Thales completes delivery of upgraded command and staff trainer to Polish Land Forces

Thales has completed the delivery of its upgraded command and staff trainer (CAST) to Poland and showcased the new system at Eurosatory in Paris in June. Thales was awarded the contract by Poland back in 2021.

The constructive simulation provides training across all branches for commanders at every level up to battlegroup, enabling them to practice standard operating procedures and develop situational awareness, communication and decision-making skills.

The upgraded system is a development of Thales’s Commander system, introduced into French service in 2013, where it is known as OPOSIA. It is used at the French Army CENTAC combat training centre at Mailly-le-Camp.

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The system consists of networked commercial-off-the-shelf computers providing workstations for trainees, opposing forces and exercise control. The software includes a preparation module to create exercises or modify existing ones. It also consists of a trainee module, exercise control module, and after-action review module which provides evaluation tools and allows for exercise replays.

An AI-based computer-generated forces (CGF) application helps to develop the training scenario and control the virtual entities taking part in the mission. The CAST solution includes a complete software suite to prepare and monitor training exercises and conduct after-action reviews.

The CGF application models every movement of entities on the ground, taking terrain features, missions, rules of engagement, equipment characteristics and the perceived tactical situation into account to reproduce their behaviours realistically.

Depending on their role, branch of service and level of command, each exercise participant is presented with a distinct graphical user interface with intuitive controls matching their tasks and responsibilities. The trainer simulates radio communications and can either integrate with real battlefield management systems and C4ISR equipment or simulate them.

At the time of the original contract announcement, Thales said that five systems would be delivered to separate regiments of the Polish Land Forces, each of which could train up to 38 personnel at a time.

At Eurosatory 2024, a Thales representative told Shephardthat the French Army had not yet decided whether to upgrade its existing version of the system to the new generation.