Weapon Simulater Capabilities Requirements - FBTX.pdf

Weapons Simulator Capabilities

MFGI Bliss trains and validates combat arms and combat service support units, conducting this training primarily at Camp McGregor, NM. The Army National Guard (ARNG) and Army Reserve (USAR) Soldiers that train at FBTX have rarely had the opportunity to extensively train together in pre-mobilization and require extensive “sets and reps” in a collective environment to develop unit cohesion and the ability to operate as a team. Post-MOB time is at a premium, as are the live rounds and the opportunities to conduct live fire training. Additionally, specialized training requirements for Personnel Security Detachments (PSD) and military police Soldiers can strain conventional training capabilities. MFGI Bliss requires a weapons simulator system that can provide mobilizing and deploying Soldiers with individual and small unit collective training in a simulated environment, providing the additional sets and reps that a unit cannot get on a live fire range. This provides the opportunity to increase unit cohesion and allow personnel to “gel” as a team. Because of the wide variety of deployment missions that MFGI Bliss trains, the system must have flexible scenarios that can be modified as conditions in the COCOMs change. These scenarios must include, at a minimum, marksmanship training, PSD, LEWTAQ qualification, enter a building, clear a room, squad fire control and distribution, and the ability to train up to a squad at a time in the system.

It is highly preferable that the system allow a unit to train with both organic unit weapons (using drop-in kits) and synthetic weapons (to support JSTO training groups).

The system must have an extremely high “up time” and contractual support to limit the amount of “down time” when the system does go down. As an example, the current system has near universal availability with zero down-time.

Units typically arrive with 70% of their personnel fully individual and CSW qualified.

This creates a requirement for individuals and crews to qualify on all IWTS respective weapon systems, including the virtual tables (Small Arms Table II for M4). 5 AR BDE currently uses the Gunfighter Gym (GfG) system, which is located at Camp McGregor. The system is available 24/7 for units to utilize, and 5 AR BDE OC/Ts are trained to operate the system. The only other simulator system on FBTX is the EST 2000, which is located on East Bliss, approximately 32 miles from Camp McGregor (one hour, one way bus ride).

The EST 2000 is only open MON-FRI from 0800 – 1700, and is not open on holidays. If a weapons simulator system is not available at McGregor Base Camp, units would require an average of three additional post MOB days to accommodate the EST 2000 schedule, and additional funding would likely be required to support transportation back and forth to East Bliss.

In FY 23-24, 5 AR BDE trained 5,847 Soldiers using the GfG (these numbers only cover 10 months due to a contract lapse in November and December). These Soldiers ran 50,718 drills, fired 865,689 simulated rounds, and were trained for a total of 2,176.28 hours. Roughly 3,000 (~30%) of the Soldiers trained conducted the digital weapons qualification tables (these are part of the IWQ required IWTS digital tables), with the majority of that 3,000 PAX conducting additional follow-on weapons training. Nearly 40% of this training time was conducted after normal duty hours and on weekends / holidays. If the GfG or a comparable system is not available at FBTX, Soldier lethality will suffer as the training opportunities will be significantly degraded. Transportation of

Soldiers, already stressed at the installation, will become even more complex and expensive, and additional post-MOB time will have to be planned for IOT accommodate the limited EST 2000 system on FBTX. A comparable system to the current one will enable training and greatly reduce these issues.