UK-based Close Air Solutions has been experimenting with the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality device for use in JTAC training. In this video, consultant Daniel Meeks wanted to try out the use of Head Mounted Displays for role players in Close Air Support scenarios. They used the Oculus Rift with MetaVR’s VRSG (Virtual Reality Scene Generator) for the aircrews but it can be used by the JTAC as well. As Oculus Rift decreases latency, it’s going to become a great tool for training and simulation.
Close Air Solutions has a developmental simulator called iCASS (Immersive Close Air Support Simulator). It’s a lower cost solution for countries that may want something greater than a desktop simulator and less than the full Advanced Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) Training System (AJTS) dome simulator used here in the US. The software in the simulator is almost identical, however it uses a MACE/VRSG based sim. This is the software used by all the STSs, JTACQC, and soon to be all active duty ASOS’s. The ANG, as usual, is using something a little different, AAJTS.
Any JTAC will tell you, nothing beats doing the real thing like going to the range and controlling live aircraft, but the reality is that will happen less and less over the next few years for just about everyone around the world. Close Air Solutions is working on solutions that will keep a JTAC tuned up so he will get the most out of any actual range time.
The simulator is only going to get better over the next coming years as Virtual Reality consumer products come online making training very affordable and dependable. The software is continually improving as well. Meeks has suggested that omnidirectional treadmills and motion tracking will eventually be incorporated leaving a student sweaty and tired after a session in the dome, yet hopefully, smarter.
Until we get there, this video from Exercise Ample Strike 2014 in the Czech Republic shows you what is possible in the now with iCASS.
