RUAG Awarded Contract to Supply 48 Crew Training Simulators for French Army VBCI
27 September 2007 14:15
RUAG, in collaboration with its local partner, GAVAP, has been awarded a contract by the French MoD for the delivery of a total of 48 tactical simulators for the new VBCI (Véhicule Blindé de Combat d'Infanterie) infantry fighting vehicle. This major contract, worth over €30 million, solidly places RUAG in the French market, which it first entered two years ago with a successful bid for the delivery of 4300 weapon infantry laser tactical effects simulation systems.
RUAG and GAVAP beat strong international competition to win the contract, competition which included the traditional simulation suppliers to the French Army. The project, called STES (Simulateurs de Tir d'Equipage et de Séction) includes the development and production of 48 simulators with instructor stations, as well as the maintenance and construction of ten standard buildings in which the simulators are to be installed. The contract runs into 2015, with deliveries of the first simulators due in 15 months.
The VBCI vehicle is currently in its final user test phase. In total, its supplier NEXTER (formerly GIAT) will deliver 700 of these vehicles to the French Army. Two different versions of the VBCI will be produced; one fitted with a 25mm cannon, the other with a 12.7mm machine gun. Gunners and commanders will be trained on the STES simulators which will be housed at nine different sites in France, as well as one in Germany.
This contract follows the current trend of procuring simulators parallel to procurement of the service vehicles. No soldier will set foot in the real vehicle before having successfully completed the simulator courses, under the motto 'training comes first'.
The simulator will be employed for the following levels of training:
- Individual basic training for commanders and gunners
- Team training to teach the interaction between the commander and gunner
- Tactical training for company commander and platoon leader
- Complete tactical training in a unit – up to eight simulators can be linked together (should the platoon be incomplete, the missing vehicles can be simulated with computer-generated forces).
The following prominent features have also been integrated into the simulator:
- Simulation of dismounted infantry as well as civilians in the MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) scenarios
- Man in the loop: The vehicle commander can control the infantrymen within the virtual landscape via a 2D map in order to combat objectives
- Mission preparation and rehearsal: The client can import either new or existing army visual databases onto the STES
- High level architecture gateway: interfaces with other simulators (i.e. VBCI 'SIEP' driving simulator)
- Delivered with 200 pre-programmed scenarios
- MS-Office integration, ie., automatic creation of MS Power Point presentations for briefing and de-briefing (AAR), including screen shots and videos.
More information regarding RUAG and its products can be found via the link below.
For more information on this company:
RUAG Electronics - Training and Simulation for Land Forces
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