The Australian Army expects to issue a request for information (RFI) on its Land Simulation (LS) Core 2.0 project before the end of 2018.

The timeline for the minor project that aims to strengthen Army’s simulation capability was included in a presentation from Army director general platforms Colonel Spencer Norris and Army acting director land simulation Lieutenant Colonel Jason Mildon’s at LAND FORCES 2018 in Adelaide on Tuesday.

“At this point in time we are working the business case through the approval process,” LTCOL Jason Mildon said.

“We are looking to do the industry open day in October.

“We are looking to release the RFI to industry by the end of this year.”

LTCOL Mildon said the trial periods were expected to occur in the second or third quarters of 2019, before getting ready for a “Gate Two submission in Q4 2019 or potential Q1 of 2020”.

“What we would like to do is by at least March 2020 have the LS Core 2.0 projects set and implemented.”

LS Core 2.0 looks to connect the Army’s digital terminal control systems (DTCS) trainers to its Land Simulation Network (LSN). This was expected to offer advantages to the Army’s training program.

LTCOL Norris said there was an “increased appetite out there in the force” for simulation.

“That’s driving a lot of the simulation stuff that we are currently doing,” LTCOL Norris said.

“2018 and 2019 from here is really where the rubber is going to hit the road for simulation I think within Army.”

Further, LTCOL Norris said the recapitalisation of the Army in the period ahead represented a great opportunity within the simulation area beyond just training.

“Training has really been our focus and it will continue to be a very strong part of interaction with simulation,” LTCOL Norris said.

“We are also trying to broaden that out to support the operations, so decision making in an operational environment but also informing capability development as well, so through modelling, experimentation and that sort of thing.”

LTCOL Mildon added: “Army is the sleeping dragon of simulation within Defence.”

“We are very lucky because unlike our Air Force and Navy brethren who have been fairly platform-centric, Army has been people-centric up until now.”

“We have a whole bunch of new kit under this modernisation period that will be coming down range to support us. With this new kit comes the opportunity for new simulation systems.”

Meanwhile, LTCOL Mildon said augmented reality, which blends the real-world environment with computer-generated information, was still some time away based on the development of the technology by the United States military.

He said it was about two years before the US would have a single-lane augmented reality range that they would be comfortable to put soldiers down, with another two or three years of development after that required.