Defense Technology International - December 2007 - (Page 20)

DISPATCHES GLOBAL DIGITAL RECON T the sta -ride team, says that when they first started, programs were usually geotypical, meaning they used models of buildings that would normally exist in an area. As the operation has been refined, however, programs use not only satellite imagery, but interviews with soldiers and photos of the scene to recreate buildings, roads, bridges, curbs Virtual rides give soldiers and even trees to reconstruct scenes as up-close view of battleﬁelds they actually existed. “The important thing for us is the terrain,” he says. “We try to stay true to the whole philosophy PAUL McLEARY•NEW YORK behind sta riding.” One component that’s conhe army that underspicuously absent from the stands the battle presentation is people. The space is usually the scenes are stripped of both army that wins wars. characters and vehicles, ofThe Prussian General Sta fering just the basics of the took this lesson to heart in terrain. This is by design. the early 19th century and “The purpose of the began taking its o cer corps staff ride is officer educaon “war rides” around likely tion,” Kennedy says. “We’re battlefields, so the officers not really trying to design would better understand the a first-person shooter or ground on which they might make it some kind of a trainone day face their enemies. ing simulation where we can In 1906, the U.S. Army hit change the events. The Army upon the same idea, only to has some great programs for abandon it in 1911. The prothat already.” gram remained moribund Kennedy ran a demonuntil Army Lt. Gen. William stration of “Checkpoint Richardson exhumed the 541” recently for journalidea at the Command and ists at Ft. Leavenworth. General Staff College in Ft. Checkpoint 541 was the Leavenworth, Kan., in 1983, March 2005 incident where allowing o cers to tour Civil Image of Baghdad near the Green Zone was War, Revolutionary War and developed with 3D visualization software based American soldiers shot at a car carrying an Italian jourIndian War battleﬁelds. on satellite data and personal interviews. nalist, killing an Italian inThe main drawback to the telligence agent in the process. provide an unparalleled vantage point. program had always been that the sta The demonstration showed how efTavis Hanson, a systems analyst at ride is captive to geography, since stateside o cers only have access to battles CSI who designs VSRs, says he uses fective an educational tool VSRs can that take place in the U.S. Add to this colored, submeter commercial satellite be. The scene was manipulated to give that asymmetric combat in Iraq and imagery as much as possible for each the perspective of the American soldiers Afghanistan has little in common with program and builds graphics on top of manning the checkpoint and of the Ital19th-century battles, and there are ques- that. Submeter means 1 pixel represents ians approaching, as well as an aerial tions as to what lessons the staff ride less than 1 meter on the ground. Getting view. Units studying the incident get a the imagery right can be tough, though, 360-deg. view of what happened. provides for modern warﬁghters. The VSR program is available for In response to the need to study mod- especially when designing programs of ern battleﬁelds, the Army’s Combat Stud- engagements outside Baghdad. Here the road shows. As long as an Army unit ies Institute (CSI) rolled out its Virtual best satellite imagery is often 1-meter, provides travel costs, personnel from Sta Ride (VSR) program in 2005, which black-and-white Army imagery, “which the CSI will use a laptop computer and a transforms battles in Iraq—21 in total, means I have to recolor, and it’s not as high-resolution projector to show a sta ride. “We tailor presentations to what from the invasion to ambushes—into clear,” he says. To build each program, Hanson uses the unit wants,” says Kennedy. “And we ﬂuid 3D animation programs. They work like traditional sta rides, except instead MetaVR 3D visualization software from do only a couple of select programs.” CSI is expanding its offerings. It is of physically touring a battleﬁeld, o cers MetaVR Inc. of Brookline, Mass., and sit in a room in front of a large screen, Terra Vista terrain database generation putting one together for Operation Anawhich displays realistic computer-gener- software from Presagis Inc. (formerly conda in Afghanistan, and in the spring of Terrex) of Richardson, Tex. It takes 2-3 2008, will roll out rides for Iraq showing ated scenes. One of the most striking features weeks to develop a program, depending the 2004 Sadr uprising in Najaf, Operaabout VSR is realism. The detail and on the amount of detail necessary and tion Phantom Fury in Fallujah in 2004 and the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment’s the 360-deg. view of the battle space, how geospeciﬁc an area must be. Lt. Col. Kevin Kennedy, who oversees operations in Tal Afar in 2005. I including ground-level and aerial shots, META VR CONCEPT 20 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL DECEMBER 2007 www.aviationweek.com/dti http://www.aviationweek.com/dti

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Defense Technology International - December 2007

Defense Technology International - December 2007 Contents Around the World Science Watch Tech Watch BrahMos: Ramjet Ship Killer r-e-s-p-e-c-t Deja Vu Trump Card Dubai Demos Agile Helos Joint Force Online Charge UGVs Creep, Crawl to Victory Sweet Ride Fast, Lethal Ship Defense Networking Stealth: Why Raptors Can't Talk The Net Cutting Edge First Person In Review Insight

Defense Technology International - December 2007

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