The British Army has upgraded its training capabilities through a new contract with Saab, valued at £60 million, for the provision of advanced Instrumented Live Training (ILT-D) systems.
This agreement, detailed in a recent press release, replaces the former Direct Fire Weapon Effect Simulator (DFWES) arrangement and includes options for extension until 2030.
The ILT-D system enhances training exercises using high-tech laser and geometric pairing technologies to simulate both direct and indirect fire effects. This capability, say the builders, not only supports realistic training scenarios but also generates detailed data crucial for After Action Reviews (AAR), helping to validate and refine military training procedures.
James Passmore, VP Director of Marketing and Sales at Saab UK, expressed his enthusiasm about the ongoing partnership with the British Army.
“As we celebrate 30 years of collaboration, we are pleased to roll out the ILT-D system to support the British Army’s training over the coming years. This contract demonstrates our commitment to providing cutting-edge live simulation capabilities that meet the training demands of the UK on a global scale,” he remarked in the press release.
Simon Pearce, Training and Simulation Systems Portfolio Leader for Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), said:
“This collaboration extends our longstanding relationship with Saab UK and reflects our dedication to equipping the British Army with the best possible training solutions. The ILT-D system is crucial as we prepare for the Collective Training Transformation Programme and adapt to the complexities of modern warfare,” he stated.
The contract also includes substantial investment to extend the service life of this technology, ensuring it meets the British Army’s evolving needs, tackles obsolescence, and maintains compatibility with international military partners. This upgrade integrates the latest Saab hardware and software, reinforcing interoperability with allied nations.
£60m training tech, homes and barracks leak, more leave than join, some kit is 60 years old, not enough reserve ammo. At least the few left will be well trained to do what? if there is a a war.
Sit in the AA van with broken down kit on the back?
Ask the Russians how well even their best kit pairs with lack of training.
better than ours and they have more kit and more ammo, they will not run out in 10 days like we will, proven fact war gamed by the Army brass but still not change in buying more. let just bury our heads in the sand and use positive waves to wish it all way.
Yes, they have more kit and more ammo, and more dead conscripts.
Of course we need more spending on Defence — nobody on this forum (trolls excepted) would disagree — but we can’t scrimp on training to pay for kit.
One thing that could be done is go back to the all found system, no accommodation, charges, food(served by the services trained chefs like ACC) get rid of contractors bring every thing in house, train Warrants leave motor milage allowance , pads allowed more? Would this lead to more recruits and retention of trained personnel??
That would help but even back in 1970 when I joined we paid food and accommodation out of our pay. I think we got a couple of warrants a year but the only fuel allowance was in BAOR with fuel coupons so we didn’t pay German prices.
No thanks. I’d very much like to be able to eat at home on the weekend without feeling like I’m paying twice for foot.
The Military Salary was introduced in 1972 – main feature was that salary was increased and food and accomodation charges were levied – to make the forces more in line with how civvys operate.
If you went back to free food and accomodation, then the pay would go down.
REME exist to fix broken down kit!
Thank you passing that massively helpful bit of information on, but i already knew that. When it has the spares yes i know, but in my last Regt there was too much kit awaiting spares no matter how good the fitter sections were. The problem was some items were no longer made as other armed forces had up graded their kit and as we had not, the bits needed were required to be removed from reserve kit, and one day there was not reserve kit left that had the parts. A bit like C2 hulls that have been stripped etc… Read more »
I mentioned REME only because you suggested that the AA repairs and recovers military equipment! Some of the readership might think that’s true! I may have mentioned that I was a REME officer for 34 years and that included a posting as an Equipment Support Manager at Andover. Dealing with obsolescence for me was always a real challenge especially when equipment had not been upgraded over the years, and some companies in the supply chain for spares had gone bust as you say. There were still several options available to ‘create’ spares which I won’t bore you with (unless you… Read more »
Same issue my unit had there were simply no one making some parts, hence the MLRS went from 64 to 44 over time. The 6 most cannibalised were later converted to REME vehicles along other reasons. Hence why the UK is having to buy old MLRS stored by Allies and send them to the US to be rebuilt/upgraded.
There are no new ones, my MLRS was the last one built in Europe and that was in 93.
The Equipment Support Manager in the IPT must have an Obsolescence Management Plan for each equipment that he manages. There are several ways to address a shortage of spares due to those spares being no longer manufactured.
The very last resort of such multiple measures is cannibalisation which must be very strictly controlled at the highest level, and well documented.
Cannibalisation should not have happened at unit level. If it did, that was very poor engineering discipline. It accounts for why your fleet went from 64 to 44.
Cannibalisation happens more then you think, that is why are stored fleet of C2/MLRS/AS90 are less and less. I would hate to think what our so called reserve war stock fleet is really like i bet its not good.
Sounds like John Healey should ask this question of the MoD!
but he won’t, no one will its keep quite and carry on and hope never need reserve vehicles. Like the entire Army, its kind of unwriten rule is do not bring up problems just avoid them.