By Andrew Stackpool
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The
view from inside DSTO’s new shoulder-fired missile
simulator.
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DSTO
has developed a shoulder-fired missile simulator to help gain
a better understanding of how to protect aircraft from surface
threats.
The Virtual Manual Portable Air Defence System (Virtual ManPADS)
has been developed by a team of DSTO scientists, headed by Dr
Brian Craig, from the Electronic Warfare and Radar Division at
Edinburgh.
While Army anti-air simulators have been designed for the advanced
equipment used by the air defence regiments, Virtual ManPADS has
been developed to understand the capabilities of an enemy with
minimal training using a relatively simple weapon.
First reported in DSTO’s internal magazine, Connections,
Dr Craig said the new system would add the “human operator
aspects” that had been missing from the technical science
of defeating surface-to-air systems.
“Now that we can simulate the entire threat, we can look
more comprehensively at aircraft tactics, which include everything
from not being seen, not being targeted, methods of flying to
avoid being ‘acquired’, use of flares and laser-jammers,”
he said.
Virtual ManPADS can simulate day and night, as well as fixed-wing
and rotary aircraft.
The next step in the system’s development would be to make
ergonomic improvements for ease of use, as the current prototype
is laden with extensive wiring.
