�Military Simulation Trajectories�–�Past, Present & Future?

Andy Fawkes | Joint Military Training & Simulation Conference | Bristol |

5/6 March 2024

Career

• 1985 - 2000 - RCNC/MoD - Submarines

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• 2000 - 2012 - MoD - Simulation & Training

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• 2012 - Now - Industry/Media - Simulation & Training

What are We Seeking in Training?

Faster

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Cheaper

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Better

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Flexible

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Multi-Domain

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Greener

The Requirement

There is a need to bring teams and teams of teams together to experiment, train and collaborate in complex multi-domain (and Joint) battlespace operations …

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the first time should not be in the face of an enemy

UK Multi-Domain Integration Guidance - Jan 22

Past

Dome Trainer Portsmouth�1951��Pathé

USAF Capt Jack Thorpe’s White Paper (1978)

"advances which are seen on the horizon are not simple improvements in teaching techniques or higher fidelity simulators, but rather bold concepts which tightly align training systems with real combat readiness and make them indistinguishable.“

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Mission execution with real time observation

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Air crews rehearse the plan and planners assess suitability

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Planning a response using the holographic electronic sand table

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Enemy aggression detected by overhead sensor

Ref. I/ITSEC 2010 “Trends in Modelling, Simulation and Gaming: Personal observations about the past 30 years and speculating about the next 10” Jack Thorpe PhD & SIMNET: An Insider’s Perspective: Neale Cosby - March 1995

Still Relevant …��DARPA (Cybernetics�Technology�Office�1977-1980)�-�J. Dextor Fletcher

• Fletcher proposed a Tank Team Gunnery Trainer (TTGT) for tank gunnery training, where both live training and traditional simulators ($18m) were high cost.

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• DARPA tank gunnery trainer objectives:
1. Procured in quantity for $10,000 or less each;
2. accessible, for example as a stand-alone "game" in military barracks or dayrooms;
3. motivating, for example in supporting competitive score keeping;
4. of sufficient fidelity to satisfy the training objectives, within the cost constraints; and
5. suitable for documenting training effectiveness in terms of transfer-of-training data”.

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• The TTGT concept was based on networked trainers viewing a single videodisc-generated scene, with the trainees competing to the first to sight and fire at an "enemy" tank.

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An Historical Review Of Selected

DARPA Projects 1991

SIMNET�1980s��SIMulator NETworking

SIMNET: An Insider’s Perspective: Neale Cosby - March 1995

SIMNET M1 Tank Simulator�1986��https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6596895

SIMNET & Battle Force In-Port Trainer (BFIT) (1990/91)

“We had Army, Navy and Marines all playing in the same network on their own systems, that's the first time that has ever been done.

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Right now we can put on a very complex battalion level battle and have your new weapons system or your new tactical organisation try to operate in that environment.

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See how it works out, with real soldiers driving, real sergeants gunning, real soldiers trying to command and control your new force out there on the battlefield.

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One of the neat things we're able to do, for example, would be to have naval call for fire being called for by the Marine crewman in the tanks here at Fort Knox and by the aviation crewmen who were flying the helicopters.

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As we flew over the USS Wasp icon that we saw in our screens our signal showed up on their radar screens, which is an amazing feat when you think of that.

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It's actually going to be a revolution.“

www.jimmillar.net/BBN.html

US Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on Advanced M&S (21 May 1992)�Dr Victor H. Reis, Director Defense Research & Engineering

“Network simulation is a technology that elevates and strengthens the collective problem-solving abilities of human beings.

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People acting as teams, learning and getting better, and this is true whether they are design teams, manufacturing teams, education teams, training teams, acquisition teams or warfighting teams.

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Network simulation with modern information technology can connect people together in an aligned, coherent, integrated enterprise.

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It is at the very heart of the department's technology strategy.”

Video

www.youtube.com/@mikezyda/videos

Thorpe’s SIMNET Distributed Simulation Vision (early 1990s)

Ref. I/ITSEC 2010 “Trends in Modelling, Simulation and Gaming: Personal observations about the past 30 years and speculating about the next 10” Jack Thorpe PhD

DIVE�UK Dismounted Infantry Virtual Environment (2002)��(QinetiQ)

2002 - Training Cost Effectiveness?

