4GD completes British Army immersive training SmartFacility installation
March 08, 2021, London, UK — Close-combat immersive training specialist 4GD has completed the installation of a new Level 2 SmartFacility™ training solution for the British Army’s 16 Air Assault Brigade in Colchester, Essex.
The combat training environment installation, which commenced on 4 January, equips 16 Brigade with the most advanced 4GD close quarter battle training facility in the world.
The Level 2 facility delivers a high-tech non-ballistic close quarter battle environment to warfighters. The new facility will incorporate the SmartFacility core capability, SimWall (Level 1), and 4GAV (Level 2), a state-of-the-art special effects, video monitoring system and Intelligent Facility Management System (iFCS). The latter ensuring that this facility is compatible with 4GD’s recently launched ECFECTUS, a tactical performance data collection and analysis system, and ACIES, an integrated reality system that introduces the synthetic world to the physical SmartFacility environment.
SimWall is a rapidly reconfigurable, non-ballistic modular panel system. The panelling system offers users thousands of rooms and building variations, all reconfigurable within minutes to suit a range of specific mission scenarios and training objectives.
4GAV is a unique special effects and video monitoring system. Using a combination of smoke, light (white/IR), sound, smell and environmental simulation (SFX) it immerses the user in a high-fidelity combat simulation. This interactive special effects system, controlled by an intuitive user interface, delivers either sensor activated and reactive, or instructor-initiated effects, designed to heighten realism and replicate real-world effects on the soldier’s cognitive load.
Training missions undertaken in the SmartFacility are viewed and controlled by an instructor via an intuitive dual tablet display. The facility will also be equipped with a video feedback system for real-time and after-action review to ensure maximum training effects.
“The rise of military operations in urban terrain has forced a complete rethink of how we train personnel to plan for, execute and win close-combat missions on the modern battlefield,” James Crowley, Business Development Director, 4GD, said. “We have designed our SmartFacility to blend virtual and physical elements so that teams can prepare for their mission in an immersive facility that reflects the ever-changing and highly dynamic nature of the urban battlefield.”
16 Air Assault Brigade is the British Army’s airborne rapid reaction force. Specially trained and equipped to deploy by parachute, helicopter and air-landing, the Brigades core role is to maintain the Air Assault Task Force, a battlegroup held at high readiness to deploy worldwide for a full spectrum of missions, from non-combatant evacuation ops to war fighting.
Photos courtesy 4GD
