10 March 2009

By John Archer

During Ex Mono, 4 Platoon of 7 WHB Bn had to fight off a strong counter-attack from insurgents after clearing them out of the remote village of Yutyeff in the hills behind Waiouru.

Despite heavy and accurate fire from the machine guns and Steyrs of Lt Sam Valentine’s reservists, the green-clad figures kept pressing forward down the valley towards Yutyeff (the UTF), popping up on ridges, first at 800 metres, then at 400m, until their assault was finally halted with the aid of supporting mortar fire in a gully 200m away.

They were hardy warriors; one of them still kept appearing after being hit 253 times by fire from 4 Platoon, according to the signals being relayed to the laptop held by the platoon’s instructor. All this was apparent through the new small arms retaliatory target (SART) equipment the Army is introducing.

This system provides a simulated enemy in live-fire training for individuals and sub-units practising minor tactics. It has been supplied by SAAB Training Systems (STS), of Sweden, which also supplied the similar, but much larger targetry system installed at the MTR Range, Paradise Valley, for LAV gunnery training.

The Army has 105 new Stationary Infantry Targets (SIT), seven Sound Effect Simulators (SES) and four Moving Infantry Targets (MIT). Seven purpose built trailers have been built (by Kea Trailers Ltd, Te Rapa), to hold targets and simulators, battery rechargers, and two portable Toughbook laptops, modems and UTF communications. Two trailers will be kept at Waiouru, Linton and Burnham and one at Papakura.

The new targets are smaller and lighter than the obsolete DART system which they replace; they can be carried further and dug in more quickly. The targets will be issued with a number of multi purpose holders which can be configured to have them swing out sideways or in “scissors” mode from behind walls or trees for urban or jungle warfare. The moving targets, however, will require much more digging, as up to 30 metres of light railway track has to be buried for the MIT to run along. The rails can be buried in an existing ditch, with sandbags to raise them to the correct level.

The new targets are fitted with lights to simulate gunfire or provide low level lighting to enable the targets to be engaged at night. TESS equipment can also be used with the SART system. Each target has an individual internet address, so it can exchange information with the instructor’s laptop via a UHF link.

The targets are controlled by software that will run on any Windows computer. The instructor marks the position and number of each target on the computer screen, and then programmes the target’s behaviour into it. The target can be made to pop up and down by either manual control or automatically, by reacting to one bullet hit, or by “dying” after taking a specified number of hits.

The software can activate individual targets or a whole block of targets at once. Stephan Larsen of SAAB Training Systems explained that one laptop can easily control 100 targets or more, so all five SART trailers could be gathered together for a big exercise, if required, to simulate a whole enemy platoon moving forward.

More likely, this block movement function will be used for training in close-combat reaction shooting. Previously an instructor would set up numbered cardboard targets in columns of five, the most distant about 30 metres away, the closest five metres. A trainee stood in front of each column, and on command they all fired at a designated number - “5, 4, 4, 2, 3, 2, 1” - pretending it was one man charging at them. Then the Steyrs or pistols were put down and the trainees went forward to check the targets and record the accuracy of their fire.

Now each of the trainees will have SART targets to shoot at, and with one stroke of the stylus on his touch screen, the instructors can make all these pop up in the desired sequence. The number of hits for each trainee will show up on the computer screen immediately.

Mr Allen Owens has spent much of his time over the past two years developing this new training system. In mid February combat instructors and Weapons Training System staff from throughout New Zealand gathered at Waiouru for a train-the-trainers. Mr Owens noted that it would be a few weeks yet before all the new SART systems are in general use.

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