Lockheed Martin [LMT] this week said it was awarded a five-year, $146 million ceiling indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract by the Army to design an advanced simulation-based training system so Army, joint and coalition leaders are prepared to act decisively in the evolving operational environment.
The Joint Land Component Constructive Training Capability (JLCCTC) system will support training exercises that replicate complex operational scenarios, preparing commanders and their staffs to direct military operations.
“Actually, JLCCTC is already widely used in the Army to train commanders and their staffs by stimulating their real-world mission command systems,” Mike Haddad, responsible for JLCCTC development at the Army’s Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, told Defense Daily in an e-mail. “Under this contract, JLCCTC will continually be enhanced to meet emerging war-fighter requirements to better achieve Army exercise training objectives. The next major exercise supported by JLCCTC is during August 2013.”
The JLCCTC tool streamlines and integrates seven current command and battle staff training tools into a single system. It presents simulated enemy and friendly forces so commanders and staff can practice making decisions during high-pressure military missions.
The company said the seven training tools include: the Lockheed Martin-developed Warfighters’ Simulation (WARSIM), the WARSIM Intelligence Model, Joint Deployment Logistics Model, After Action Review System, Cross Domain Solution, Joint Non-Kinetic Effects Model, and the Mission Command Adapter.
Last year, WARSIM supported 14 training exercises and trained more than 22,000 commanders, their staffs and units.
The system also supports the Army’s strategy for an integrated training environment that combines live, virtual and computer-generated training elements.
“Integrating seven training components provides sustainment cost savings and makes it easier and faster to generate training scenarios,” Jim Weitzel, vice president of training solutions for Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems and Training business, said in a statement. “JLCCTC will be built with a modeling and simulation-based architecture to present data driven scenarios for relevant, adaptable training.”
Lockheed Martin’s industry team of large and small businesses has experience with all components that will be incorporated into the system. Lockheed Martin suppliers include: SAIC [SAI], General Dynamics [GD], Raytheon [RTN], Tapestry [BA], DRC [DRCO], Cole Engineering, SimSoft, IDSI, and Dignitas. The company said 20 percent of the JLCCTC will be conducted by its small business partners.
Haddad said: “We can tell you that this competition was highly competitive and PEO STRI selected the vendor that most closely matched the contractual criteria to ensure the best value for the government at the best bang for the taxpayer buck.”