YOU CAN RELY ON THE TESS


a decade working for the U.S. military in Eastern Europe, providing allies with training simulation through MILES.


U.S. Soldiers began training in MILES gear as early as the late 1970s. Te mili- tarized version of laser tag, training in MILES gear involved a laser module mounted to the barrel of a real weapon, a blank-firing adaptor for the weapon, and an integrated receiver with sensors on the helmet and the load-bearing vest of Soldiers. When a Soldier fired a blank shot, a laser sent a coded burst in the direction of the aimed shot. If the shot was accurate and the receiver of another Soldier sensed the burst, that Soldier was “hit” and his gear made a beeping sound to let him know he was “dead.”


REAL-TIME COMMUNICATIONS


“If you take that type of war gaming up another 10 notches," Lujan said, “you have the TESS. It’s like MILES gear … on steroids. Tose who trained on MILES gear decades ago might find this new tech- nology hard to imagine.”


Once installed on an aircraft, TESS takes into consideration the munitions, Hell- fire missiles or machine gun, and uses lasers that fire the appropriate capability based on the munition signal given by the pilot. Simultaneously, TESS calculates the pilot’s timing, accuracy, the target’s move- ment, armor and other data to produce scientifically precise hit-kill probabili- ties, including the number of wounded, killed, demobilized personnel and equip- ment. In other words, the TESS software


TESS software system transmits player and event data in real time for tracking and recording—it bookmarks “teaching points” for after-action review, provides tactical audio communications recorded with video, and enables gunnery training without firing live ammunition. (Photo courtesy of PEO STRI)


determines whether a target was hit or the number of casualties.


Its software system transmits player and event data in real time for tracking and recording. Other features include its ability to bookmark exercise “teaching points” for after-action review playback, tactical audio communications recorded with video, mobile home station training capability and a tailorable opposing force. It also enables gunnery training without firing live ammunition.


“Thanks to these relationships, we’ve already been training on the same equipment with our allies, so we’ve trained together and we know how to fight together.”


16 Army AL&T Magazine Summer 2021


“At a quarter-million dollars per Hellfire missile, the system has proven its cost effi- ciency,” said Lujan.


But this next-level realistic capability is not isolated to the IPO, he said. Real- istic training is a key component of the Army’s modernization initiatives, and the U.S is working feverishly to build the Army's most advanced training capa- bility to date—the Synthetic Training Environment.


PEO STRI has a particular stake in the process and is working closely with Army Futures Command, industry and academia to build the massive true-to- life, next-generation training environment.


TESS, on a much smaller scale, is used to ensure allied nations can also experience “the very best training that is humanly


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