Nigel Pittaway | Melbourne

SimTecT 2016, the latest iteration of the Australasian Simulation Congress, was held this week at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre between September 26 and 29.

Held together with SimHealth 2016 and ISAGA 2016, SimTecT’s stream theme was ‘Leading for the Future’, where presenters and attendees were encouraged to share their expertise in research and design and training and supporting technical operations in modelling and simulation.
In the welcome address to the congress, Dr Mike Brennan, Chair of Simulation Australasia, encouraged attendees to look at what was on display and what would be discussed with an eye to the future.

"It is certainly our intention to make our training construct more contemporary."

“What we see here are a few ideas, but we are shaping the future of the simulation industry with these ideas,” he said.
Representing Defence, the opening address was delivered by Major General Gus McLachlan, Army’s Head of Modernisation and Strategic Planning, who used his presentation to talk about Army’s future requirements in the simulation space.

“I’m not going to talk to you about technology, but I think it will be useful for you to hear from one of the practitioners in this space about what our vision is and what our requirements are,” he said.

“I hope that will help you to develop the way you will shape your industries and certainly it is our intention to be much better at communicating our requirements to industry because it is important for us to shape the requirements that we need.”

MAJGEN McLachlan said that Army’s approach to simulation in the past has not been structured to take into account major platform acquisition and has not kept pace with the training environment required for the complexity of the modern world in which soldiers are required to operate.

“We have to have a more developed plan and we have spent quite a lot of time in developing what we call our ‘Silicone Warfighting Plan’ and it is aimed at replicating the complexities of the modern world but, more importantly from my point of view, changing Army’s culture,” he said.

“So for me it is incredibly important to be in a forum like this and explain to you that it is certainly our intention to make our training construct more contemporary.”