Small Arms Weapons Training

For small arms marksmanship and tactical training, soldiers and law enforcement officers have only a few options: they can head out to ranges and expend ammo shooting at paper targets or they can engage in live fire training exercises, which can be risky. Laser Shot, a manufacturer of laser and live fire virtual small arms weapons training systems, needed a simulation software platform that leveraged existing technology used by the Army.    

Developed in close partnership with Laser Shot, Bohemia Interactive Simulations incorporated Virtual Battlespace as part of Laser Shot’s small arms marksmanship training systems to include the Portable Small Arms Tactical Trainer (PSAT), Tactical Weapons Simulator (TWS), Combined Arms Collective Trainer, and Long Range Precision Shooting Simulator (LRPSS), as well as crew training vehicle platforms for land and sea applications. 

The PSAT and TWS allows users to build a virtual firing range quickly and easily using the VBS mission editor and customize range layouts and scoring systems to replicate any course of fire. 

Laser Shot’s Combined Arms Collective Trainer uses VBS for tactical scenario-based military training. This unique application of VBS allows customers to accommodate team, squad, company or battalion training elements with both direct and indirect fire weapons. Even more challenging is providing long-range marksmen with realistic scenarios in which they are able to engage targets at distances that would normally be unrecognizable to the naked eye due to their sub-pixel size in the simulation environment.

Laser Shot’s Long Range Precision Shooting Simulator (LRPSS) incorporates VBS with Laser Shot’s exclusive laser tracking technology and state-of-the-art in-scope visual displays.  

Laser Shot’s Boat Crew & Gunnery Training system, which is currently used with the US Navy in Bahrain, Guam, Norfolk, and Coronado, allows trainees to prepare for pre-deployment missions through VBS’s ability to allow developers to create geo-typical and geo-specific  terrains. The system is a complete crew trainer that is able to support a range of weapons from pistols to machines guns on an 8-screen, 360-degree VBS environment.  

“[VBS] is by far the most adopted and most robust training software available and as well, one of the more user friendly ones,” said Robert Findlay, business developer for Laser Shot. “It works well for both the end user as well as scripters and developers.”

Equipped with VBS and Laser Shot products, trainers can create new scenarios that expand their library of potential scenarios to expose trainees to a wide variety of situations. In addition, the system’s real-time editor allows administrators to alter scenarios on the fly, injecting more uncertainty and realism to increase your trainees’ situational awareness.