South Africa trials BattleTek command training system

[Asid]

South Africa trials BattleTek command training system

Giles Ebbutt, Kuala Lumpur - IHS Jane's International Defence Review
27 April 2016


BattleTek IV in use during a multinational command post exercise hosted by the South African Army. Source: Saab grintek

The South African Army (SAA) has incorporated Saab Grintek's BattleTek IV command training system into its training and experimentation regime, including a proof-of-concept trial as part of the process of establishing a number of BattleLabs. It has also been used to support multinational command exercises in South Africa.

BattleTek is a constructive simulation system that provides training for headquarters staffs at both the tactical and operational levels. It is scalable and can support training down to platoon commander level. It is HLA-compliant and uses Saab's Widely Integrated Systems Environment (WISE) integration platform. It can therefore be integrated with and draw on other simulation systems, such as Bohemia Interactive Systems' Virtual Battle Space 3 (VBS 3). This enables units and platforms in BattleTek to be viewed as entities in the VBS virtual environment. This also enables it to be integrated with whichever command-and-control (C2) application is appropriate, allowing command post staff to train on their specific operational system.

The BattleLab trial included the establishment of an integrated Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) construct, consisting of BattleTek IV, VBS3, and Saab's laser-based Gamer live training system, across three dispersed locations: the School of Infantry at Oudtshoorn, the School of Armour at Bloemfontein, and the Army College in Pretoria. It also included the integration of BattleTek IV with the SAA's Chaka battle management system so that tactical activity generated by the BattleTek simulation was displayed in the tactical picture shown in Chaka.

The trial took place during 2014-15. JC Van Schalkwyk, Saab Grintek's operations manager for training and simulation, told IHS Jane's at the Defence Services Asia (DSA) 2016 exhibition in Kuala Lumpur that it had concluded at the end of 2015 having successfully proved the concept. Saab is now hoping for a subsequent contract to support the permanent and wider establishment of the BattleLabs.