'Laser tag' prepares troops for front lines
Training program at CFB Wainwright means more troops, $500 million in improvements
Jim Farrell
The Edmonton Journal
03 Jul 05
EDMONTON - Laser tag never had this much pizzazz.
In April 2006, 1,000 Canadian soldiers will arrive at Camp Wainwright to fight a month-long bloodless battle involving lasers galore to simulate real warfare. Many soldiers liken the simulation more to Star Wars. And with good reason. When a beam from an enemy's laser-rigged rifle touches a soldier, he may "die." He may be badly or only slightly wounded. It all depends on which of the 14 detectors on his helmet or battle vest the beam brushes. If his computerized battle vest determines he has been killed, a red light will flash and a speaker in his vest will emit an annoying buzz. The sound won't stop until he lies down and plays dead.
A radio in his vest will beam news of his death back to a building filled with computers, transmission and receiving systems, training staff and a large theatre where commanders and instructors can watch the action in real time. Later, they can run the tapes to see how the soldier died, as they try to understand what he could have done to survive.
The technological bag of ticks at the Combat Manoeuvre Training Centre at Wainwright, 180 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, doesn't stop there, Capt. Tom St. Denis says. "If the soldier is just injured, the speaker will tell him he is injured and how badly, " says St. Denis, the CMTC's media relations officer. If the soldier is lightly wounded, he will still be able to fire a blank round with his rifle and the rifle's laser unit will send a blast of light where he is aiming. If his computer decides he is critically wounded, his rifle won't fire but it can be picked up and fired by one of his buddies. The rifle will talk to that healthy soldier's vest and determine it's been handed off. Meanwhile, the critically injured soldier will begin to "die."
"If you are critically injured, your life timer starts to tick down," says St. Denis. "It tells you how many minutes of life you have left but there are certain things you can do that will retard the unit." If a medic comes along, the medic can indicate to the injured soldier's vest-computer that he has performed an intervention. "The life timer will be retarded but it's still ticking down so his buddies will have to stabilize the injured soldier and get him out of the field."
This computerized system will be able to replicate virtually anything that happens on the battlefield. When artillery takes aim, the electronic equivalent of a cannon round flies downrange. At least, that's what the computers back at the centre's Exercise Control Facility (EXCON) believe. The computers decide the theoretical effects of the resulting blast and display the results on training-staff monitors, and perhaps in real-time on a big screen. Any soldiers within the killing area of the virtual blast hear from the speakers in their instrumented vests that they are dead.
"The actual planning for this system started about a decade ago," says Brig. Gen. Stuart Beare, who will oversee the system as the army's head of Land Force Doctrine and Training from his new headquarters in Kingston. "In simple terms, it's the 'laser tag' system of the 21st century which allows us to simulate direct fire such as rifle and tank fire, indirect fire such as mortars, artillery and hand grenades plus chemical, biological and radiological threats," says Beare, who until recently was head of Land Force Western Area.
When they arrive at the CMTC, each infantry soldier will be issued a rifle equipped with a laser transmitter and a vest filled with electronic gear that is hooked up to a special helmet. The vest carries a satellite tracking unit so the data centre knows where the soldier is. An electronic receiver-transmitter unit will tell the centre's computers everything the soldier does or whatever is done to him. Tanks, armoured personnel carriers, even trucks and jeeps will be similarly equipped.
If a tank takes a virtual hit, the effects of the anti-tank round will be assessed by sensors attached to the skin of the tank. The tank's crew may then be told their vehicle can no longer move but it can still fire its gun. They may be told their tank can still move but it can no longer fire its gun or it can no longer communicate because its radios have been destroyed. In the worst case they will be told their tank has been destroyed, a status that will be signalled to everyone in the area by a flashing red light on top of the tank.
The monitors mounted on soldiers' vests or on their battle vehicles may tell them all manner of bad news. They may be told they have been killed by a poison gas attack. They may be told a booby-trap bomb has exploded beside their vehicle. They and their vehicle must then play dead or pretend they are disabled, whatever the computers tell them.
The vest-mounted soldier systems were tested at Wainwright last November. This November, there will be trials for the vehicle-borne systems.
"In April of next year, the area and direct fire systems -- the whole enchilada -- will be operational," says Beare. When that happens, the first 1,000-soldier battle group will arrive to begin four weeks of realistic battlefield training.
The CMTC may also field up to 500 "environmental actors" to simulate all manner of situations. Some of those actors -- usually full-time instructors -- will represent enemy soldiers. Some may play the part of terrorists or militia and dress in the civilian clothes of countries like Afghanistan. Other actors will represent civilian non-combatants, the kind of people soldiers are supposed to spare rather than kill. "Anyone can attack a farmhouse populated by bad guys," St. Denis says. "That's what we practised for during the Cold War. Now, we have to go into environments where we find both bad people and good people, and you don't want to alienate the good people. "This kind of warfare takes more than just firepower," says St. Denis.
Battlefield simulations at Wainwright's CMTC will involve all manner of vehicles. By this fall, 400-plus fighting vehicles will be stationed there. Most are members of the LAV (Light Armoured Vehicle) family, the kind of lightweight fighting vehicles the army will use if it has to deploy to the other side of the world in fleets of military air transports. There will also be more than 300 land transport vehicles available for training exercises.
Battle groups will get 28 days to practise the tactics they would use in the field.
Whether the training is by day or night, the actions of every soldier will be monitored electronically and assessed to determine who's winning, who's losing and who is making mistakes.
While commanders play back tapes at the assessment centre, soldiers in the field will also benefit from instant replay, St. Denis says. Observer controllers will erect tents near small-unit actions, set up projectors and capture data from the battle action. "After a section of 10 men or a platoon of 30-odd soldiers practises something like an attack on a village or town or a townhouse, the controller can say 'stop,' set up the projector and the guys can crowd into the tent to see how things went," St. Denis says.
A wide range of environments are being built to simulate areas where soldiers may be asked to fight or simply patrol and keep the peace. Tunnel and cave systems and even a "terrorist village" are being constructed. Wainwright is also getting new barracks and mess halls for the increasing number of soldiers who will train there as well as new married quarters for its expanded training staff. This type of training facility doesn't come cheap. By 2011, the cost of all new equipment and infrastructure plus the cost of operating the system will amount to $500 million.
Beare says Canada can't afford not to spend the money.
"The most advanced western countries already have this kind of training facility," he says. "The British Army has it in Suffield. The U.S. Army has it in Fort Polk Louisiana and at the National Training Center in California. "But by accident or by design, because we are entering into this technology at this stage we are getting the latest and greatest."