NATO�Exercise First WAVE�2004

• Aimed at enhancing the readiness of aviators and supporting staff
• A collaboration of seven nations - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, UK, and the US
• Distributed international collective training leveraging national simulation resources and expertise

Aircrew Mission Training via Distributed Simulation (MTDS) – Development of the Multi-Country Complex Synthetic Environment;

David A. Greschke; Dr. Stefano Cerutti; NATO/RTO

Fleet Synthetic Training�FST-J��2006 ish

“This is the way we are going to train in future”

Type 23 Operations Room (simulator)

Type 22 Frigate, Type 23 Frigate, Type 42 Destroyer

+ Flight Sim (Bedford)

Combined Tactical Trainer

HMS Dryad

www.computinghistory.org.uk/pages/16755/History-of-the-Cook-Building-at-MoD-Southwick-Park-(Formerly-HMS-Dryad)

USN Carrier Group

German Navy

MoD Journey�-�Joint Training & Simulation

• 2005 – Common/Joint Simulation Infrastructure (JCNTC)
• Project funding line established; Op JCOVE

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• TELIC/HERRICK

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• 2008 - UK MoD Simulation Strategy
• More Adaptive, Responsive and Cost Effective Simulation
• Common Network, Open Standards, COTS/GOTS, Common URD/SRD Statements

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• 2010 – SDSR (Strategic Review)
• Save Money!
• Targets to Transfer Live Training to Simulation and Instrument Live Training

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• 2012 - Defence Training & Education Capability (DTEC)
• Training System Investment BOI (e.g. iPad v Big Sim); Common M&S Catalogue and DSC

what if in future we could simulate the world such that we could not tell the difference between the simulation and the real world?�

���UK Virtual Reality in Land Training�(VRLT) Pilot��2019

The aim of the VRLT pilot was to identify the opportunities that Virtual Reality technology offered the CTTP Future Collective Training System

RAND Report (2019)

Present

XR

XR for Professional Use

Support

Credit – Kognitiv Spark

BAE Systems’ Striker® II Helmet-Mounted Display (HMD) – Late 2020s

Eye Tracking

User Interfaces

• Gesture Interfaces

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• Tangible User Interface

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• Emotion Sensing

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• Brain-Computer Interface

Human�Data

Data Exploitation in Military Training

• USAF Pilot Training Next & Pilot Training Transformation initiatives
• Explored wearable biometric devices to collect and monitor physiological data, such as changes in heart rate.
• Instruction was assisted by data collection software and artificial intelligence-based applications designed to assist students in identifying training tasks for self-guided learning.

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• The British Army’s Collective Training Transformation Programme (CTTP) has placed emphasis on training data exploitation:
• “data will be captured and exploited to drive change and efficiency … creating the ability to dynamically control the training environment to set an appropriate level of complexity and challenge … and bring data to a single place for analysis, with common data standards enabling an ambitious use of data analytics pan-Army”

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• UK Royal Air Force (RAF) Project iDAS (immersive Data driven Airmanship Simulator)
• Aimed at helping the explore the benefits of data analysis to assess pilot behaviour and identify characteristics of good airmanship.

US Congressional Research Service Report - U.S. Air Force Pilot Training Transformation (PTT) - Jan 23

Future Collective Training System Blueprint Iteration 1.5 (Releasable to Industry)

UK Air Training Capabilities - Data Stovepipes?

WIST

MSHTF

STARS

MFTS

TyTan

TFST

Gladiator

F-35

iASTC

(JFST)

C17

UAV

E-3

A400M

C-130

P-8

Apache

LTPA

Warfighter Data Here, There, Everywhere

“(Personal) Data is hard to access, technology is ageing, and processes and culture are not suited to the information age. ��A fractured ecosystem has created the need for manual workarounds and interventions across the force�…��With many systems in play that either speak different data languages or are unable to communicate at all, there is no single view of data across the Armed Forces.”

