Centre for Conflict Simulation (SA Army)

[Grey Havoc]

Burning down the house - defenceWeb

The recent fire at the SA Army College is an event that received little media attention. This is obviously not the Parliamentary precinct or the seat of government. The Centre for Conflict Simulation was housed in the building that burnt to the ground on 25 October. Many an SA Army officer over...

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The recent fire at the SA Army College is an event that received little media attention. This is obviously not the Parliamentary precinct or the seat of government. The Centre for Conflict Simulation was housed in the building that burnt to the ground on 25 October.

Many an SA Army officer over time has passed through this building, which has a rich history as it is one of the buildings that came from India after the Anglo-Boer War as part of the post-war British rebuilding programme. Of the less fond memories of the building for the officer’s past would be the memories of it being a PT hall. From around 1997 the building was converted into a wargaming centre.

The facility provided a wargaming capability that is not available in the majority fighting forces around the world. The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) can be called an early adopter, maybe even a pioneer in this field. The air, land and sea arms of service each have simulation capabilities that ensure the most is gotten out of real world equipment. Simulation also provides a benefit in a budget constrained environment in that the operators can still train, and in some cases keep current, on main equipment.

The problem is that with the SANDF budget crunch it seems as though entities like the Centre for Conflict Simulation have not been funded. Over the last two years, the simulation centre had no wargaming tool availability to simulate any conflict situation. This is due to a lack of a support contract. This seems not to be a new state of affairs for this key capability. In the early years there were several support contracts that enabled the SA defence industry to provide an operational level wargame called Hawk, as well as a movement and detection capability called Arend. Unfortunately, both the systems that were owned by the SANDF were decommissioned as the funding to maintain the capability was stopped.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Another excerpt from the article:

The SA defence industry has a capability for unlocking fourth industrial revolution (4IR) opportunities. The Centre for Conflict Simulation was linked with the old CyberSim that has transitioned to Global Command & Control Technologies (GC2T). The core component provided by GC2T is the BattleTek constructive simulation system which is currently used to good effect in the Malaysian War Simulation Centre. The war gaming technology was also offset by live firing simulation tools. The key element applicable to 4IR is the locally developed Command and Control solutions in the GC2T portfolio.

GC2T had to downscale activities in South Africa when the wargaming support contracts did not materialize. This provided an opportunity for a new entrant, Armiger, to make its presence known. Here is a team with extensive experience in utilising and employing Live, Virtual, and Constructive Simulation systems, including hardware, software, and simulation methodologies. The team has expanded out of defence to offer a total security sector capability.

GC2T and Armiger are not unique in the SA defence industry. The solid African Defence Systems capability in Mount Edgecombe was used to establish companies like Cybicom and ThoroughTec. The now Cybicom Atlas Defence (CAD) had a similar progression to CyberSim, but within the Naval sector. CAD offer a world-class naval command and control solutions in addition to the simulation capabilities. ThoroughTec offers a wide range of simulation solutions to various non-defence sectors. This is all from starting as a defence sector supplier. The simulation base has allowed ThoroughTec to expand from training solutions into the Big Data and AI domains.

The SAAF have also support local entities. One such entity is 5DT, which supplied the current SAAF Aircrew Training solution housed at Ysterplaat. The solution is by all accounts an excellent solution for the SA budget. The 5DT simulation capability has been expanded to also include a machine learning capability with in-house product development. Another entity is TMI Dynamatics, a relative newcomer. TMI has supplied a SAAB Gripen mission trainer, aeronautical and engineering simulations and a virtual battlefield simulation tool indicating the potential for new entrants to still make an impact.

Most of the SANDF Level-5 type programmes over the last 15 years have included a simulator component. This has allowed companies like ThoroughTec, 5DT and TMI to expand their capabilities.

This is a small subset of SA defence related entities that are supplying what can be seen as complementary products for main equipment, but they are already making an impact in the 4IR domain. Not one of these entities is mentioned in the Aerospace and Defence Masterplan.