The Modern Military Training team is at #IITSEC this week, covering the latest trends and updates in the industry. This year marks I/ITSEC’s 50th anniversary and the conference is one of the largest with over 450 exhibitors and 15,000 attendees from government, industry, and academia. If you are unable to attend the event, here is a roundup of news from the first day:
Nick Gibbs of Rockwell Collins Shares Insight into Future of Military Training
“Military training is going through an exciting period of development thanks to some significant tech innovations,” Gibbs tells us. “As I see it there are four key trends that military leaders need to be aware of in the coming year: LVC blended training, interoperability, reducing the cost of ownership, and, finally, planning for future upgrades.”
In terms of challenges that the industry is currently facing, Gibbs says that, “There has never been a more important time for training realism. Today’s ever changing battlespace is creating training challenges that prior-generation military leaders never had to face. Whether it’s on the battlefield or in the training environment, real-time, uninterrupted communications between all warfighters involved are more critical than ever.”
Read more from Modern Military Training: http://modernmilitarytraining.com/lvcs-impact-future-military-training-qa-nick-gibbs-rockwell-collins/
Operation Blended Warrior Integrates Live Assets for New and Improved Exercises
Last year was the inaugural Operation Blended Warrior (OBW) event, which is now back even better in 2016 with live R&D exercise. The exercises are overseen by OBW Director Kent Gritton, who told the I/ITSEC Show Daily that the team was able to build from last years experience to develop a more complex event this year. “We did learn quite a bit from last year. Things in the integration space, standards, some policy issues, different aspects and the advantages of cyber and some of the architectural challenges.” This year, the team will be injecting “live” assets from outside the exhibition center into the exercise. Rockwell Collins will be flying a L-29 jet training from a location in Iowa during the event this Wednesday. It will be integrated into the exercise on the show floor.
Read more from the Show Daily: http://www.iitsec.org/Documents/IITSEC_2016_show_daily/IITSEC_ShowDaily_Day%201.pdf
50 Year Celebration, I/ITSEC Pushes the Training Envelope
In 2016, I/ITSEC opened the show floor this week in its 50th year, reaching nearly 15,000 attendees and over 400 exhibitors. During the show, attendees will have the opportunity to experience 133 technical papers, 23 tutorials, and 19 educational events along with a variety of special programs.
The show has come a far way from its initial inception and each year continues to push the envelope. I/ITSEC Program Chair, Elizabeth Biddle, told the audience of her welcome address that this year’s theme “Pushing the Training Envelop: Live Virtual Constructive” is about the need to “seamlessly integration our live, virtual and constructive capabilities to enable our military and civilian personnel to train on the complex tasks enabled by today’s technical technological advances that are not practical, or possible, in the real world.”
Read more from the Show Daily: http://www.iitsec.org/Documents/IITSEC_2016_show_daily/IITSEC_ShowDaily_Day%201.pdf
Testing out the Technology on the Exhibit Floor
Walking through the I/ITSEC 2016 exhibit floor on the first day, it was filled with immersive demo stations. Here are a few of the ones we noticed and tweeted about. Join the conversation on Twitter and through social media using the conference hashtag: #IITSEC.



