MASA SWORD POWERS BRAZILIAN ARMY’S FIRST LARGE-SCALE COMMAND STAFF TRAINING EXERCISE
02 Dec 13. Less than six months after the Brazilian Army selected MASA SWORD to provide training to its battalion, brigade and division level commanders COMBATER, powered by MASA SWORD, has been deployed in Rio Grande do Sul.
The MASA Group announces that the Brazilian Army has carried out the first large-scale command staff training exercise at brigade level using COMBATER, powered by SWORD. MASA’s constructive simulation has been specifically adapted in such a short period of time for the unique demands of the Brazilian Army, resulting in the bespoke product named COMBATER. Developed in order to train command staff for the rigours of the operational environment, the system has been tested to train officers from the 6th Armored Infantry Brigade, the 8th Motorized Infantry Brigade and the 3rd Motorized Cavalry Brigade.
The training exercise took place over a period of three weeks last November at the Brazilian Army’s Santa Maria Command Staff Training Center. It involved 50 military personnel, assisted by 9 RustCon/MASA engineers. The exercise was run by the country’s Land Operations Command (the Comando de Operações Terrestres – COTER), the organization responsible for the preparation and employment of land forces in accordance with prescribed doctrine.
Brazilian Army troops using MASA SWORD
The short time required for the customization and deployment, from contract signature to delivery, validates SWORD’s status as the most efficient and ready-to-use training tool in the market. “Thanks to SWORD’s flexibility and customization capability, we are already running our first training exercise, with a bespoke product, just six months after the project was launched”, said TC (Lt. Col.) Sergio Martins Rocha. “Not only has the customization process allowed the adaptation of SWORD to the Brazilian Army’s unique doctrine – replacing generic content with personalized units, equipment and missions relevant to the Brazilian Army – but it has also enabled us to deploy the software in a flexible manner on laptops in order to prepare scenarios offline”.
SWORD’s physical database has been comprehensively adapted in order to meet COTER’s specific requirements, over 15% of its mission database has also been modified, and the entire system translated from English into Portuguese. “The delivery of the adapted system within such a short time period, in accordance with a specific customization program, is something of which we are especially proud”, said New Markets & Sales Manager Enrico Raue. “It is an exceptional achievement within our industry and proves that SWORD is an adaptable, flexible and open solution”. João Tronkos, a senior executive at RustCon, a Brazilian Strategic Defense Company in charge of the customization process, stated: “SWORD is indeed a very flexible and adaptable commercial-off-the-shelf training solution. Such product features were a key factor to expedite SWORD’s customization process for the deployment of COMBATER in accordance to the Brazilian doctrine”.
Evidence from the exercise, which marks the halfway point of MASA’s ongoing project with the Brazilian Army, already indicates that the remarkable speed of deployment is being matched by extraordinary returns on investment. “Based on current results, I believe that the Brazilian Army could reduce the personnel required to provide brigade-level training by 30%” saidTC (Lt. Col.) Sergio Martins Rocha, who has been working at COTER’s Simulation Division since 2005. “SWORD’s intuitive yet powerful user interface has reduced the operators’ training time and removed the chance of mistakes when entering the trainees’ orders into the system. The high automation level made possible by SWORD’s artificial intelligence technology has allowed us to reduce the number of operators required to control the simulation: hence our recent ability to launch larger exercises with