The US Army has the ability to train soldiers in specific, challenging environments, selectable at the push of a button.
This is made possible thanks to virtual reality technology. A report released by the military says satellite images, street views, and other readily available information are now being used to create a "synthetic learning environment" in real time. Artificial Intelligence creates digital worlds from the collected data, analyzes the response of the soldier to make training more effective, and provides the variability necessary to keep the trainee on track.
Virtual reality is not new to the military, it has been around since 2012, but this new "synthetic training environment" approach means that those responsible for training soldiers can create realistic representations of real-world locations much faster than ever. If the unit is about to land, the fighters will already be familiar with the situation, and will be able to move as if they had already been there.
The goal of this program is to make war simulation as close to reality as possible. A more realistic environment helps troops better plan logistics, such as the time it takes to move and cope with adverse environmental factors.
As the creators of the project told New Scientist magazine, a virtual model of North Korea, South Korea, San Francisco, New York and Las Vegas has already been created. Thanks to this system, it became possible to simply select an area on the map, and virtual environments will be generated within a few days.
We do not know why the military created virtual models of these particular cities. There is an ominous assumption about preparations for military action in New York, but most likely the point is that data on American cities is easier to obtain, which is important for achieving maximum realism.
In the past, virtual reality for military training purposes has been most accurately described as "Afghanistan-like mountains" or similar non-specific landscapes. With the technology of "synthetic environment" trainees can get into the real-world terrain and follow more varied and dynamic scenarios.
Preparing in a simulated combat situation as close to reality as possible, fighters will be prepared in the best possible way, regardless of the location of the operation - whether it is North Korea or the hot strip of Las Vegas.
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Vadim Tarabarko