Warfighter Digital Twin?�-�Uniting Warfighter Data across multiple applications including training & education, operations, health, research, acquisition, & career management��Digihuman?

Defence Acquisition Strategies?

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• CTTP/ACTS – 2018 … ?

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• Gladiator … Contract 2019

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• Spartan?

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• Strat Com? – 4 CASTs?

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Compete or Collaborate?

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The underlying technology is become more common and more commoditised

Networks, software, hardware

Future?

Recent Work

• Home Office
• XR Headset Data Framework
• Learning from Computer Games
• Dstl
• Gaming Ecosystem Study
• Military Metaverse study
• Military Metaverse Sandpit
• Simulation Enterprise Analysis Study
• Novel Simulation
• XR Standards and Security
• Data and Evaluation
• Learning Futures

Learning�Futures

• AI-Supported Learning

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• Holodeck in Every Barracks

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• Ubiquitous Learning

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• Brain-Computer Interfaces

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• Persistent LVC

But … Do This First

Sep 2021

May 2021

Feb 2023

Holodeck?

AI …

Interactive World/Game Generation

Text to Video

In Vogue�Tech Speak

Metaverse

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“Spatial Computing”

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Metaverse?

It’s All Science Fiction

1984 – Created by Gibson, the word “Cyberspace” is popularised and “had no real semantic meaning”

a "mass consensual hallucination" in computer networks

1992 – Stephenson creates the word “Metaverse” a portmanteau of "meta" (meaning beyond) and “universe”

“ … a computer-generated universe …”

Physical World

Digital World

Some Contemporary Metaverse Descriptions …

“The metaverse is a seamless convergence of our physical and digital lives, creating a unified, virtual community where we can work, play, relax, transact and socialize.’

“Opportunities in the metaverse” 2022

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“The metaverse enables us to embed computing into the real world and to embed the real world into computing ...”

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Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft, Microsoft Ignite Nov 2021

A Defence Perspective on the Metaverse

For defence, the metaverse signifies a convergence of technologies and cultures,

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representing the next evolution of computing, a trend from 2D to 3D interaction and immersion between humans, machines and the digital world.

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The real world is three-dimensional, and increasingly the digital world will be too.

Military Metaverse

Computing Hardware

Software

Networking & Security

Human-Computing Interfaces

Data & Digital Twins

AI, Data & Analytics

Automation & Robotics

It’s Bringing Everything Together that Matters the Most

Defence Digital Backbone

MILITARY METAVERSE�CONOPS�2035��aka�Persistent Secure Networked Distributed LVC Simulation

Converging Domains

�NATO�Allied Command Transformation Strategic Foresight Analysis 2023

• Within two decades, an overwhelming majority of the population will have access to the internet and mobile devices, along with virtually a limitless amount of information, while the distinction between the physical and virtual dimensions will decrease.

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• Infinite alternative worlds may emerge in the virtual dimension, unbounded by physical limitations, and eventually the convergence of physical and non-physical (virtual) realities fused into metaverses will further increase variations of realities and perceptions. The expansion of competition from the physical to virtual and cognitive dimensions significantly impacts the continuum and character of conflict…

Dual-Domain?

The convergence of virtual and physical spaces

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Virtual infiltration could precede physical entry

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A dual-domain approach allows for the creation of new tactics, techniques, and procedures to navigate and control the multi-domain battlefield

�War is Virtual Hell: Bruce Sterling Reports Back from the Electronic Battlefield 1-1-1993

The whole massive, lethal superpower infrastructure comes unfolding out of 21st-century cyberspace …

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The Reserve guys from the bowling leagues suddenly reveal themselves to be digitally assisted Top Gun veterans from a hundred weekend cyberspace campaigns …

“All but �War is�Simulation”

Still the Ultimate Simulator?

Wikipedia

Questions?

Andy Fawkes

Joint Military Training & Simulation Conference Bristol

5/6 March 2024

andy.fawkes@thinke.co.uk