The Netherlands buys immersive Stinger missile trainer
The Advanced Stinger Trainer can train up to four interoperable Stinger teams simultaneously within its 360° high-resolution VR. (Photo: US DoD)
The Advanced Stinger Trainer has been selected to furnish Dutch Stinger missile operators with an advanced training platform, promoting operational proficiency and tactical expertise.
BlueHalo has been awarded a US$30 million contract from the Netherlands Ministry of Defense Materiel and IT Command to develop and deliver an Advanced Stinger Trainer (AST) system at Lieutenant General Best Barracks in Vredepeel, Netherlands.
The next-generation AST is a fully immersive Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) operator training system aimed at providing Stinger users with operational and tactical training.
AST can train up to four interoperable Stinger teams simultaneously within its 360° high-resolution VR environment. Gunners in the simulation would use an untethered MANPADS replica with the same size, weight and operational functions as a Stinger missile, while team leads use binoculars with positional auto-zoom to guide their gunner to targets as they would in active combat scenarios.
AST features a fully integrated Instructor Operator Station (IOS), providing instructors with control of the environments, threats, and difficulty for each scenario along with detailed scoring and analytics from each session.
BlueHalo has developed similar Stinger training facilities for the US Army Air Defense School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the North Dakota Army National Guard in Grand Forks, and the US Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton, California and Cherry Point, North Carolina.
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