Years ago, we would annually rent a FATS machine. A few years ago, the Ohio Peace Officer's Academy began providing a simulator and operator at no charge on request, but they stopped doing that this year. Does anyone have any thoughts on what's currently available, or vendors that would bring one for a few days a year?
https://immersivetrainingsolutions.com/Originally Posted by BobM
Prior to retirement, I typically attended the annual Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, in Orlando. I/ITSEC is "the" major simulation industry conference. There are thousands of exhibitors occupying square acres at the Orlando Convention center every year just after Thanksgiving.
At the show in at past, I've walked through demos and operated several firearms trainers and systems involving pnuematics, electonics, large screens, headtrackers, etc. etc. Shooting a gas-powered M4 at simulated targets is pretty interesting. I wasn't in the small arms training side. At the time I was going to the show a lot, my interests were crew served weapons in medium scale non-motion multi-vehicle live, virtual and constructive simulations at the Co/Bn level.
The 2020 list of public exhibitors is here:
https://exhibits.iitsec.org/2020/pub...ortMenu=105000
It's a long list, but money bet says that any firearms simulation system worth their salt will have had at the very least a display booth at the show, might be worth a look?
Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught.
— J. C. Watts
I always like going to ITSEC. That was the first place many years ago that I saw the robotic controlled mover firearm targets. Quite a few major innovations in the world of armored vehicle gunnery and un-stabilized gunnery crew qualls came out of there.
As much as I enjoyed the cool and innovative ideas, the major fails were always quite amusing. Do you remember the giant cage ball that was there for several years? A Japanese company I think. It looked like the ones motorcycles do loops in at the circus but it spun around as you walked in order to “simulate” movement under virtual reality goggles.
We always had a good laugh at that one. What branch wouldn’t want to spend a million for a HUGE device that needed indoor housing and could only train one rifleman at a time? Not to mention it in no way “simulated” actual walking
To the OP: If your looking for an agency demo, most of the good companies will come to you. The modern stuff is quite a bit more interactive than the FATS.
Currently a company developing some pretty cool virtual reality based training technology. If it lives up to the hype even just a little it will revolutionize dryfire.
We're probably not looking to buy our own system unless they're less expensive than I'm thinking. There used to vendors who'd show up with a FATS machine, and either run it or teach a couple guys to run it, and they'd leave in a day or two. I'd imagine they vendors I used are long retired as we quit using them when the state began providing the same service for free. The only makers I know of so far are InVernis, which as far as I can tell used to be FATS, and something called VirTra.
I can reach out to some retired NCO’s who work as vendor operators and see what they know.
Another route, depending on where you are in Ohio, the Army national guard has FATS systems in most states and I’ve seen many police organizations across the country using them over the years. My buddy seems to think that the software updates are much improved and that the newer software has more domestic/civilian/LEO oriented problem sets available.
In the late 90s, to mid 00s, there was a mobile FATS-like trailer run by a trainer in southern Cal, iirc it was a PRISM system. I haven't heard of any other business, trainer investigating in a mobile system.
With all of the de-escalation noise, you'd think there would be serious grant funding available to stand up some of these.
As usual, I have nothing of substance to add to this conversation, but we have come a long way regards “simulators”. Back in the dark ages, my academy training included shooting wax bullets, out of .38 cases, against a filmed “scenario”, on a sheet of butcher paper. The instructor could immediately stop the projector to check my marksmanship, then quiz my judgement on shoot/no shoot.
I remember that training. (I also remember shooting others and being shot with those same wax bullets during SWAT school.)
Every day I convince myself that I can't be any more disgusted by what I see our country willingly turning itself into...
...and then wake up the next morning only to find just how wrong I was...
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