REALISM = READINESS


The Reconfigurable Vehicle Tactical Trainer (RVTT) System uses a virtual environment to enhance Soldiers’ pre-deployment training by simulating platoon-level training events as well as company and team collective training up to battalion task force level—a marked upgrade from early efforts, which used a 16mm camera strapped to the gun of an M60 tank. The RVTT can run as many as 32 simultaneous, independent exercises in a variety of combat vehicles, providing a level of training that gives Soldiers the technical edge as well as a psychological advantage. (Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin Corp.)


1962 & 2012 I


n June 1962, th Army Research and Developmentment Newsmagazine Army Army AL&T Magazine) on


962, the (now y on an “ingenious experiment


reported in


field training and performance evalua- tion” in which three platoons of M60 tanks trained in exercises at the Friedberg Training Area in West Germany—with- out firing a single round of ammunition.


Te article describes how a 16mm pulse- operated camera was strapped to the gun of an M60 and activated by a switch controlled by the tank commander. Te commander pressed the camera switch as soon as he saw the target, and the camera recorded gun movements at the rate of one marked picture per second. From this training setup, the Army was able to measure how many seconds were required for a tank commander to see the target, how many seconds elapsed between target acquisition and actual firing, and the accuracy of the gunner’s lay on the target.


LTC William F. Mangum, Commanding Officer of the 1st Medium Tank Battal- ion, 32nd Armor, 3rd Armored Division, remarked, “Te psychological effect on all crew members was obvious. Accu- racy of lay, speed of reaction, and target hit possibility were no longer matters of


208 Army AL&T Magazine


speculation.” Te black-and-white photo records were an invaluable tool in train- ing the Soldiers for their mission.


Fast forward to today’s Reconfigurable Vehicle Tactical Trainer (RVTT) Sys- tem, part of the Close Combat Tactical Trainer, a virtual environment the Army uses to enhance Soldiers’ training before deployment to the front lines. Te system simulates multiple realistic platoon-level training events, or company and team collective training up to battalion task force level. It allows for as many as 32 simultaneous, independent exercises in a wide variety of combat vehicles, includ- ing the M1 Abrams tank, the M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, and M3 Cav- alry Fighting Vehicle, among others.


Te simulators are networked to provide real-time, fully interactive, collective task training, vastly improving the effective- ness of Soldiers’


training and ensuring


them the psychological edge when it comes time to execute the mission.


For more information on RVTT, go to http:// www.peostri.army.mil/PRODUCTS/ CCTT. For a historical tour of AL&T over the past 52 years, visit the Army AL&T Magazine archives at http://asc.army.mil/ web/magazine/alt-magazine-archive/.


January–March 2013


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