The U.S. Army is revolutionizing how it trains troops through the use of virtual gaming and cloud-based technologies. Army officials describe a future where units could be trained with new skills or hone existing ones right before deployment, or in the theater of operations.
The Synthetic Training Environment (STE) will allow forces to simulate complex operations in dense urban environments, explained Brig. Gen. Maria Gervais, deputy commanding general of the Combined Arms Center - Training at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Above all, the STE will provide low-cost, scalable, multi-echelon training optimized for human performance, she said in October at the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting in Washington.
A major goal of STE is overcoming the limitations of old-school simulator technology. Current simulators rely on fixed locations, which causes scheduling issues because units must be onsite to train. Simulators are also expensive due to contractor overhead and are limited in how many soldiers they can train at one time, Gervais added. These simulators work well for some types of training, such as for vehicle crews, but they are not flexible in allowing troops to train "where or how we would fight," she said.
STE creates an immersive setting, allowing troops to familiarize themselves with an operational environment before they deploy. The capability could also allow units to integrate mission data and site reports from deployed forces to provide a more focused training experience, the general explained. She added that the capability will also allow Army units to train with regional and allied forces and help maintain readiness.
The Army is currently evaluating a variety of technologies for STE. Gervais noted that STE is not a program of record but an evaluation of existing capabilities that will likely result in one or more programs of record. The service is currently validating a number of technologies and examining where they might fit into existing gaps in training and requirements. Gervais anticipates that this evaluation process will take 12 to 18 months to complete with the goal of introducing new training technologies as early as 2020, continuing the process through 2030.
As the Army's next phase for training, STE will help to make training simulations more uniform, flexible, accessible and shared between deployed units across echelons, Gervais said. One challenge is that the Army has traditionally consolidated its simulation training centers. To facilitate anytime, anywhere training that can scale to accommodate multiple units and echelons, the Army is looking at cloud-based capabilities, she added. Moving to the cloud provides the surge capability to train very large units and it also frees forces from having to travel to fixed locations for simulator exercises, she said.
But to reach its goals, the Army has to first evaluate possible technologies and create a common architecture. The general noted that such a multi-domain common architecture would help mitigate some of the interoperability issues faced by current systems. Another challenge is creating a global database of high-fidelity, seamless terrain maps of existing cities and potential areas of operation that can be quickly loaded into training software. An important part of this effort is finding or creating an appropriate gaming engine to run the training software on. An ideal goal would be to find a system that can run "out of the box," avoiding the cost and time spent developing an in-house solution. The Army is reaching out to the gaming industry for expertise to develop an engine that can scale to meet the service's needs, she added.
A final, important consideration is ensuring that coalition partners can use the STE. The Army is working with the J7 staff and coalition partners to maintain interoperability as new training technologies roll out from the STE, Gervais said.
