Simulating ride at Pucka for trainees
Volume 11, No. 51, September 07, 2006

Smooth operator: Cpl Jason Holloway, an instructor on the M1A1 Abrams simulator at Puckapunyal. Photo by Cpl Rachel Ingram

ABRAMS crews will receive sophisticated training with the arrival of gunnery and driving simulators at the School of Armour, Puckapunyal.

Minister Assisting the Minister of Defence Bruce Billson opened the Tank Driver Trainer and Advanced Gunnery Training Simulators (AGTS) on August 22.

“The driver and gunnery trainers will allow for an increase in the quality of training while at the same time lowering operating costs of the tank fleet and reducing environmental impacts,” Mr Billson said.

Six AGTS’s have been delivered to Army under Land 907 – two for the School of Armour and four for 1 Armd Regt. Fitted inside shipping containers, they are the relocatable version designed to be rapidly moved to provide skill maintenance of deployed tank crews.

The AGTS accurately replicates the commander’s and gunner’s positions in the tank, and allows for precision and degraded mode gunnery training.

The Tank Driver Trainer is installed in a purpose-built facility at Puckapunyal. It will train drivers in different types of terrain, weather, visibility and vehicle conditions.