Simulator provides training on an international scale

The latest facility in a multi-national crime and security simulator network which enables law enforcement agencies to train for major international incidents has been launched in Newport.

Welsh Secretary of State Peter Hain unveiled the new EADS Defence and Security Systems simulation facility which includes the Network Centric Operations Simulation (NetCOS) – part of the world’s largest international network-centric simulation environment.

Military missions, accidents, civil incidents and natural disasters can now be simulated, tested and optimally prepared for the UK’s armed forces and emergency services. NetCOS also offers the tools, environment and expertise to undertake homeland security studies and support other critical government activities.

The new simulation suite could play a pivotal role in the successful planning and execution of events such as the 2012 Olympics in understanding large event management of security procedures and crowd control.

Dr Stefan Zoller, EADS DS CEO, said: “The launch of NetCOS in Newport demonstrates our commitment to the UK and is transformational technology fully in line with the findings of the UK Government’s recent Defence Industrial Strategy. NetCOS will reduce risk, cut costs and could potentially save lives.”

The power of NetCOS is drawn from its unique international ‘federated’ structure, which links Germany, France and the UK to collaborate and model scenarios in the same cyberspace at the same time. Virtual battlefields, humanitarian convoys or accident response units can be injected into the system and responses recorded and analysed for future planning or knowledge.

It is planned to add North America to the federation within the next 12 months, creating a synthetic environment of greater international and geographic reach than any other company and allowing multi-national concept development and experimentation.

EADS’ ‘Vision’, a command and control system that is an element of the NetCOS international concept, provides integration of the synthetic environment with live video feeds of areas that are being supervised, providing the ability to control crowd movement and other activities at events in, for example, stadiums. The authorities can then use the system to fully visualise a highly detailed simulation.

“Through this advanced new facility and the service it offers we are again demonstrating our support to European nations in understanding their security challenges today and tomorrow,” added André-Hubert Roussel, Head of EADS DS System Design Centre.