VirTra’s V-ST PRO® firing range simulator is an excellent marksmanship tool for police departments worldwide. Its V-Marksmanship® program is a highly effective tool for training and maintaining law enforcement marksmanship. (While the V-Marksmanship program is equipped on all simulators, this article focuses on the abilities of the V-ST PRO’s V-Marksmanship program.) Here are a few ways VirTra’s firing simulator provides a superior training experience and helps supplement training in a traditional firing range:

Customizable Ranges/Variables

The V-Marksmanship program allows instructors to use pre-designed environments and add an unlimited number of targets, environmental affects—wind direction and speed, weather, etc.— and other variables in a variety of distances to test and hone an officer’s skill.

Training after this manner allows instructors to test in multiple situations; something that is not able to be duplicated on the range. For instance, a certain day at the range may offer 80 degrees with a 5mph wind coming from the north and 30% humidity. This is the only variable an officer will train on that day. But with a simulator, instructors can change the variables drastically for every single shot.

Customizable Targets

Traditional firing ranges offer minimal variables for marksmanship training. For example, targets on ranges often are only able to “move” along motorized wires, track systems or are attached to robotic systems. While these options are certainly better than standard stationary targets, it could be more.

The V-Marksmanship program allows targets to be programmed to move front to back, left to right or in a box shape—and at different speeds. Now when officers stand in front of the V-ST PRO, they can engage in a training situation that would not be possible in the field.

Accurate Ballistics Calculator

Going into the V-Marksmanship technology, the program is equipped with an accurate ballistics calculator. This ballistics calculator duplicates the speed, trajectory and aim based on the type of weapon fired and the selected weather conditions. Furthermore, it is independently verified up to 2,500 meters with .02 milliradians accuracy—thus providing a powerful training that other marksmanship training simulator programs cannot provide.

Realistic Firing Experience

While the simulator, programs and technology are excellent, training is taken to the next level with the officer’s weapons. VirTra offers multiple weapon options to best fit the department’s needs:

• Recoil Kits— The drop-in laser recoil kit is inserted into an officer’s duty weapon and outfitted with a laser, allowing it to interact with the simulator.
• CO2 Magazine— As for the CO2 magazine, this provides realistic recoil as the officer pulls the trigger. Instructors can choose to outfit their trainee’s weapons with the just the recoil kit, or the recoil kit plus the magazine for added realism.
• Non-Guns— VirTra also offers non-guns, which mitigate real weapons being brought into the training environment. For maximum realism, each non-gun tool has replicated the shape and weight of the weapon it represents: the Glock 17/22 will look, feel and act like the real thing.

VirTra’s firing range simulators and accessories are much more customizable and powerful than any traditional firing range, making them an ideal supplement for officer marksmanship training. With a wide variety of pre-programmed and customizable environments, variables, and weapons, this program can take marksmanship training to the next level. Learn more by contacting a VirTra specialist.

Service members must be highly proficient with their primary weapons systems this requires early training for them – almost day 1.

Unlike a red or blue inert training weapon that some use to build skills, training should be as close to real as possible. Without the recoil, accurate ballistics, and the weight of a real weapon to contend with, you simply lack training fidelity and will not be as prepared.

Marksmanship Training

For any military branch, basic marksmanship is a crucial skill to acquire immediately. Skills may also become rusty if they are not practiced enough. Though nothing can compare to live fire training, VirTra’s marksmanship training options are an accurate supplement.

V-Marksmanship® allows for customizable environments and a staggering number of targets. Targets also can be programmed to move in different directions, speeds, and set up in various ways. The virtual range can be customized to include wind, rain, direction of sunlight, and nighttime conditions. With these features, a new environment is possible every time your squad steps into the simulator.

VirTra takes ballistic accuracy seriously. The ballistic calculator on our systems mimics real bullet trajectory based on the weapon being used. The ballistics have been independently verified for accuracy up to 2,500m and .02 milliradian accuracy.

Recoil Kits and Magazines

Taking realism even further, VirTra’s recoil kits and CO2 magazines provide critical recoil in the firearm that creates a disruption of a soldier’s sight picture, that must be re-established for follow-up shots. This allows skill transfer from the sim to the range. Because recoil kits and magazines fit numerous rifles and pistols, there is one out there for your duty weapon.

Installation is simple and takes around two minutes. For a rifle, remove the bolt carrier and replace it with the stainless steel, durable recoil kit. If using a pistol, the kit is a barrel replacement. Magazines fit snugly into your weapon and have the same weight and feel as a real one. The VirTra kits also preclude the loading and chambering of a live round to ensure high levels of safety.

Besides simulating an empty magazine, the custom VirTra mags can also simulate a malfunction. Firearms don’t have unlimited ammo and they sometimes “malfunction” so we make sure you are prepared for those situations too. Practice clearing a malfunction and reloading your weapon quickly and accurately while moving or finding appropriate cover.

V-ST PRO®

The V-ST PRO training simulator excels in supporting marksmanship training due to its range-like structure and ability to create six firing lanes per screen. It also provides the option to add up to five screens to train as many as 30 servicemembers simultaneously.

