Marine corps orders new convoy simulators.

The Marine Corps has purchased simulators that will teach crews how to handle dangerous situations while driving in urban war zones.

The combat convoy simulator, made by Lockheed Martin, is an immersive trainer in which five-person crews, seated inside replicas of humvees and medium tactical vehicle replacement trucks, will progress through scenarios projected onto screens surrounding the vehicles. Missions range from patrol and logistics support to high-value target extraction and medical evacuation.

The simulators are an improvement over current ones, said 1st Lt. Geraldine Carey, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps Systems Command.

The system will feature higher fidelity images and wireless weapons with simulated binoculars and optics to allow Marines to dismount easily from their vehicles. It also will allow for larger convoys, with six vehicles rather than the current four.

"By increasing the number of vehicles, it provides a more realistic training environment [similar] to what is actually experienced in theater," said Carey.

The $52.5 million contract includes 10 buildings, each housing six combat convoy simulators --four humvee trainers and two MTVR trainers. The buildings will be located at Camp Lejeune, N.C.; Camp Pendleton, Calif.; Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii; Okinawa, Japan; 29 Palms, Calif.; and several reserve sites.

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"A majority of Marine Corps installations lack the adequate infrastructure and training areas to conduct realistic convoy training. CCS will provide Marine Corps operational forces with a high fidelity, full crew and simulated networked convoy tactical training capability," said Carey. All deploying Marines will be trained in the system, she added.

On current convoy trainers, the scenarios are projected onto five screens that partially surround the crews. The visuals on the new trainer are rendered by a more realistic graphics engine, which will improve the images that are displayed on eight screens, and on the vehicles' rearview mirrors, to give Marines a full 360-degree view of the scenarios, said Andre Elias, director of virtual training solutions at the company.

Previously, the simulation weapons were tethered to computers. As Marines fired the weapons, machines would send pressurized air through the cord to simulate recoil. The recoil is now built into a cartridge on the M16s and M4s, and the weapons have wireless Bluetooth-like capabilities.

"When you lose that cord, basically you stop thinking, 'this is a simulator.' Your mind translates that into being in a real battle," said Elias. "That gives the Marines the freedom to move around and not have to worry about where that cord is getting caught, in between the door and their feet."

Up to 30 Marines can train simultaneously in a single exercise. The six simulators will be linked to a workstation that is controlled by a single operator. As the training exercise proceeds, the operator can inject different threats and situations to stress the crews that are being trained.

"The real benefit of the system comes from the ability of the operator to change it on the fly," said Elias. Offline, the Marines can invent a new scenario and record that for future training.

The simulators also can be connected to other training technologies in the service for larger-scale exercises.

As in previous simulations, each training session can be recorded and played back during after action reviews.