Combat vehicles built with embedded simulators: Stryker, Land Warrior programs push the miniaturization of training devices.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

High-speed computers and lifelike digital imagery are energizing the market for portable combat trainers.

Among the military training programs now incorporating this technology are the Army's Stryker combat vehicle and the Land Warrior soldier-sensor and communications system.

Both programs plan to develop what is known in industry lingo as "embedded trainers," or training capabilities that are built into a combat platform, so they can be used during deployments.

Military leaders and defense program managers generally have embraced the notion that embedded training systems would be useful to U.S. forces. They recognize that troops often don't have access to training while on duty outside the United States. Installing training devices onboard vehicles, for example, would help soldiers sharpen their combat skills during periods of downtime.

The technology, however, has not lived up to the positive spin associated with embedded training. That is now changing, because certain key technologies are maturing, said Ross Q. Smith, vice president of Quantum 3D, a supplier of digital image generators and other simulation-based technology.

Embedded trainers, said Smith, are a work in progress. "Some things are virtually impossible with today's technology, and other things are very doable."

In a vehicle like the Stryker, he said, an embedded trainer is "extremely feasible." The Stryker is the Army's new 19-ton, eight-wheeled armored vehicle. It is built by a partnership of GM Defense and General Dynamics Land Systems.

The trainer currently in development for the Stryker will allow crews to conduct precision-gunnery, driver and commander tactical training in the computers located inside the vehicle, said Smith.

"It's the same kind of training that you would find in schoolhouse training," he added. The military services, increasingly, "don't have the luxury of bringing the crews back to some institutional trainer." For that reason, "You want to be able to hone your skills while deployed."

Quantum 3D, along with Symtran, is one of the subcontractors working on the Stryker trainer.

About two years ago, both firms worked on an "appended trainer" for the Canadian Army's light armored vehicle, which is the precursor to the Stryker, said Smith. The appended trainer is bolted on the vehicle, so it's not quite as portable as the embedded system.

"The same software that was used in an appended trainer was brought to the embedded trainer," he said. "It's an...