF and OneSAF terrains were generated by TerraTools from TerraSim (www.terrasim.com). TerraSim leads the way in production of accurate correlated terrain databases for multiple simulation environments.” And Parr noted that unlike previous VBS2 Lite releases, the ADF version ships with Calytrix’s LVC Game and a pre-built UAV scenario. “With the inclusion of TerraSim’s correlated terrain databases for the constructive simulation programs JSAF and OneSAF, this delivery combination allows ‘out of the box’ use of VBS2 with JSAF and OneSAF.” Discussions with U.S. military representatives about this product upgrade have also occurred, according to Parr.

Shawn Parr: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 

CH-47 Simulation Support Announced

L-3 Link Simulation & Training (L-3 Link) has been awarded a $31.8 million contract modification from Computer Sciences Corp. in support of the U.S. Army’s Flight School XXI program. L-3 Link will provide CH-47F Chinook simulation support over the life of the Flight School XXI program. L-3 Link will build the program’s first full-motion, high-fidelity CH-47F Operational Flight Trainer. Building this simulator represents the 31st training device L-3 Link will have delivered in support of the Flight School XXI program. The CH-47F Operational Flight Trainer is scheduled to complete accreditation testing and gain release for training authorization in November 2011.

“The CH-47F Operational Flight Trainer will be integrated with a six-degrees-of-freedom electric motion system and a secondary motion system to simulate aircraft vibrations. Chinook aircrews will view out-the-window computer-generated imagery, produced by a personal computer-based image generation system, through both wide field-of-view and chin window displays,” read a statement provided to MT2. The statement added, “The wide field-of-view visual display, which will be integrated with modern liquid crystal on silicon projectors, will span 200 degrees (horizontally) by 45 degrees (vertically).”

The trainer’s high-fidelity cockpit software will accurately simulate the CH-47F’s engine, electrical, hydraulic, navigation and communication systems, in addition to weapons, sensors and aircraft survivability equipment. An electrically driven servo flight control system, and sticks and grips that replicate CH-47F hardware combine to provide high-fidelity aircrew training under either normal or emergency conditions. This will be the first simulator built by L-3 Link to incorporate a common avionics architecture system simulation, which includes five 6 x 8-inch night vision-compatible multi-function displays and two control display units.

Bill Durham: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 

Cubic Selected to Provide Joint Training Support to AFRICOM J7

Cubic Applications Inc., a mission support services business of Cubic Corp., received a contract for joint training and exercise support to the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). Cubic will furnish subject matter experts and will develop and execute training exercises for the AFRICOM J7 Joint Training and Exercise Division.

Cubic’s Information Operations Division, based in San Diego, started the new AFRICOM J7 support contract in June. “The initial work will be performed at the AFRICOM headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. Further taskings could include the development and support of AFRICOM-sponsored exercises in Europe, Africa and elsewhere as required,” read a company statement.

The AFRICOM J7 support contract includes one base and two option years.

Al Sargeant: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 

Aerosonde UAS Training Package Highlighted

AAI recently unveiled and demonstrated the Aerosonde Mark 4.7 unmanned aircraft system as a contender for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps joint small tactical unmanned aircraft system.

Steve Flach, division vice president, small unmanned aircraft systems, told MT2 that there is an extended training package that AAI developed with its existing customer. “We are improving upon it to include the 4.7 system, which includes the launch and recovery trailer and the family of GCS products. We will have a training curriculum that [allows us] to take a Shadow operator and put him in the seat of an Aerosonde mission or vice versa.”

AAI has built a simulator for the Aerosonde system and has delivered two to its existing customer. “This enables full mission profile with planning, training, operations and maintenance. It is all embedded with the expeditionary GCS or a separate workstation,” he added.

Rex Hayes: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 

Thea Lite Viewer Released

Presagis released its new GUI-based viewer, Thea Lite 1.0. The free downloadable viewer is a visualization application for viewing and sharing synthetic environments. Ideal for spatial analysis, intelligence gathering, planning and information analysis, Thea Lite makes the visualization of Open Flight, MetaFlight, Terrapage and CDB databases accessible through an intuitive interface.

Thea Lite is based on Vega Prime and leverages the most deployed COTS scene graph framework to offer a simple way to present and visualize geospatial data. All the basic viewer capabilities, including essential content enhancement as well as navigation and environmental parameter manipulation, are available without licensing or distribution restrictions.

“Whether you are creating a virtual environment and want to visualize it or you are deployed in the field and need to access tactical geographic information, Thea Lite offers quick and easy virtual environment viewing,” Robert Kopersiewich, vice president, Product and Program Management, told MT2. “Based on the Vega Prime toolkit, it allows you to simply view and navigate through databases including OpenFlight and CDB. With Thea Lite, companies and organizations can visualize and share geographic information faster, increase collaboration and save on licensing costs.”

Thea Lite is available to download on the Presagis Website by visiting: www.presagis.com/products/visualization/thea_lite/.

Tracey Ades: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Boost for Distributed Simulation Network Security

Trusted Computer Solutions Inc. announced that the company’s Linuxbased SimShield product is now certified at the Secret and Below Interoperability (SABI) level. Over the last year, Pacific Air Force (PACAF) and the 353 Combat Training Squadron (CTS) lead the effort to take SimShield through the SABI certification process. As a result of this effort, their distributed simulation networks, which operate under different security classifications, can now communicate securely with one another.

“As the largest instrumented air, ground and electronic combat training range in the world, Pacific Alaska Range Complex Air Combat Training System (PARC ACTS) is PACAF’s premiere joint combat training venue for Red Flag–Alaska. PARC ACTS uses SimShield to provide the capability to label, segregate, protect and exchange data between Testing and Training Enabling Architecture systems that are at different sensitivity or classification levels,” read a company statement provided to MT2.

Rob Konosky: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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