Combatfx™ is a Division of Pride Studios Pty Ltd, one of the oldest and well known special effects studios in Australia. In the last 20 years Pride Studios Pty Ltd has supplied the full spectrum of practical and physical special effects, including explosive, pyrotechnic, armoring and rigging.

Tad Pride, the Director of Pride Studios has supervised and worked on films such as Mad Max 2, Fortress, Robinson Crusoe, Dark City, Mission Impossible 2, Red Planet, The Matrix and Superman Returns.

Dyan Moore, Managing Director of Combatfx™ says, “Providing high-end special effects to the film industry is one of the most challenging and technically demanding of all fields. It will often require events such as fires, explosions, gun play, vehicle crashes, building and structural collapse and large scale natural phenomenon to take place.”

Ms Moore says this is often surrounded by extremely valuable personnel and assets, such as world famous actors and directors, crowds of men, women and children, and millions of dollars worth of delicate equipment. This is frequently staged in the middle of downtown New York, Sydney or places of great environmental sensitivity such as national parks or coral reefs. “At the end of the day everyone must walk away having left the personnel, equipment and environment unscathed, intact and safe.”

With this past experience, creating the Combat Division of Pride Studios Combatfx™ was an obvious natural extension. The effectiveness of using ‘Hollywood’ style training has already been proven overseas, with the creation of various large scale training facilities, such as the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center and the replica Middle Eastern training facility at Fort Irwin, which was recently shown in the documentary Full Battle Rattle.

In the realm of special effects, all these things can, and do look real. It’s as close as you can get to the physical, psychological, emotional and tactical experience of a battlefield, without actually being there. The goal of using special effects in the field of military training, is to achieve all the above but in a safer, more humanistic and tactically realistic environment.

“This is where our experience of the last 20 years comes into effect. There are very few other companies such as ours that have the licenses, equipment, skills and technical ability to achieve such highly accurate battlefield effects, and with our research and development facility at Botany, Sydney, and our highly skilled technical crew we are also able to custom make anything that may be required,” says Ms Moore, “We are pretty much a ‘one stop shop” for all simulated battlefield effects.”

Some of the other services Combatfx™ supply, including pyrotechnic and non pyrotechnic battlefield effects include:

• small arms fire
• mortar fire
• Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) rounds
• heavy machine gun
• artillery
• land mines and Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s)
• design and supply of non lethal surface-to-air missiles
• Dynamic and simulated breaching systems
• Environmental effects, dust, wind, rain
• mines
• booby traps
• explosives supply, manufacture and magazining; and
• moulage (battlefield casualties)

They are also licensed armourers and supply:

• rifles
• RPGs
• pistols
• sub machine guns
• grenades
• mortars
• heavy machine guns; and
• firearms modification and magazining.

Combatfx™ has also worked with Cubic Defence Australia supplying battlefield effects, blank firing weapons, blank firing RPGs, blast signatures, armourers and pyrotechnicans, moulage effects and role players and battlefield effects for their Mission Specific Training.

Working with ATACS Pty Ltd on the Aces North exercise, they also supplied battlefield effects, blank firing weapons, simulated surface to air missiles, ground signatures for mortars and anti aircraft artillery.

Ms Moore believes an effective relationship between Defence and Industry is vitally important, as there are benefits for both.

“In our situation, bringing the world of the film industry and the world of the military together is not that dissimilar. The creation of organisations such as the Australian Industry Defence Network (AIDN), the Defence and Industry E-portal, and the Defence and Industry Study Course has helped immensely to build and maintain relationships between Defence and Industry.”

“Our vision for the future is to continue to improve the fidelity and realism of the overall training experience. This type of realistic training means that soldiers on the front line have the ability to hone their skills in a tactical environment which is tailored to specific mission parameters. It also allows mission planners and trainers to set up realistic and viable combat training scenarios for areas previously deemed too difficult to replicate, rapidly, accurately and economically”, says Mr Pride.

For more information about Combatfx ™, visit www.combatfx.com email cpmbatfx@cia.com.au or phone Ms Moore on 0405 167 024 or Mr Pride on 0414 880 367.