Clinical studies have shown that when officers are in a great deal of stress, they sometimes make the wrong judgement call. The high-definition, realistic environment shown on-screen can help trainees experience stress and learn to work through it – all while still accurately using their duty weapon as needed.

To learn more about how VirTra helps soldiers and warfighters excel in marksmanship training, contact a product specialist.

A windy and rainy day out on the battlefield is difficult to prepare servicemembers for when the shooting range that they practice on stays at a steady sunny and 95 degrees on most days. Or maybe they are having to shoot at moving targets when all they have ever practiced on are stationary ones.

You can’t control the weather and you can’t shoot at moving vehicles safely in live range training. But it is beyond important for warfighters to be keenly trained on the various conditions that they might face once they hit the field. Making sure their marksmanship skills are sharp and accurate will result in many lives saved and give them the ability to do what they set out to do – serve our country. So how can these military squads accomplish this kind of training?

Prepared For Any Condition

Live fire ranges are crucial for servicemembers to practice on. Getting used to the way that their firearm shoots live ammunition, getting to see a real bullet sink into their target – these are things that they can’t miss out on when training for the battlefield. But with that type of range, also comes the lack of variability in conditions for them to train in.

That’s where we come in.

VirTra’s marksman simulator, the V-ST PRO® is able to provide the complete firearms training experience for a team of warfighters. Rain or shine, moving vehicle or stationary, change in altitude – we cover all of the bases. Equipped with our V-Marksmanship® training and the ability to drop our recoil kit directly into their own weapons, teams will learn how to hit their target under any circumstance.

Additionally, the V-Marksmanship® technology provides a powerful training experience with the most accurate ballistic calculator in the industry. The calculator holds the ability to mimic a real-world trajectory of a shot based on the type of projectile, weapon specifications, and the environmental conditions. With this, teams have the opportunity to practice their marksmanship skills through our shooting range simulator that prepares them to take on their missions with confidence.

Advancing Warfighter Performance

In addition to the marksman simulation training, VirTra offers a variety of military scenarios that teams can train through. With each scenario, we designed an immersive and complex way for teams to learn resilience and accuracy.

This training includes:

• Key Leader Engagement
• Green On Blue
• Suicide Bomber
• And More!

To learn more about the chosen defense simulation by the military, contact a VirTra specialist.

VirTra has a presence in all corners of the United States, but we also have an international presence in 40 countries. Just recently, our newest addition is a distributor located in Spain that provides federal law enforcement with effective training tools. There are three separate locations across Spain that are receiving training with VirTra simulators and hardware.

Over the past several years, some European countries have sent out RFPs for simulation training solutions but noticed when vetting them that many of the responding companies were unable to deliver the features that they claimed they had. The latest tender had a clause that any capability claimed by a company that seemed ‘questionable’ must be proven within one week in Europe. If a company was caught lying about their capabilities, they would be blacklisted as all information is public.

VirTra was able to establish a presence in Spain while proving that we can handle large requests by having the capabilities we promise. Because of the addition of the clause in the final tender, VirTra was the only company to submit a proposal as other companies were worried of the threat that their response, if deceptive, would become public information.

An article published within the same month as the purchase has detailed the obtainment and uses of the simulators arriving within the next few months. The order includes V-ST PRO® simulators with 4K capabilities, V-Author® scenario authoring software, V-Threat-Fire® consequence devices, Axon® TASER® training cartridges and more.

Expanding our presence worldwide and helping other countries like Spain help VirTra further reach our goal of providing life-saving training to law enforcement – and training doesn’t have borders. The training content on our simulators is available in French, Spanish and Arabic so overseas clients can benefit from the same tools as our officers at home. Additionally, content can be localized in any language as needed.

If you want to learn more about the products mentioned in the article or how we can help international clients, contact us.

View Original Story Here

There are plenty of virtual reality trainers out there for shooting practice, but none of them get the same reaction as VirTra’s.

“Holy s—, that’s real,” soldiers say when they test out the system’s CO2-loaded weapons, according to James Peters, regional director of international business development.

Two of the company’s simulators were on display at the annual Association of the United States Army Conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

The V-ST Pro is a marksmanship range with ballistic accuracy within hundredths of a millimeter, Peters told Army Times. The CO2 cartridges act more like live ammunition than the compressed air canisters used in most virtual training, reacting to environmental changes the way a real weapon would.

There are about a dozen possible environments loaded into the system, with hundreds of combinations of weather and altitude, as well as 175 different sizes and shapes of targets.

Users can wield pistols or rifles, and rather than stand stationary, the simulator allows a soldier to move around shooting any angle, including with one cheek pressed against the screen.

For full AUSA 2016 coverage:  www.defensenews.com/ausa2016

“It’s the closest you can get to a real live-fire range without the expensive cost of ammunition,” said Ryan Bray, a regional sales manager.

U.S. Army Special Operations Command already has one, Bray said, and they’ve gotten interest from the military police school at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, as well.

VirtTra also brought along the V-300 simulator, a 300-degree immersive trainer that recreates active shooter or other combat situations. The user wears a hip pack that delivers a small electric shock if he gets shot.

The systems cost upward of $100,000 with the software, CO2 cartridges, CO2 recharger, projectors and screens.