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From National Defence magazine (http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/issues/2005/Sep/UF-Submariners.htm):
September 2005
Submariners Learn Anti-Terrorism Tactics
By Michael Peck
Navy submarine crews are using video games to practice anti-terrorism tactics designed to secure their boats while in port. The technology, called the Force Protection Anti-Terrorism Simulation Trainer, includes scenarios for defending the inside of the submarine, on the assumption that intruders have climbed on board.
Other scenarios are less dramatic, such as discovering a mysterious package. “You notice a box that wasn’t here when you started the watch, and it looks suspicious,” explained Frank Boosman, chief marketing officer for 3Dsolve, in Cary, N.C. The company developed the simulation.
As part of a project known as “submarine on-board training program,” the Navy will begin distributing the simulation in the first quarter of 2006. It will replace an existing video-based trainer that used branching video clips to teach in-port security. “They came up with videos that would last typically 20 to 60 seconds,” Boosman said. “You would have three choices, and each of those choices would lead to another video. Only one of them would be correct, and if you didn’t get it right, you would get remedial training.”
That trainer worked, but it had inherent limitations, said Boosman. Video-based trainers are inflexible, he said. “Once the video has been shot, it’s shot. If port security doctrine changes, you can’t go back and change the video easily.”
The 3Dsolve simulation will use the 17 scenarios from the video trainer, as well as five additional scenarios that will take place aboard the submarine.
The Force Protection Anti-Terrorism Simulation Trainer is a three-dimensional game with a top-down, “God’s eye” view (like the popular entertainment game “The Sims”). The camera can rotate or zoom. The characters are submarine crewmen, terrorists, disgruntled sailors and civilians. “We also have some situations where there are no bad guys per se, but rather a package that shouldn’t be there,” Boosman said.
Characters can open hatches, climb up ladders and shoot weapons. But the simulation isn’t a marksmanship trainer. It’s a decision-making game with graphics that are realistic enough to suspend disbelief, Boosman said. “What we’ve built uses a role-playing game interface to provide submariners with an environment in which they can explore and investigate their environment, leading to a critical decision point with a finite set of choices.”
For example, there’s a scenario where a knife-wielding sailor takes a hostage. “Your choices are, do you shoot them prior to them gaining access to the sub, do you stall until base security arrives or do you clear the area?” asked Boosman. “We’re using gaming technology to give them adequate training that they can’t do on a daily basis, and use it on a PC, something they can use while they’re at sea.”
This technology is one piece of a broader Navy effort to improve anti-terrorism training, said Lt. Matthew Cook, a team leader for the Center for Anti-Terrorism and Navy Security Forces, in Norfolk, Va.
For example, security simulations can help prepare crews for attacks while their vessels are transiting choke points in narrow waterways, said Bob Gregory, a modeling and simulation specialist for the Anti-Terrorism Center.
Boosman declined to disclose the value of the 3Dsolve contract, which is estimated in the “six figures” range. Price was one reason why the Navy didn’t opt for a graphically intense first-person shooter like America’s Army. “When we went to the customer, we originally proposed a 3-D first person shooter,” Boosman said. “One of the problems we ran into was the customer was used to a video product with a certain level of realism. To maintain that level of quality on a first-person 3-D simulation would have required lots of work and extra budget.”
Another complication was that the trainer had to run on the low-end laptops found on submarines.
So far, the game only models Los Angeles-class attack submarines and the environment of the New London, Conn., naval base. It could be expanded to include other ports and Ohio-class submarines, Boosman said.
While researching the project, Boosman spent three days on a Los Angeles-class boat. 3Dsolve artists sketched interior compartments, except for classified equipment and the reactor compartment.
“The artists were stunned by the level of complexity of the interior of the sub,” Boosman recalled. “It’s just incredibly dense with wiring, pipes and switches.”
September 2005
Submariners Learn Anti-Terrorism Tactics
By Michael Peck
Navy submarine crews are using video games to practice anti-terrorism tactics designed to secure their boats while in port. The technology, called the Force Protection Anti-Terrorism Simulation Trainer, includes scenarios for defending the inside of the submarine, on the assumption that intruders have climbed on board.
Other scenarios are less dramatic, such as discovering a mysterious package. “You notice a box that wasn’t here when you started the watch, and it looks suspicious,” explained Frank Boosman, chief marketing officer for 3Dsolve, in Cary, N.C. The company developed the simulation.
As part of a project known as “submarine on-board training program,” the Navy will begin distributing the simulation in the first quarter of 2006. It will replace an existing video-based trainer that used branching video clips to teach in-port security. “They came up with videos that would last typically 20 to 60 seconds,” Boosman said. “You would have three choices, and each of those choices would lead to another video. Only one of them would be correct, and if you didn’t get it right, you would get remedial training.”
That trainer worked, but it had inherent limitations, said Boosman. Video-based trainers are inflexible, he said. “Once the video has been shot, it’s shot. If port security doctrine changes, you can’t go back and change the video easily.”
The 3Dsolve simulation will use the 17 scenarios from the video trainer, as well as five additional scenarios that will take place aboard the submarine.
The Force Protection Anti-Terrorism Simulation Trainer is a three-dimensional game with a top-down, “God’s eye” view (like the popular entertainment game “The Sims”). The camera can rotate or zoom. The characters are submarine crewmen, terrorists, disgruntled sailors and civilians. “We also have some situations where there are no bad guys per se, but rather a package that shouldn’t be there,” Boosman said.
Characters can open hatches, climb up ladders and shoot weapons. But the simulation isn’t a marksmanship trainer. It’s a decision-making game with graphics that are realistic enough to suspend disbelief, Boosman said. “What we’ve built uses a role-playing game interface to provide submariners with an environment in which they can explore and investigate their environment, leading to a critical decision point with a finite set of choices.”
For example, there’s a scenario where a knife-wielding sailor takes a hostage. “Your choices are, do you shoot them prior to them gaining access to the sub, do you stall until base security arrives or do you clear the area?” asked Boosman. “We’re using gaming technology to give them adequate training that they can’t do on a daily basis, and use it on a PC, something they can use while they’re at sea.”
This technology is one piece of a broader Navy effort to improve anti-terrorism training, said Lt. Matthew Cook, a team leader for the Center for Anti-Terrorism and Navy Security Forces, in Norfolk, Va.
For example, security simulations can help prepare crews for attacks while their vessels are transiting choke points in narrow waterways, said Bob Gregory, a modeling and simulation specialist for the Anti-Terrorism Center.
Boosman declined to disclose the value of the 3Dsolve contract, which is estimated in the “six figures” range. Price was one reason why the Navy didn’t opt for a graphically intense first-person shooter like America’s Army. “When we went to the customer, we originally proposed a 3-D first person shooter,” Boosman said. “One of the problems we ran into was the customer was used to a video product with a certain level of realism. To maintain that level of quality on a first-person 3-D simulation would have required lots of work and extra budget.”
Another complication was that the trainer had to run on the low-end laptops found on submarines.
So far, the game only models Los Angeles-class attack submarines and the environment of the New London, Conn., naval base. It could be expanded to include other ports and Ohio-class submarines, Boosman said.
While researching the project, Boosman spent three days on a Los Angeles-class boat. 3Dsolve artists sketched interior compartments, except for classified equipment and the reactor compartment.
“The artists were stunned by the level of complexity of the interior of the sub,” Boosman recalled. “It’s just incredibly dense with wiring, pipes and switches.”
