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New simulator training helicopter door gunners

By John Reese
January 17, 2006

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 17, 2006) – A new virtual helicopter door-gunner simulator, used to train deploying Soldiers and capable of interacting with its ground-convoy counterpart, is now being demonstrated at military installations.

The simulator -- which was on display Jan. 11-13 at the Institute of Land Warfare Aviation Symposium and Exhibition in Washington, D.C. – is providing the first door-gunner training since Vietnam, said Raydon Corporation reps who were demonstrating it.

The simulator provides a safe, cost-effective environment to practice helicopter door-gunner training by engaging assorted targets in settings based on a “virtual Baghdad,” said Raydon’s director of military marketing Brian Hunt.

A Soldier using the simulator wears a helmet and visor with a 360-degree spherical view from the vantage point of a UH-60 Black Hawk or CH-47 Chinook crew chief. Targets appear as the simulator pilot flies over a virtual city based on geo-specific imagery.

The pilot and gunner communicate and cooperate with each other as targets are revealed. Tracer rounds help the gunner engage and destroy targets, a difficult challenge as both the target and the helicopter are in motion.

“More than 100,000 Soldiers have trained on our combat convoy simulators, mostly National Guard,” said Hunt. “About 1,000 pilots, crew chiefs and Soldiers have trained on the door-gunner simulator at Fort Hood and Fort Rucker.”

One of the simulators was at Fort Hood, Texas, from September to early January. It was at Fort Rucker, Ala., Sept. 25-30.

The simulators are rented to the Army to fit into a commander’s budgets.

“It’s like a buffet line,” said Hunt. “You take what you need.”

The trainer comes in different arrangements, from classroom models to large trailers with mock-up door positions and interchangeable weapons, and follows on the heels of the virtual convoy simulator. The two simulators may be linked, Hunt said, so that Soldiers in the convoy version can interact with air support.