First time, first impressions, follow the Jones’s?
a team and the best part I thought was that the trainer could add or take away boxes, bombs, IEDs, move the enemy making the same street different as it would be in real life.
ITEC has been running for 21 years attracting many exhibitors and many delegates from countries around the world. Having never been before I was looking forward to appreciating what is hailed as Europe’s largest defence training
and simulation conference and exhibition. First impressions of ITEC were good yet disappointing but altogether enlightening; it was good to see lots of exhibitors, some big names from the defence industry such as BAE Systems, Boeing, Raytheon and SAAB mixing it up with the smaller names and some only known to the simulation industry such as Projection Design and Sahara Presentation Systems. To the untrained eye, namely mine, nearly all of the stands were presenting what seemed to be the same which was disappointing; however, to the trained eye the difference was abundantly clear. So,
was the show interesting for a newbie? Yes, even though everything looked at first the same, upon closer inspection there certainly were differences. Raytheon had teamed with Motion Reality Inc to demonstrate a system for soldiers that enabled safe practice in different hostile scenarios in where leadership, support covering fire, IED detection and much more could be taught. t uses virtual reality with the emphasis on reality, weapon magazine changes have to be made to continue firing, sensors on the body that simulate a bullet hit, ability to walk or run while patrolling a street, operate as
Another enlightening find was a Danish company called Metrik Simulation who presented training from a different angle, that angle being the effects of stress on an individual. Their solution was turnkey, in that they provided everything, the building, rooms, control room, sensors, basically the works. The solution consisted of a number of rooms in which different challenges would be met by trainees. Each challenge could be tailored to anything that the trainer needed such as; A bomb making room with all the ingredients of a device, a blood splattered room with bodies of a murder scene, hostages being held, a rescue scene following an earthquake with motion floor to simulate a quake. While trainees undertake each room, sensors monitor their pulses, breathing, body temperature and record all so that at the end of the circuit each individual or team is then debriefed to discuss their performance and how they reacted to each challenge to ascertain any weaknesses or strengths. If one was to just cover the exhibition, this could be done in a day however ITEC provided conferences which covered a multitude of topics from coalition training to counter IED training. Each conference was chaired and supported by experienced personnel from both the military and industry making the conference valuable in content.
Overall, ITEC is a “must go” show but unlike me don’t be fooled by the first impression of what you see. Look more closely as there is much to learn and like me you’ll be leaving, saying, I didn’t know that...
Davina White G3 DEFENCE G3 DEFENCE 61
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