NSC's UBVT reaches full operational capability
A British Army asset that allows soldiers to take control of virtual vehicles, experiment with weaponry and deploy in any role - the Unit Based Virtual Training (UBVT) system from NSC - has reached full operational capability after just four months in core military service.
The UBVT system reached full operational capability following the successful completion of a series of events that demonstrated its proficiency in providing personnel with a means to collectively train in a realistic synthetic environment.
Designed and delivered as a managed service by simulation specialist NSC, UBVT immerses soldiers in high-fidelity terrains featuring authentic equipment and enables units to practise fire and manoeuvre, command and control and tactics, techniques and procedures in preparation for live training opportunities and operational deployments.
The innovative system, which is available to all Regular and Reserve units and will provide virtual training to troops until at least 2020, has already been used by more than 450 Servicemen and women at locations across the UK, Germany and Cyprus.
“The feedback from users has been excellent and it is very much a service in demand,” explained James Ayrton, UBVT’s senior project manager at NSC.
“UBVT is incredibly flexible in terms of delivering bespoke training - with its only real limits being the imagination of the units using it - and it has been impressive to see the wide range of ways it has been employed already.”
Recent examples of UBVT’s diverse deployment include rifle and fire support companies from 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh working alongside a reconnaissance platoon to practise Combined Arms manoeuvres in a complex, European-style battlespace and a squadron from the Royal Tank Regiment conducting force-on-force training and mastering new doctrine before deploying on an overseas exercise in an OPFOR role.
The state-of-the-art system uses the MoD’s Defence Virtual Simulation and is run on a network of laptop computers, with trainees able to communicate via headsets and an emulation of the Army’s Platform Battlefield Information Systems Application.
Its minimal logistical burden and delivery at a unit’s point of need remove the requirement for exercising troops to spend “nights out of bed” and allow everything from tents and vehicles to classrooms and hangars to be transformed into training venues.
The capability is the formal successor to NSC’s highly-successful Joint Combat Operations Virtual Environment (Op JCOVE) programme, which - over eight-and-a-half years - readied more than 16,000 UK MoD personnel for deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and delivered significant savings in ammunition, vehicle track mileage and maintenance costs.
Incorporating a raft of next-generation enhancements, UBVT utilises a comprehensive progression and exercise management system that can track collective training achievements and provide objective evidence for after-action review activities.