Bringing Modern War to Military Training

A patrol links up with a small special forces team and conducts a tactical movement to a position near a target village. They halt, and use virtual reality goggles loaded with photos taken clandestinely throughout the village by a local source—the patrol leader and his subordinate leaders are able to virtually walk through the entire village. Before initiating the raid that the patrol has been ordered to execute against a target building holding a group of enemy fighters, a soldier hacks into a security camera network in the village, giving the patrol control of each camera and obtaining the direct imagery feed. As the soldiers move into position, a drone appears ahead of them. The patrol leader calls up a soldier armed with a “cyber capability rifle,”who—immediately before the support element begins firing—takes aim and uses the weapon to “shoot” code over Wi-Fi at the drone, essentially tricking it into thinking the rifle is an administrator and transmitting an order to stop functioning.

MWI also worked with West Point’s Behavioral Sciences & Leadership Department to collect data and observations from the training exercise for a research project on whether the use of virtual reality could improve performance during tactical operations. The research is aimed at better understanding soldiers’ intrinsic ability and willingness to engage effectively with new technologies, and informing the ways the Army integrates these technologies into future training.

This article appeared originally at Modern War Institute.