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URS Federal Support Services Incorporated, Germantown, Maryland; Calibre Systems Incorporated, Alexandria, Virgi

Fidelity Technologies Corporation, Reading, Pennsylvania, was recently awarded a potential $31 million contract to provide simulation training technology and logistics support to assist the U.S.

Coalition forces have a new resource in the battle against improvised explosive devices, and it should enhance efforts well into the future. This training initiative offers both immediate skills for the war in Afghanistan as well as train-the-trainer options for participants to bring back to their home countries. Success will mean fewer deaths and injuries for all warfighters, but the work also has another goal—to prepare foreign troops to take more active roles in conflict, thereby reducing the number of U.S. service members who have to fight on the front lines.

The U.S. Army is leveraging the latest advances in computing power and digital hardware to expand and improve training using virtual reality technology. Whether it is teaching soldiers how to exit an overturned vehicle safely; reinforcing lessons learned in ground patrol training; or even helping returning warriors cope with post-traumatic stress disorder, virtual reality simulations are enabling the Army to train more effectively and economically.

U.S. Army soldiers have something in common with Superman and Spider-Man: they all benefit from Army-funded virtual reality research being conducted at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies. The Oscar-winning research has made digital characters look more realistic in movies such as Avatar, Spider-Man II and Superman Returns, among others, and it also helps soldiers cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. It also is used to train service members for a variety of missions and situations, including countering both improvised explosive devices and insurgency operations, as well as tactical intelligence gathering. The institute’s research, which rapidly is taking the “virtual” out of virtual reality, also helps teach soldiers such traits as leadership, cultural awareness and relationship building.

Lockheed Martin Corporation, Orlando, Florida, was recently awarded a nearly $32 million contract to provide for the acquisition of four Mobile Advanced Gunnery Training Systems and eight Deployable A

Pragmatics recently announced the award by the U.S. Army of a task order potentially valued at approximately $100 million.

CACI Incorporated, Chantilly, Virginia, was recently awarded an $8 million contract to provide simulation-supported battle command staff training exercises for pre- and post-mobilizing soldiers. 

Cubic Applications Incorporated (CAI) has been awarded a five-year contract with a potential value close to $35 million to provide simulation and network services to support battle simulations and bat

For my February 2010 article, I interviewed members of the Defense Department's Human Spaceflight Payloads Office and Space Test Program about the experiments they help put into space. The projects impressed me, as did the sources' firm belief in the importance of what they do to help warfighters. At the end of our interview, I asked the gentlemen to indulge me on a personal question: "What would you recommend to a child like my son, who wants to grow up to become, as he calls it, 'a space scientist?'"