Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) Training from a JTAC's Point of View - The Importance of Our CASE System
19 Oct 22
Platform Training Services OBUInnovation
BY Mark McDonnell
JTAC Training from a JTAC’s Point of View
A joint terminal attack controller (JTAC) is a highly trained specialist who provides a vital link between air and ground forces. Responsible for identifying the locations of all friendly forces, enemies and civilians on the battlefield whilst directing the actions of aircraft in support of ground units, JTACs are key in reducing the risk of friendly fire incidents and civilian casualties.
While I now work as a domain project lead within our Mission Training Devices Division here at Inzpire, I previously served in the British Army and qualified as a JTAC in 2002.
Me on top of “Spreadeagle Hill” just south of Basra City, where I spent what felt like a lifetime on my own.
I served as a JTAC, JTAC evaluator and JTAC instructor with the 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards and served on many operations across the world including Op Telic, during which I was awarded a Mention in Dispatches for Gallantry.
I then moved to the Joint Forward Air Controller Training and Standards Unit (JFACTSU) as an instructor, before finally finishing my service as the school RSM(I).
Naturally, JTACs require extensive training, but with personnel deployed on operations across the globe, maintaining currency and competency cannot always be achieved through live training or by accessing networks of simulators housed in large complexes.
Delivering cost-effective training to the trainee at the point of need, our CASE JTAC mixed reality (MR) simulator has been designed to improve the access and availability of synthetic training, mission rehearsal and mission assurance for operators and commanders, solving the problem of being able to train JTACs while deployed around the world.
Discussing the benefits of being on the CO’s Rover Group in Muthanna, Iraq.
Immersive by nature
Whereas live JTAC training can be costly, our Compact Agile Simulation Equipment (CASE) system offers a cost-effective alternative and has been designed to be fully immersive. Trainees benefit from the use of extended-reality technology such as mixed-reality, virtual-reality and augmented-reality.
This combination enables trainees to immerse themselves in a simulated environment. By combining simulated assets and real-world equipment, we are able meet our customer’s exact training needs, whilst adding the flexibility of mobile training with a fully immersive environment straight out of a box.
This is a stark contrast to the simulators I had access to during my early military career, which were typically quite flat and were usually in the form of an image projected on to a large screen. Later on simulator domes became more widely used, which improved immersion but a dome is essentially just a 360 degree 2D screen. While these definitely offered more engaging training than the flat screens, there was still no depth.
It’s not until you step into a simulated environment inside of the CASE JTAC system that you can fully appreciate depth in simulation. I once taught a course at JFACTSU purely in a simulated environment; at the end of the five-week training exercise we went outside to a real-world training area. I then had to give extra tuition on map reading, as there were some students who didn’t possess this skill. They couldn’t line up real-life objects with the ones on the map, which was sadly a consequence of the old simulators with no depth.
However, with CASE, this is a thing of the past, with students being able to integrate real-world assets with simulated tools in a totally immersive environment.
Fully immersive scenarios, created with green screen technology and mixed reality allow trainees to use real-time equipment in the virtual world.
Training mobility is key
A key consideration in the development of the CASE system was keeping the simulator mobile and making sure it could be easily deployed and set up at a moment’s notice.
Unlike typical simulators which require expensive projected domes or multiple flat screen visual systems at fixed sites – meaning trainees have to go to the site itself - our mobile devices allow us to take training straight to the trainee wherever they are in the world.
The simulators can also be networked and connected to one another to enable full team training and also support distributed training for teams across several locations.
Mobile simulators which can deliver this level of training are a major shift change. Using CASE, we can deliver complex mission rehearsal training anywhere in the world, with exceptional quality simulated terrains. This would be a huge benefit to many units; rather than a rock drill – which literally involves mapping out a plan on the floor using rocks, twigs and anything personnel can get their hands on – they can instead visualise their entire mission within the CASE system.
All types of training, including rehearsing night-time scenarios, can be conducted using CASE.
Proven operational capability
CASE is already making a big impact on JTAC training and has been deployed to support synthetic training for personnel from a number of NATO forces.
Most recently, we supported the UK MoD in the delivery of NATO's Exercise FURIOUS WOLF, providing scenario/training design expertise and use of the CASE JTAC simulator. This two-week exercise in Estonia saw ten different NATO nations’ JTACs and Fires Teams working together in full immersive scenarios, shaped around their training requirements.
As an Inzpire employee and former JTAC, I recognise how important it is for us to understand the wants and needs of each of our training clients prior to building our simulators and the training scenarios and wraparound packages which go alongside them.
Our customers are first and foremost our priority, an ethos born in Inzpire by our founder Hugh Griffiths. The feedback we have received so far on CASE been very positive, and by combining our knowledge and experience with Inzpire’s company ethos of being customer-focused I am confident that both current and future customers will continue to be satisfied with the training provided by CASE.
As a JTAC on operations, me and my colleagues rarely got the chance to complete any training. When we did get the opportunity to practise, it involved someone with a radio, looking at a map, pretending to be a pilot! The training opportunities offered now through CASE are almost unrecognisable compared to how training was conducted during my time in the armed forces and, as an ex-JTAC, I can’t wait to see how the system supports current and future JTACs on ops.
Wind in my face and sand in my hair; the benefits of ranges in the desert! I rarely got the chance to complete any training so to be so heavily involved in a product which will open up training opportunities for current and future JTACs is very exciting.
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