Multinational Exercise involving troops from 9 NATO and partner countries under the Partnership for Peace (PfP) program, held in Lithuania from June13 to 23, provided a great opportunity to test information technologies (IT) used in the Lithuanian Armed Forces in multinational environment. Amber Hope 2011 is the first in its series to employ computed-based operations command systems: Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation (JCATS) and Joint Exercise Management Module (JEMM).
The Exercise Staff for Amber Hope 2011 has been exploiting JCATS for ensuring efficient preparation for the execution of the Field Training Exercise (phase two) from June 19 to 23 right from the beginning. The system was used for a simulated planning process and imitation of situations and actions from the Exercise scenario without involving real-life resources. The Exercise is the first precedent of JCATS being used for the Amber Hope series. Until today it was employed for training staffs of military units and unit command groups at the Gen Adolfas Ramanauskas Warfare Training Centre (ARWTC) and Jonas Žemaitis Lithuanian Military Academy (LMA) only.
Information system JEMM was used for coordination of the scenario for Amber Hope 2011. It includes all the data related to the events and fictitious incidents on the Exercise scenario: descriptions, timetable, executors, and order of actions. Thank to JEMM all the personnel of the Exercise Staff are able to find all the completed, planned actions or actions in progress of the Exercise participants. Besides, personnel of the Exercise Staff are able to share information and find all the administrative documentation related to the Exercise.
JCATS program is used for training commanders and staffs through computer-aided exercise. It is an effective and modern tool for providing command and control, planning and execution, and collective training skills, procedures of tactical elements and command.
The system was introduced into the Lithuanian Armed Forces with the assistance of the US Armed Forces in 2006 in a newly established ARWTC. In the recent years exercises of various levels are conducted at ARWTC for divisions of the Armed Forces on a nearly monthly basis, and Junior Staff Officer Course and Army Command and Staff Course is held for LMA students approximately once in two months.
„This system is employed successfully by over 40 countries of the world, including our neighbours - Estonia, Denmark, Poland, Ukraine, etc. Just like the militaries of other countries, we update our system each year. This is essential for conducting remote exercises with our partners. Besides, there are plans to connect JCATS to other simulation and individual training systems, such as JTLS, VBS2, MILES, etc.", said Maj Dainius Dulksnys, officer in charge of JCATS operation in Amber Hope 2011.
JCATS may be applied not only for military exercise but also for training civilian organisations with a condition that a relevant data base was generated. It could offer a low-cost solution in relation to training events preparing for elimination of a range of emergencies: road incident, mass riots, natural disasters, etc.
JEMM - is a software tool of NATO C3 Agency provided for NATO states free of charge and without limitations. It is tailored to provide consumers with an access to the administration documents of the Exercise, manage the pre-planned incidents and requests for information of the exercise staff members, plan and manage activities of observers, coordinate exercise by computer simulation systems (e.g. JCATS) and provide a systematised exercise view for the command. The module may be useful for both peace support and crisis response operations, and for other exercises of force structures. It is also widely used across different levels of NATO headquarters exercises.
"The major advantages of the module are the following: compatibility of the internal activity of the exercise staff, ensured compliance with chain of command, and a wide spectrum of functions. It is very important, that each user of the module is in charge and can make changes only in his own area of administration", said Maj Ramūnas Pranckus, Head of the Exercise Support Subdivision, ARWTC Computer-aided exercise section, who is the initiator of installing the module in the Lithuanian Armed Forces. He received experience of the capacity of application of the module at the Multinational Headquarters North East (Szczecin, Poland).
In Lithuania the abovementioned software has already been put into test this year during several exercises of the Lithuanian Armed Forces - PRT-13 Challenge and Baltic Host 2011. Amber Hope 2011 is one of the last events before making the final decision regarding the prospective benefit of further employment of the system in the Lithuanian Armed Forces.
Exercise Amber Hope 2011 (AH11) is being held concurrently in both the Pabradės Training Area and the territorial waters of Lithuania in the Baltic Sea from June 13 to 23. More than 2, 000 military servicemembers and civilians from seven NATO countries - Canada, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, Poland and U.S.A., and two NATO partner countries under the Partnership for Peace programme - Finland and Georgia, are taking part in Exercise Amber Hope 2011. Observer countries for the Exercise include: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine.
Lithuanian Armed Forces have been organizing Exercise Amber Hope since 1995. The last Amber Hope series was held in Klaipėda in 2007. This year, the Exercise is organized and conducted by the Joint Headquarters of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.
For more information about the Exercise:
http://kariuomene.kam.lt/en/ah11.html
www.facebook.com/GintarineViltis
The point of contact for Exercise Amber Hope 2011 is:
In the Pabradės Training Area - Capt Mindaugas Neimontas, Head of Media Operations Section, cell phone 00370 640 45 380, e-mail neimontas@gmail.com
In Klaipėda - Lt (N) Antanas Brencius, cell phone 00370 698 18196, e-mail antanas.brencius@mil.lt
Picture by Vilius Džiavečka
