Early next year Night Readiness will unveil its 3.0 Virtual Terrain Board (VTB) night-vision goggle (NVG) training aid. The 3.0 system will add weather, a “fly-through database” and dynamic shadowing to the capabilities of the company’s 2.0 system, unveiled for civilian use in 2007.
The 3.0 system will allow a more realistic classroom view of actual NVG conditions, according to Night Readiness CEO Steve Hatley. “We can show the moon rising or setting, its effect on terrain and shadows, and we can show the effects of rain and fog,” he said. Hatley said the system can provide an operational preview of an actual flight using forecast conditions. “We can show you what your flight will look like using goggles on a specific given day at 0400 Zulu, for example,” he explained.
Hatley said the company’s 2.0 line of systems will continue to be used as an NVG ab initio aid, but that the two systems have important differences. “With 2.0 think of yourself perched atop a 500-foot telephone pole. You have a full 360-degree panorama and you can vary your height to the ground, but you are fixed in space.” Version 3.0 will be a dynamic system, he noted.
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