Tech Deep Dive: MCTIS as Live Training Differentiator

This February, Saab unveiled the Marine Corps Tactical Instrumentation System (MCTIS) live-training system at the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Warfighting Exercise Twentynine Palms, California. MCTIS has provided the Marine Corps customer with early ROIs which have served notice the system is doing nothing less than shaking up the typically incremental and deliberate paces associated with the live-training domain.

Significant Live Training Investment

The Marine Corps customer has fully-opened MCTIS sites at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California, Camp Pendleton, California and Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. A fourth site is achieving IOC at Marine Corp Base Hawaii. MCTIS is a major investment for this service, as in one case, about 10 battalions worth of program kits have been delivered across these training space.

Enhanced Training

MCTIS is elevating the state-of-the-art in live training for the Marine Corps while it enables scenario-scripted, peer-on-peer simulated combat across urban, closed and open terrains with service members and vehicles configured to gain, and this is important as we’ll read later, accurate, second-by-second position reporting across the battlespace.

One MCTIS technology underpinning is it is “basically a Mesh network,” according to John Bitonti, Site Lead, MCTIS for Saab, Inc. at Camp LeJeune. “We have these large, 100ft [30m] masts with RF and 4G capability. The Mesh network works off of managing both those capabilities and provides a ‘bubble.’ Everything within that bubble we can capture.” MCTIS also allows the operator to pick up data collected on a person-worn vest or on a device affixed to a vehicle or even a building outside the bubble. That external data is brought back into the network, auto populating the repository and being inserted along the scenario timeline where it actually happened.

Of significance, Saab can provide the communication capability required for various applications and customers, including 5G. So far 4G is sufficient for the MCTIS needs/requirements but should that change, Saab notes it is able to offer also 5G technology.

Saab’s focus on data in MCTIS is a powerful notion that MS&T and its companion editorial departments increasingly observe in training enterprises for commercial aviation and other high-risk communities. In this case, Saab is helping move observer-controller and other higher-echelon training leader evaluations from subjective to objective analysis. “What we provide is 1s and 0s – data. When each player in our system populates as an avatar you actually see this unfold. We have never had the ability to do post-even analysis unless we had video cameras set up. Even then, it was very one-dimensional in observation,” the Saab program expert explained and added, MCTIS provides “a 30,000-ft view of the battlespace or exercise space, and then we can adjust from an eagle eye, or over-the-shoulder of the Marine observation – from macro- to- micro – on how we look at the exercise. And then we can tell a story.”

Bitonti also pointed out beyond MCTIS allowing the Marine Corps to validate their training tactics, techniques and procedures, the system is accurate – allowing in-depth views of avatars’ interactions – and detailed, permitting insights down to the caliber of expended rounds and like details. “This is very realistic in the limits of the weapons systems it is associated with and outcomes. And for that burden of exercise control, MCTIS really does put the Marine Corps in a position where they can just lead, coach, mentor as training happens.”

At the tactical level, MCTIS provides a “shoot through the wall” capability, enhancing its value in urban training scenarios.

One USMC Perspective: A Gamechanger

Last month MS&T also had the opportunity to briefly interview Colonel David Hart, Director of Tactical Training Exercise Control Group, at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. The senior officer provided his insights on his service’s early use cases of MCTIS, from the perspectives of leading the unit that designs, enables and oversees service-level training exercises for the MAGTF, and as a previous regimental commander.

“It’s a gamechanger,” the senior officer initially said. That assessment was based in large part on the position, location and information provided by MCTIS, “that gives us a level of fidelity we have never had. I’ve never seen this in my career.” The exercise control director then noted MCTIS allows his personnel the ability to see in real time, “what is going on from minute to minute in these formations that are equipped with this kit.” He continued, “It makes the after-action reviews so much better. There’s not much of a human factor involved in it so you don’t have to guess. The beauty of it is you can give these tapes to these units and they can play it back like [US] football tapes as they actually get better.”

MCTIS provides other ROIs for the control group, including the ability to permit the 300-person unit to adjust exercise scenarios based on “casualties rates” and other developments.

Large Industry Team

Saab is the main contractor for all deliveries and produce the equipment including hardware as well as software using components from a large number of subcontractors within different areas.