Vehicle Trainer Could Save Lives

A newly developed trainer for the Army’s mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs) could provide crews with the skills they would need to recover from rollovers and ambushes. Developed by software engineers at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., the Transportable Reconfigurable Integrated Crew Trainer (TRICT) looks like a real MRAP vehicle inside and out, complete with the same controls. Windows and doors can display realistic, three-dimensional simulations of environments. The trainers are equipped to pitch and roll like real vehicles do during emergency situations. The sounds they make are identical to those crews, passengers, and soldiers walking alongside the real vehicles would hear. Egress drills, as such, should provide much better training for actual emergencies, developers say.