Tank simulation offers training for armor crews

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on April 19, 2006. It reports that the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology in Taiwan has developed an exclusive armor tank simulation program. It is a simulation device that resembles the navigator on a CM-11, one of the locally produced war tanks with an advanced firing control system. The tank is considered by the Ministry of National Defense as the backbone of firepower in Taiwan's army.

According to the Ministry of National Defense's Armor Training School, a good navigation assessment would allow tank operation trainees to simulate the navigation process in a reproduction model of the CM-11. The polygonal model, which can hold three men - the shooter, the crew commander and the cartridge loader - is monitored by a central workstation. The workstation has advanced technology that can simulate the sensations of actual shooting so that the crew would get used to the recoil as well as the booming sound.

The tank driver is trained separately in a similar model, which is equipped with three-dimensional optics that shows virtual visuals of a battlefield. It also simulates movements such as treading uphill and downhill.

Those who pass the model simulation course will finally go on to operate actual CM-11 tanks. An assessment will be conducted to see if they can cross large trenches, perform full-circle rotations, and scale meter-high obstacles.

About 1,200 men who undertake tank troop training in Taiwan's military will receive training from the simulation system, which is located at the Armor Training School's Simulation Control and Training Center in northern Taiwan's Hsinchu County. According to the Ministry of National Defense, the simulation system can cut up to 71 hours off coaching time and NT$1.2 million in coaching expenses in the process of training tank crew members. More significantly, the system can save the army about 18 hours of field training and 234 gallons of fuel. This is equivalent to the amount of fuel used by a compact car that travels from northern Taiwan's Taipei City to southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung City every day for 100 years!

At present, the CM-11 simulation system covers about 70 percent of the traditional field training courses. The tank troop trainees now receive up to 9 weeks of training on the simulation system.