British army stages record-breaking virtual battle

[jeza 5415]

Saw this pop up on BBC earlier interesting read, Brits using VBS to simulate a battle in fictional French town. Thought I would share with you all.

The British army has conducted its largest virtual battle simulation, involving 220 soldiers.

The experiment was carried out at the Army's Land Warfare Centre in Warminster, Wiltshire.

The two-hour scenario saw soldiers on computers completing virtual missions in a fictional French town.

The Army says the simulation will help it to find out which resources it needs to invest in, once it takes control of its own budget in April 2013.

"The aim is to understand how various changes have an impact on the speed at which command can respond," said Col Tim Law, assistant head of army force development.

"We're trying to determine exactly what we need to fight and win the wars of tomorrow."

Virtual clutter

By altering variables, like the number of troops on the ground and the amount of surveillance and communication available, the simulation had provided essential data about what was the most useful in a battle situation, Col Law said.

Combining virtual simulations and training exercises on the ground has already indicated ways logistics can be improved.

Each company in Afghanistan was provided with three Intelligence Corps personnel, but there remained uncertainty as to where they were best placed - out in the field or back at base, Col Law said.

Continue reading the main story

“

Start Quote

We're pushing the edges of realism and scaleâ€

Dr Nigel Paling

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

"We have already determined in this experiment that it's better for them to be at battlefield HQ, feeding information down the line and planning ahead," he added.

Urban Warrior 5, as the project is called, has cost about £1m to develop and was built with VBS2 software, which is also used commercially by the games industry to create virtual worlds.

Lovelle - the name of the fictional town in the simulation - was a replication of a town in France where the training exercise had been carried out in real life, said Col Law.

"But with virtual we can add 'clutter'," he said. "Like trees and civilians."

There were inevitably comparisons with Activision's Call of Duty series, but Urban Warrior 5 was not a game, said Dr Nigel Paling, science advisor with the UK government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

"We have tailored commercially available software, but we're pushing the edges of realism and scale," he told the BBC.

"In Call of Duty buildings don't 'rubble-ise'. We have recreated actual weapon effects."

Unlike real life however, soldiers in the game are able to regenerate if killed.

"This is not about killing people," said Col Law, "It's about winning the battle."

War games

Lt Col Charlie Barker, chief of staff at Urban Warrior 5C, is unequivocal that Call of Duty would not have been a viable - if more economic - alternative.

"It would be like trying to do 120mph in the fast lane on a bicycle," said Lt Col Barker.

However, Col Law admitted virtual environments had their limits.

"The problem is that all you have is the screen," he said.

"In reality your unit would be shouting, 'Look out, over there,' - situation awareness isn't entirely visual."

Further simulations involving different troops will be run until June 2013, after which all the data will be analysed.

"The Army is seeking to modernise and define its direction in the future," said Col Law - although he admitted this was a challenging task.

"We are noting that current events show how unpredictable this will be," he added. "It's a bit like nailing jelly to the wall."

There were inevitably comparisons with Activision's Call of Duty series,

Would of gone with ArmA but hey-ho :p

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21263669

[ProfTournesol 956]

French town, hey ?

[JdB 151]

French town, hey ?

Read: "Your army is in Africa. The throne of France belongs to Lizzy. We're coming."

[ProfTournesol 956]

Read: "Your army is in Africa. The throne of France belongs to Lizzy. We're coming."

Lol yep, hope it won't be Azincourt again :lookaround:

[R0adki11 3945]

Read: "Your army is in Africa. The throne of France belongs to Lizzy. We're coming."

that made me lol ;)

[Tonci87 163]

Comparing this to CoD? Now that was my first laugh today..

Making this cost them 1m£? Why is that so expensive?

[.kju 3240]

Already posted in VBS thread.

[chrisb 196]

It cost around £1 million because the MOD in this country has a hole in it that’s feeds the upper ruling class, unfortunately. What should have cost a fraction of that '£1m' has been blown out of all proportion to help feed that hole. They believe that the public will consider this type of thing, cost effective, but in truth the public have all but given up on the MOD being able to manage a budget, never mind an army.

The MOD waste money at an alarming rate, but never answer for it, the UK army will stand at around 80,000 in the near future, yet fewer top end staff are being removed than should be. Retired high ranking officers can expect a decent living, plus the odd job here and there on the bbc as an adviser of some sort or other. A retired army grunt can expect a visit from a bailiff because he can’t afford to pay the council tax to the local government.

