Roke develops Dismounted Close Combat simulator

Roke has introduced a new portable Dismounted Close Combat (DCC) simulator which delivers the ability to evaluate future technology concepts without the need to develop costly and time consuming prototypes. The company made the announcement on 17 January.

Roke has developed the system to counter challenges involved in the current methods of bringing new capabilities to the battlefield. Currently the evaluation of new technologies involves expensive prototype development and time consuming live trials. The DCC simulator, however, allows new technologies to be rapidly tested without the problems experienced in real situations, such as finding suitable safe locations or the availability of people to participate. Test results can be used to rapidly gauge the likely impact on military capability and determine if a further investment is justified.

Roke said it has adapted games-based technology to create rich, realistic and configurable test and evaluation environments, providing more accurate evaluation results as it can be configured for multiple scenarios, allowing real-time changes to be made, including target and weapon updates.

Jon Farrington, consultant engineer at Roke said: ‘Roke’s new Dismounted Close Combat simulator will save significant costs as performing an exercise in a synthetic environment such as this is a typically tenth of the cost of a live exercise. This new approach to product assessment also offers a much safer testing environment and makes assessment of equipment in dirty or difficult situations faster and simpler in a controlled yet realistic environment.’

The use of Computer Generated Forces (CGF) to fulfil key roles in the simulation exercise also reduces the need for man-power intensive exercises. The system can be used by a single user or small teams that can be engaged with the simulation from multiple viewpoints to maximise realism.

The system uses Commercial Off-The-Shelf components and open standards which allow it to be flexible in meeting future requirements. It is also easily transportable and can be deployed and operational within 60 minutes.