4GD opens two new British Army urban warfare sites

Military training technology company 4GD has expanded its footprint with two new urban warfare training facilities for the British Army, the company stated.

The new Garrison Urban Skills Facilities (GUSFs) are based at Catterick Training Area in North Yorkshire and Rollestone near Salisbury. Together with 4GD’s existing SmartFacility in Colchester, these sites give the Army a broader geographical spread of high-fidelity training venues across the UK.

According to the company, the facilities have been developed in partnership with the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, Landmarc Support Services and the Land Warfare Centre. The training sites incorporate 4GD’s SimWall system of reconfigurable panels, allowing rooms to be quickly altered to create varied scenarios, as well as 4GAV effects technology, which uses light, smoke and sound to heighten realism. Both locations are also prepared for the integration of 4GD’s robotic SimStriker target system.

Rob Taylor, founder and director of 4GD, said in the announcement: “4GD’s expanded footprint enables British Army units across the UK to access high-fidelity, urban warfare training environments designed to reflect the diverse, high-stakes scenarios soldiers are likely to encounter in real-world deployments.”

Taylor added that the additional sites will increase training data collection: “Increasing the training capacity of facilities with 4GD technology allows us to collect much more real-world data on how soldiers train in urban facilities. This enables us to understand the needs of the warfighter and stay ahead of the curve when developing future products.”

The company explained that the new facilities are designed to provide soldiers with levels of realism and density replicating modern urban environments. The three training centres at Catterick, Rollestone and Colchester, together with 4GD’s upgrades to Copehill Down Village, can be connected to form a larger linked training area.

Lieutenant Colonel Gord Robinson of the Land Warfare Centre commented in the release: “These state-of-the-art facilities have been extremely well received by the soldiers who appreciate how easily the internal space can be reconfigured to provide a non-repetitive and altering urban training scenario. It really is a long overdue enhancement to the Defence Training Estate which fully enables the achievement of platoon level urban training objectives in a controlled realistic urban environment.”

The UK Defence Journal understands that with the two new sites now operational, 4GD has effectively tripled the Army’s access to its advanced urban training systems.