Tuesday, August 15, 2017

U.S. Marines Corps Embraces Virtual Reality To Train Snipers

U.S. Marine Corps

Sarah Sicard, Task & Purpose: Here’s How The Marine Corps Will Train Future Snipers

First-person shooter is one of the most popular perspectives among gamers, but these simulations can be used for much more than entertainment — specifically military training. And thanks to new the Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer III, Marine Corps marksmen are about to take their sharpshooting skills to a whole new level.

Though the Corps has been using virtual reality to train Marines for two decades, the systems for marksmanship have become exponentially better.

With the ISMT III, Marines have access to multiple weapons: the M9 service pistol, M4 carbine, and wireless weapons, including the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, M32A1 Multi-Shot Grenade Launcher and M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon.

This latest iteration, modeled off the Firearms Training Simulator (FATS), also boasts three-dimensional projections and features enhanced training modes, “giving Marines a better, more realistic training experience as they prepare for the complexities of modern warfare,” the release said.

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WNU Editor: These virtual reality simulations have exploded in popularity and sophistication .... I can only imagine what these virtual reality simulations will look like 10 - 20 years from now.

2 comments:

D.Plowman said...

Virtual reality remains, as of this moment, a stepping stone for future projects. It has stepped out of being a gimmick and become a technological foundation, but it's not far from being labelled a gimmick should no progress be made.

As for the military making use of VR... I would doubt its effectiveness in training a military grunt. Don't think VR has come that far ahead yet to make it a viable platform for soldiers to train in, but it certainly can and does prove its effectiveness in flight simulation, which is where it currently excels as.

TWN said...

VR can be an excellent training aid for body position, sight picture, trigger control which is a big part of accurate marksmanship, but you need range time to develop wind doping, light and mirage, and you need to shoot in the 4 seasons, sun, rain and snow. Anyone can shoot well on a nice sunny day with mild wind, but try it when the rain is horizontal in your face, or at -20c in a high wind to the point your exposed trigger finger hurts, VR would be hard pressed to simulate that.