Meggitt Training Systems Australia (MTSA) delivered five Weapons Training Simulation Systems (WTSS) at bases across Australia under Army Minor Project AMP029.44 and is also upgrading 18 existing WTSS facilities to bring them up to a similar standard as well as providing enhanced weapon simulator capability.
The installation of the new facilities, known as the Hardened and Networked Army Enhanced Land Force (HNA/ELF) Weapons Training Simulation System Phase Two, delivered the additional WTSS capability to Singleton and Kapooka in New South Wales, Townsville and Enoggera in Queensland and Edinburgh in South Australia.
HNA/ELF Phase Three includes the upgrade of existing WTSS facilities to the new standard, including the provision of Indirect Fire Trainers and Indirect Fire – Forward Air Control Trainers as well as the new simulated in-service weapons with new weapons types, range practices and scenarios to the Phase 2 sites.
According to publicly available DMO figures, the current approved budget for the project is $36.635 million.
Meggitt Training Systems division announced the US$18 million (around $20 million) HNA-ELF Phase 3 contract in December 2013, to not only upgrade the ADF’s existing virtual systems to the latest configuration, but also to increase overall accessibility and significantly reducing the cost of weapons training by reducing the amount of time conducting live fire training.
The upgrade is being undertaken under HNA/ELF Phase Three and will see Meggitt deliver both hardware and software upgrades to 18 existing networked WTSS facilities around the country.
The Phase Three contract also involves the development and delivery of simulators for the ADF’s 81mm mortars; 12.7mm heavy machine guns; BlueFire Browning pistols and 84mm Carl Gustav anti-tank weapon with new types of ammunition.
Leon Helmrich, sales and business development manager for Meggitt Training Systems Australia said that Meggitt had been supplying simulation systems to the ADF since 1999.
“Phase two is now complete and we have also carried out a number of upgrades previously,” he said.
“HNA/ELF phase 3 final materiel release involves the upgrading of the existing 18 WTSS facilities to the same standard as the new sites that were delivered as part of HNA/ELF Phase 2.”
BlueFire
The 9mm pistols at the new WTSS facilities delivered under Phase 2 (less Kapooka) will use Meggitt’s registered trade mark BlueFire system, which uses blue tooth technology and therefore means that the weapons used in the facility are not tethered
“We delivered an initial batch of M4s to the WTSS at Singleton and next we will deliver other types of weapons to the new sites, which are located in Townsville, Enoggera, Singleton and Edinburgh,” Leon Helmrich explained.
“We are also going to deliver a number of BlueFire 9mm Browning Mk.III untethered pistols and 12.7mm FN Herstal M2 Heavy Barrel - Quick Change Barrel (HB-QCB) heavy machine guns.
“For the 9mm pistols, there will also be a suite of advanced pistol range practices, which will allow people to do more than they can with the current suite of pistol range practices.”
Basic weapons training
The Army Recruit Training Centre (ARTC) at Kapooka has two double WTSS facilities, with each being a ‘double’ facility consists of two twelve lane weapons range simulation systems in one building. Although both have been completed and fitted out, only one is operational at the present time.
“When the recruits come through they are first taught how to safely handle, operate, maintain and fire the Steyr rifle and, once they’ve completed their weapons qualifications practice they then start marksmanship training,” Helmrich continued.
“That’s where the WTSS is used to great effect and its diagnostic capabilities allow them to improve fairly quickly. It’s a stepping-stone to the live-fire range.”
Carl Gustav and mortar simulators
Also included in the WTSS upgrade is the delivery of a number of 84mm Carl Gustav simulators, with a complete suite of ammunition available to the real weapon and new range practices will allow them to ‘fire’ all ammunition types in computer generated imagery (CGI) mode.
The range of ammunition capable of being simulated includes the High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT), High Explosive (HE), illumination, smoke and High-Explosive Dual Purpose (HEDP) rounds.
Leon Helmrich also said that the capability of carrying out closed-loop mortar training using simulation will be delivered to Townsville, Enoggera, Singleton, Puckapunyal and Edinburgh.
Using the closed loop training system, the Mortar Fire Controller will be positioned in the WTSS facility with a large 15 metre wide by 4 metre high screen in front of them, displaying a visual representation of their immediate battle space.
“The Fire Controller will be able to call in the mortars by sending a call for fire to the Command Post who, with the Mortar-men themselves, will be in another building nearby, or at least remote from the MFC. The Command Post will then be able to calculate bearing, elevation and charge and provide that information to the mortar-line,” Helmrich explained.
“The mortar-line will then be able to go through their same drills with their simulated mortar as they do for a live mortar and when the mortar-men fire and the fire controller will have the fall of shot displayed on the screen, with the target neutralised or destroyed where applicable.
“It is going to save Defence a lot of money in mortar training, and it is obviously the same with the Carl Gustav training simulation capability. However we do stress that the WTSS is not a replacement for live firing”
Meggitt Training Systems Australia local footprint
Meggitt Training Systems has its headquarters in Albury, which houses around 15 administrative, technical and operations staff. The company also has equipment and systems operators based at all key military installations around the country.
"We manufacture, we install, we operate and we maintain the systems for Defence,” Helmrich explained.
"Our parent company in Atlanta, Georgia is the OEM; they provide the equipment and we do everything else, including the operation and maintenance of that equipment.”
Looking to the future
The work undertaken under HNA/ELF Phase Two has seen several new WTSS facilities installed, including the 24-lane system at Kapooka, together with further 24 lanes facilities at Edinburgh, Enoggera and Townsville, as well as a smaller, 12-lane facility at Singleton.
Leon Helmrich says that MTSA is well on track to complete the progressive upgrade of the 18 older sites across the country under HNA/ELF Phase Three and the work is due to be finished by the middle of next year.
“Final Materiel Release for Phase three will occur in 2015, so we will finalise the work we are doing on the 84mm Carl Gustavs, the mortars, the pistols and the heavy machine guns by October and DMO is on track to close out the project in December,” he concluded.
This article first appeared in Australian Defence Magazine VOL.23 No.4, April 2015