Thousands of British troops training in huge virtual battlefield
Thousands of British soldiers are undergoing battlefield training in a highly realistic computer simulation that has recreated the planet.
More soldiers than ever are learning how to use kit, command vehicles and master terrain in the furthest-flung reaches of the globe.
The 3D simulation is unlike console war games such as Call of Duty in that it has heightened realism and accuracy which can transfer to real-world skills such as tank driving, reacting to an ambush or flying a fighter jet.
During the pandemic, the Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim) software has taken on added importance, with the number of British units and regiments using the licences at an all-time high.
Overall, hundreds of thousands of personnel serving Western nations and friendly countries are now using the virtual realm, mainly via the desktop or through virtual reality headsets.
The company, which has been working with the Ministry of Defence for five years, and has experienced an upsurge in demand during the pandemic.
Known as ‘serious gaming’, the latest version, VBS4, which was released last year, can be played online, in cockpit simulators or with headsets in networked classes of between four and 30 people.
Rusty Orwin, a former Army major who is now BISim’s head of sales for the UK and Ireland, told Metro.co.uk the technology is being used by all arms of the British forces.
Mr Orwin said: ‘An infantry soldier, artillery fire controller and a pilot can all be in the same environment for combined arms training with the opportunities they wouldn’t have in reality because of the availability of assets, the costs and the location.
‘In the simulation with the global scale and accuracy, you can have that. For example, for an event we did a year or so ago we had the Royal Artillery firing, we had the tanks firing and the Army Air Corps doing their stuff.
‘To co-ordinate that would take months. It raises your familiarity, skill level and awareness and once you’ve done the training you can review how you performed in the event, which is critical.
‘You can also try to do something you wouldn’t otherwise be able to do, you can almost do the unthinkable, which I’ll leave to people’s imaginations, to see what the outcome would be.’
Founded in Australia two decades ago by then serving military officers Peter Morrison and Mark Dzulko, BISim first set out to adapt a commercial war game called Operation Flashpoint for military use.
The resulting VBS series has since been used to learn lessons from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts and is now used for military purposes in 60 countries and across 80 sites in the UK.
Western military customers, including the US Marine Corps, are the main buyers of the licenses from the now global company, with a smaller number of civilian groups also using the software.
Licenses are sold to friendly nations and not to the West’s adversaries.
In the latest iteration, VBS4, a starter-kit Earth is provided for users, who can add battlefields, towns and cities and terrain down to minute details such as swaying grass.
Real-world data such as road maps and longitude and latitude and accurate distance views have been factored in to ensure the high-fidelity world has a practical use.
Within 10 seconds, users can travel anywhere on the planet with the corresponding layout of roads and buildings from which to create rich and highly-detailed environments, such as forest valleys from where Apache helicopters can fire missiles at the enemy.
Salisbury Plain Training Area, which has been recreated by BISim’s UK team, is especially familiar to Mr Orwin from his 14 years with the Royal Irish Regiment.
‘We built it right down to each brick of each building in the urban training village,’ he said.
‘You can go into that village and find the brick and find the graffiti, its aggregate to the day we took the imagery.
‘It gives me the shivers because I spent so much time there when I was in the Army.’
Real-world results include Warrior tank drivers undertaking a hazardous drive over the lip of a hill being found to have performed better having first practised in VBS4.
Mr Orwin, who is part of team of 80 in the UK, said: ‘During the pandemic demand for licences went up with the disruption that was caused to training.
‘People realised very quickly that simulations are a pretty resilient thing and we found that as regular events were postponed unusual regiments and units were asking for the simulation.
‘One reservist unit, the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry, had about thirty people scattered across Scotland, Northern Ireland and Australia and they used the simulation to bring their training to life.
‘Our software is being used by hundreds of thousands of soldiers, sailors and air personnel throughout the world each year.’
With the British Army’s defence review emphasising technology such as drones and cyber warfare over manpower, the virtual space is likely to play an even greater role in military training.
Mr Orwin said: ‘Although most people realise its value, picking up a console and gaming is second nature to younger soldiers moving up the ranks and they are coming in at a time when the British military wants to do more simulation training.
‘It’s not about saving money, if you can increase the basic skill level then by extension you should perform better in operation.
‘It’s not perfect, but the demand speaks for itself.
‘To me, having the ability to train in realistic settings anywhere on Earth, at any time, is pretty cutting edge and puts the British military at the tip of the changes that are taking place.’
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