British soldiers are racing virtual drones through video game mountains and tracks before taking to the skies for real
British Army soldiers are preparing for drone warfare with commercial video games.They fly virtually for at least 30 hours before moving to real drones.The UK and US say simulators save drones, money, and training time.An elite British Army unit is using video games to teach soldiers how to fly drones before they take to the skies for real.Soldiers in the 1st Battalion of the UK's Irish Guards use several publicly available simulators "favored by tactical and hobbyist pilots the world over," Capt. Pickett RM, a company second-in-command in the battalion, told Business Insider.One simulator for beginners includes courses that run along race tracks and through mountains and other environments.
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British Army soldiers are preparing for drone warfare with commercial video games.They fly virtually for at least 30 hours before moving to real drones.The UK and US say simulators save drones, money, and training time.An elite British Army unit is using video games to teach soldiers how to fly drones before they take to the skies for real.Soldiers in the 1st Battalion of the UK's Irish Guards use several publicly available simulators "favored by tactical and hobbyist pilots the world over," Capt. Pickett RM, a company second-in-command in the battalion, told Business Insider.One simulator for beginners includes courses that run along race tracks and through mountains and other environments. Pickett said the battalion could not name the game for licensing and other reasons.The simulated flights build soldiers' "hand-eye coordination, reaction times, understanding of how the system handles," he said, describing it as being "like driving a car in 3D."It's an important initial step, he said, because "flying FPV drones is exceptionally hard to do and requires a significant time flying." Pickett said that "simulation is the most effective way of achieving this."A Royal Marine working with the Irish Guards on the battalion's drone warfare plans told Business Insider that the simulator is "a key part in learning to fly, and we've really taken that from our Ukrainian allies in-house to train people effectively in drones and protect our time and resources.""We've got the guys coming in, and they're playing video games," they said, but they're "learning a valuable tactical skill that they can use later down the line."Starting with the simulated drones reduces the number of real aircraft that inexperienced pilots destroy during training, saving equipment, money, and time.The Irish Guards do a minimum of 30 hours on the simulator, followed by a minimum of 30 hours of actual flying on the field.The US Army takes a similar approach in its Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course at Fort Rucker, Alabama, where soldiers spend 20 to 30 hours on simulators before beginning live flight.Maj. Wolf Amacker, who leads the US Army's Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Tactics Branch at the Aviation Center of Excellence, said FPV drones may be cheap compared with other weapons, but commanders still do not want a beginner to "absolutely smash it and wreck it and lose $2,000."Instead, he said, the Army can use "a $20 video game" to get someone ready to safely and effectively fly the real aircraft.The Irish Guards also built a drone obstacle course for soldiers to practice their live flight.The battalion has created a first-of-its-kind within the British Army "drone hub" where soldiers can do their simulation training, repair damaged drones, and use 3D printers to make drone parts.
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- What's the story?
- British Army soldiers are preparing for drone warfare with commercial video games.They fly virtually for at least 30 hours before moving to real drones.The UK and US say simulators save drones, money, and training time.An elite British Army unit is using video games to teach soldiers how to fly drones before they take to the skies for real.Soldiers in the 1st Battalion of the UK's Irish Guards use several publicly available simulators "favored by tactical and hobbyist pilots the world over," Capt. Pickett RM, a company second-in-command in the battalion, told Business Insider.One simulator for beginners includes courses that run along race tracks and through mountains and other environments.
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British soldiers are racing virtual drones through video game mountains and tracks before taking to the skies for real
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