Weapons team engagement trainer: a transfer of high-tech military training technology to the law enforcement community

摘要

Abstract: Six years ago at SPIE, a team of government researchers and engineers unveiled a new, military, weapons team engagement trainer (WTET). At that time, potential applications of this prototype military training device to civilian law enforcement training were realized. Subsequent action was taken under the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986, enabling the transfer of WTET to the private sector, through a cooperative agreement between: the Office of Naval Research (ONR), NAWCTSD, and the commercial weapons training organization Firearms Training Systems, Inc. (FATS). Planning also began for release of a commercial WTET sytem. The government research and development facility and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) formed a cooperative agreement to make the prototype system available to military, federal, and local law enforcement agencies for use in Orlando, Florida - until a commercial version could become available. This cooperative effort has provided evidence of the effectiveness and realism of WTET with law enforcement personnel. This paper offers a technical description of the improvements made to WTET, a brief explanation of the commercialization process, a summary of the evaluations conducted to date, and insight into how that information has been used in the development of the commercial version.!6