WASHINGTON -- This summer, Soldiers at the Army's four basic combat training installations will get access to the latest in marksmanship training: the tetherless BlueFire M4A1 carbine for use inside the Engagement Skills Trainer II environment.
A total of 665 BlueFire M4A1 carbines are scheduled to be delivered for use at the Army's four initial entry training sites, including Fort Jackson, South Carolina; Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, said Cheryl Jones, assistant EST II product manager at the Program Executive Office Simulation, Training and Instrumentation in Orlando, Florida.
The EST II environment involves not just simulated weapons, but also realistic computer animations on large screens that allow Soldiers to react quickly in shoot/don't shoot situations. Electronic scoring feedback is also provided, she said.
While Jones noted that nothing beats live fire for improving marksmanship the simulated marksmanship training provided now by the EST II and by its predecessor, the EST 2000, has helped Soldiers increase their marksmanship proficiency indoors on a simulated range before ever having to fire more expensive live-fire rounds.
"I have used both the tethered and tetherless M4 weapons systems as the senior subject matter expert for the EST II system for the Army," said Staff Sgt. Kenneth Gainey, EST Senior Instructor, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 198th Infantry Brigade, Fort Benning, Georgia. "We've spent the past four years working toward integrating tetherless weapons into the system to provide more realistic training value to the marksmanship system."
Gainey said the new tetherless M4A1 weapon system allows easier training of multiple marksmanship events, the new proposed rifle qualification course, and weapons transitions. These advantages are gained while not losing any recoil in the weapon.
Inside the older EST 2000 training environment, Soldiers could train on weapons like the M4 carbine, the M16A2 rifle, various handguns, machine guns and other small arms weapons. But inside EST 2000, those simulated weapons were connected to the training environment computer systems with cumbersome tethers.
The tether contained a data cable that connected with the host computer to assess scoring, while an additional cable supplied compressed air to create realistic recoil in the weapons, Jones said. The tether made shooting and movement awkward and detracted from what Soldiers would actually experience in a realistic environment.
The EST II was developed to eliminate the distraction of that tether, among other things. Within the EST II environment, a tether is no longer required for the Army's most common weapon system: the M4A1 carbine rifle. The simulated M4A1 carbine is called BlueFire, a name trademarked by manufacturer Meggitt Training Systems that is commonly used by Soldiers.
"The tetherless weapons remove the unnatural pull on the front of the weapon that had been causing shooters to compensate in a way that would not occur in a live fire training situation," Gainey said. "The Army has always endeavored to create the most realistic training simulation for Soldiers in order to train good habits. These tetherless weapons meet that requirement for more lethally trained Soldiers."
The BlueFire M4A1 carbines, Jones said, come equipped with compressed air magazines that provide realistic recoil for up to 60 rounds before a new magazine needs to be inserted. This means a tether is no longer needed to provide realistic recoil on the weapon. If more than 60 rounds need to be fired without changing magazines, however, the BlueFire carbines do retain the option to attach an air hose tether.
With the BlueFire M4A1 carbine, the data cable has also been eliminated and replaced with a wireless system which interfaces with the computer network inside EST II, Jones said.
EST II systems can be networked into 5-, 10-, and 15-lane suites, meaning that as many as 15 Soldiers could train together using the BlueFire M4A1 carbines, she added.
The EST II system doesn't just provide Soldiers with tetherless capability when training with the M4A1 carbine, however. The EST II brings improved computing power as well.
Within EST II, Soldiers now receive automated feedback and training instructions on specific issues such as cant or pitch of the weapon, breathing control, and steady aiming through the auto-coaching feature built into the system."Marksmanship proficiency is easily obtained when the specific fundamentals are identified and corrective coaching is applied to master marksmanship skills," Jones said.
Staff Sgt. Eric Shaver, EST II instructor, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 198th Infantry Brigade, said Soldiers who have participated in the testing of these new tetherless weapons have had nothing but positive reactions to the weapons. The increased movement capabilities these weapons allow have been a point of excitement with all trainers and trainees.
"We've been able to implement these weapons without making any major changes to the current system and look forward to continuing the development of other tetherless weapon systems for future integration," Shaver said.
Another important aspect of EST II is that the design of the BlueFire carbines mimics the exact look and feel of current M4A1s, Jones added. The legacy EST 2000 used an earlier carbine variant that is no longer in the Army's inventory.
As of this year, all 894 EST 2000 trainers in the Army have been upgraded to EST II systems, Jones said. Those systems are in 317 locations worldwide and are accessible to Soldiers of all components.
"A detailed analysis was performed by the Army in 2017 and the estimation of cost savings using the EST II systems was over $62 million per year in ammunition alone," Jones said.
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