UK Army receives Thales Talisman training system
The UK Army has taken delivery of the Thales Talisman Training System (T3S) from Thales UK to help support the Royal Engineers' interactive training, prior to the system’s deployment in Afghanistan.
The British Army has taken delivery of the Thales Talisman Training System (T3S) from Thales UK to help support the Royal Engineers' interactive training, prior to the system's deployment in Afghanistan.
Delivered as part of a contract secured in mid-2012, the trainer will be used by the UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD) Talisman Training Advisory Team (TTAT) for enhanced pre-deployment training to prepare soldiers to effectively use the system for combat logistic patrols in Afghanistan.
Developed using Thales's directed-fidelity concept, T3S features a complete Talisman troop training facility, including six representative vehicle bays with out-of-the-window views and control systems, 30 operator workstations, communications systems and after-action review facilities.
Specifically designed to enhance crew interaction and enable practicing of tactics, techniques and procedures, the system also supports integration of evolving threats and testing responses in an effort to bridge the gap between individual equipment-oriented training and live collective training.
TTAT commanding officer major Chris Eyre said: ''Using the new training system, 'what if' situations can be played out and later analysed to help improve operational effectiveness and develop new tactics.''
Scenarios that cannot be practiced during live training, such as incoming fire, combined arms actions, extreme weather, day/night operations, and joint Afghan National Army operations are simulated by T3S.
Thales has delivered three T3S systems to locations in the UK and Germany to date.
Talisman is an advanced system consisting of manned and unmanned vehicles that operate together as a system to investigate mines and improvised explosive devices on military supply routes in the battlefield.
Vehicles include Mastiff 2 protected patrol vehicle, Buffalo mine protected vehicle, JCB high-mobility engineer excavator, T-Hawk micro air vehicle, as well as the Talon tracked remote control vehicle.
Image: The Thales Talisman Training System enables crew to practice tactics, techniques and procedures of Talisman system prior to original deployment. Photo: courtesy of Thales.