The army alone has lost the equivalent of approximately 5600 places year on year since 1960. Not a bad thing maybe, no, not if we still didn’t keep sticking our noses into areas that are of little concern to us, other than fuel/energy of one type or another, of course :rolleyes:.

In the UK here, the system has always been biased toward the upper ruling class, to feed that, one of the ways they have had over many years, is to bleed the system via public offices like the MOD.

But hey, every country does the same, doesn't it!!

[Beagle 684]

It cost around £1 million because the MOD in this country has a hole in it that’s feeds the upper ruling class, unfortunately. What should have cost a fraction of that '£1m' has been blown out of all proportion to help feed that hole. They believe that the public will consider this type of thing, cost effective, but in truth the public have all but given up on the MOD being able to manage a budget, never mind an army.

The MOD waste money at an alarming rate, but never answer for it, the UK army will stand at around 80,000 in the near future, yet fewer top end staff are being removed than should be. Retired high ranking officers can expect a decent living, plus the odd job here and there on the bbc as an adviser of some sort or other. A retired army grunt can expect a visit from a bailiff because he can’t afford to pay the council tax to the local government.

The army alone has lost the equivalent of approximately 5600 places year on year since 1960. Not a bad thing maybe, no, not if we still didn’t keep sticking our noses into areas that are of little concern to us, other than fuel/energy of one type or another, of course :rolleyes:.

In the UK here, the system has always been biased toward the upper ruling class, to feed that, one of the ways they have had over many years, is to bleed the system via public offices like the MOD.

But hey, every country does the same, doesn't it!!

Yes indeed it's the same story here on the other end of the north sea.

[Tonci87 163]

Well you guys in England managed to build a record breaking skyscraper in only 3 years. These idiots in Germany can´t build a damn airport.

But yes, MODs are always the same, a big hole where lots of money disappears.

[metalcraze 290]

"It would be like trying to do 120mph in the fast lane on a bicycle," said Lt Col Barker.

That's one iceburn right there.

[Prydain 1]

"It would be like trying to do 120mph in the fast lane on a bicycle"

You get two charges and put in a mental institution? Perhaps it is a sensible suggestion for CoD players.

Retired high ranking officers can expect a decent living, plus the odd job here and there on the bbc as an adviser of some sort or other. A retired army grunt can expect a visit from a bailiff because he can’t afford to pay the council tax to the local government.

Yet we are purchasing aircraft carriers with the purpose of slotting them into US navy formations, purchasing new massively expensive nuclear weapons from the US and are replacing a valued ground attack aircraft with the delayed and limited F-35. People can't even defend the defence sector as a job creator or industry any more, it is boondoggle from front to back. When the Torys get kicked back into the literal wilderness in the next election I wonder if Labour's new lefty streak can snap this cash for pre-broken promises, constantly inflating cost, culture in the MoD. I wonder how VBS would fare if a proper audit was in place?

I know it is a bit utopian but I imagine a European defence force would lower the cost that the UK suffers when it comes to defence, the idea of an attacking, reactionary armed forces is a bit above our grade in this coming century or maybe we could save that romantic fantasy for Arma3's fiction.

[.Taffy 10]

An interesting article for sure, the thing that struck me most though was this;

"The Army says the simulation will help it to find out which resources it needs to invest in, once it takes control of its own budget in April 2013."

I hadn't heard about this, I wonder if it will make a difference to the afformentioned MoD wastage that has gone before?

[Messiah 2]

Siding on neither side for various reasons, bear in mind that firing one Javelin Missile on salisbury costs around $80,000 (I could have sworn it was 64, but at any rate it's a fair amount) for the missile alone, forgetting everything else that made it, the soldier and everyone else get there in the first place.

[mihikle 2]

Glad to see our Army putting VBS to good use :)

Considering the fact they have just done this same exercise for real I think it is a great way to explore things they may have been slightly wary about during the actual thing, and if anything VBS can only be improved because of this.

*Sigh* our country can't do MoD spending it has to be said :/ I just feel sorry for the squaddies that have to live under the MoD's stupid money policies, they should let the Army handle their own spending not get politicians to do it for them. I mean, for goodness sake, there aren't even any military in the MoD. Politicians shouldn't be given charge over things like this! Is my view anyway lol.

But glad to hear we are using VBS 2. :D

[chrisb 196]

Glad to see our Army putting VBS to good use :)

Snip...

But glad to hear we are using VBS 2. :D

Have been for some time.

The UK ‘MoD had a lite version made VBS2 Lite (JCove), UK only, they hoped it might tempt people into the forces, who knows…:rolleyes:

I like VBS2, but A2 is more the layman’s game..