A high-tech virtual training package is being used by the British military to help train military personnel being deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Joint Combat Operation Virtual Environment (JCOVE) contains entire virtual towns modelled in detail on their real-life counterparts in Iraq, as well as insurgents with AK47s, roadside bombs, suicide bombers and civilians. The software also incorporates much of the latest British military hardware including Challenger and Warrior Armoured vehicles, WMIK Land Rovers, Logistic Trucks and Mastiffs. Weapon systems include the SA80 rifle, Minimi machine guns and grenades; and air assets including Apaches, Chinbooks and Predator Unmanned Aerial vehicles.

The package can be used for teaching procedures and tactics for numerous combat scenarios, but at present it is primarily being used to teach soldiers in the Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) the procedures for driving in convoys.

Continue reading…