RUKLA, Lithuania -- For U.S. and other NATO troops training with their Lithuanian partners during Atlantic Resolve, making the joint field exercises safe, realistic and cost-effective is a priority.
Training Support Activity-Europe, part of the 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command, based in Grafenwoehr, Germany, has brought an assortment of high-tech training aids to improve and enhance multinational training exercises.
TSAE provides U.S. and NATO troops with gadgets and simulators to train for many combat situations, from lasers mounted to the barrels of rifles and tanks to simulated improvised explosive devices.
"It's not just about saving money," explained John Tanner, TSAE Training Support Team Leader in Lithuania. "It's making the exercise more realistic, because you train as you fight. We want to make it as realistic as possible."
Soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, have been in Poland and the Baltic States since early October as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, a U.S. Army Europe-led combined-arms exercise aimed at enhancing multinational interoperability, strengthening relationships between allied militaries, and demonstrating U.S. commitment to NATO. During the recent Exercise Iron Sword 2014, U.S. troops joined eight other NATO countries in Lithuania for that country's largest such NATO exercise.
TSAE provided pop-up targets for live-fire exercises, and for combat situational training exercises, outfitted NATO Soldiers with the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System, a system similar to laser tag. Soldiers wear a harness and headgear equipped with sensors, and have laser transmitters mounted to the barrels of their rifles. Beeps indicate near misses; a loud, sustained tone means a direct hit.
"It gives the units excellent feedback," said Tanner, "and it's a great after-action review tool."
A similar MILES system works with Bradley and Stryker Fighting Vehicles. Back at their home station in Fort Hood, Texas, Soldiers of the 1st BCT, 1st Cav. Div., use MILES to prepare for their live-fire gunnery qualifications.
And then there is COFT, or Conduct-of-Fire Trainer, a trailer-sized simulator that gives Soldiers the experience of being inside the turret of a Bradley. An instructor/operator runs computer simulations of targets or combat scenarios for a commander and gunner inside the turret.
"Everything inside a COFT directly replicates a Bradley turret," explained Sgt. 1st Class Robby Burns, first sergeant, C Troop, 1st Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment. "You can familiarize with 90 percent of what you need before going to gunnery tables," he said.
As part of their mission in Lithuania, he and Staff Sgt. Dustin Vinyard, of B Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 1st BCT, 1st Cav. Div., introduced the COFT to members of the Lithuanian Land Forces.
COFT is of special interest to the Lithuanian troops; as the LLF are expanding and seeking to introduce weapons platforms beyond their current armored troop carriers, COFT may provide a kick-start in training their soldiers for vehicles like the Bradley and Stryker. It's also important for them to be able to use, said Tanner, as Lithuanian troops have deployed alongside U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and like other NATO partners, it's useful to know how to operate a variety of weapons and vehicles.
"Nothing beats hands-on [training] with that weapons system, but COFT gives you most of the mechanics you need as far as crew drill, fire commands, stuff like that," said Vinyard.
Qualifying on gunnery tables is costly and time-consuming, so members of his units will, at times, train on the COFT around the clock before going to live-fire exercises. Best of all, he said, without wasting daylight, bullets or fuel.
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