Nalé is a typical village in the Swiss canton of Jura. While the rest of the country is peaceful, war rages there all year round. A visit to the Swiss Army’s Western Training Center.
The engines of the Leopard main battle tanks roar loudly as they approach the center of Nalé via the Route de Porrentruy. While the two tanks in front drive up the main road towards Place des Cantons, the Leopards in the second row turn into a side alley to secure the attack from the rear. Slowly, the vehicles turn their turrets from left to right and back again. They are searching for fighters who are supposed to be hiding in the village. Suddenly, everything happens very quickly: a loud bang and one of the attacking tanks stops with its lights flashing right in front of the Place des Cantons. From the cover of a house, an enemy tank has landed a direct hit. Orange smoke rises and the Leopard is no longer of any help, at least in this attack.
“The tanks proceeded too briskly, even though they knew from reconnaissance that not only soldiers but also armored vehicles were hiding in the village,” says head of operations Andri Raffainer at the end of the day during the so-called “After Action Review”. “More caution would have been necessary.” He is confirmed in this by a film clip on a large screen that retraces the attack by the two armored trains in detail. Selected radio messages can be heard over the loudspeakers, providing the commanders – as well as the tank crews – with information about any mistakes. Or, as in this case, about an entire chain of errors that led to the rapid loss of a tank: The enemy was underestimated despite good reconnaissance. The advance was too fast, the necessary security could not take up position in time and was uncoordinated. “Mistakes are never good,” says Andri Raffainer, “but they are unavoidable in the rush of battle. However, the aim of our training here is to reduce the number of mistakes and prepare ourselves as well as possible for an emergency, which we hope will never happen.” “Here” refers to around 30 houses in the fictitious town of Nalé, which is part of the Western Combat Training Center in Bure in the Swiss canton of Jura. In collaboration with the technology group RUAG (which also operates the facility), the Swiss Armed Forces have built one of the most modern troop training grounds in the world there in recent years, with training rooms, accommodation and supply facilities. Up to 600 infantrymen and 100 vehicles can simultaneously practise combat in “built-up areas” in the local combat facility. In order to make the battles as realistic as possible, RUAG has developed the SIM KIUG simulation platform (short for Simulation Kampf im überbauten Gebiet – simulation of combat in built-up areas), which plays all the technical tricks and displays the effects of combat operations in real time. If a tank lands a hit on a building, for example, smoke rises from one or more rooms and windows and doors open pneumatically to indicate damage. Almost 1,500 laser receivers, more than 6,500 ultrasonic sensors and numerous building computers and display devices were installed in the local combat facility for this purpose. The soldiers and weapons are equipped with ultrasonic and laser sensors and fire laser beams instead of ammunition. A pager displays the soldiers’ vital statistics and provides information about possible injuries. Complex calculations are even used to show the effects of damage to buildings on the soldiers in the houses. The terrain, which is only seven kilometers long and a maximum of three kilometers wide, can also simulate pretty much everything that can be expected in real conflict situations: artillery fire, for example, but also minefields. And the range of possibilities could increase further in the future, as there are plenty of expansion plans for Nalé. For example, the construction of industrial buildings and a train station is being considered, and the construction of a section of highway for training purposes is also being discussed.
The processes are recorded by around 400 fixed cameras inside and outside the buildings, a mobile camera team and a drone. All radio transmissions are also recorded and, like the moving images, transmitted directly to the control center. There, the commander can follow the battle on screens and monitors and, if necessary, intervene by radio to correct the situation. But more importantly, he also receives a real-time overview of the processes in his troops. Does the chain of command work? Is there a need to catch up in individual aspects of training? Where are problems occurring? The material for the debriefing is then prepared in the command center, allowing the soldiers to be shown mistakes as well as successes and to work on improvements. The commander of the Army Training Center (which also includes the Combat Training Center West), Colonel Ronald Drexel, is convinced of the possibilities: “We have one of the best facilities in the world here in Bure and are constantly working on making it even better.” This is made possible by the modular structure of the system, which makes it comparatively easy to implement new weapon systems and buildings.
While we discuss the possibilities of the system in the command center, a fierce battle develops in Nalé. From the rear, the tanks are now firing at a tower from which resistance is mounting. They land two hits in quick succession, the shutters open and smoke rises. Protected by the Leopards, two 2000 infantry fighting vehicles advance along the Route de Porrentruy and the Place des Cantons onto the Rue de l’Ecole right in front of a large building. Dismount! With their assault rifles at the ready, the grenadiers disappear into the building. Meanwhile, the tanks secure the area and slowly advance. Until suddenly orange smoke rises again and another Leopard is left lying near the main square. Who hit it? The crew will probably only find out during the “after action review”. The head of operations in the command center already knows thanks to the many cameras and points to a battle tank hidden at the edge of the village on the monitor. “Things will have to be better next time,” he says. It’s a good thing that in battles like this, there will be a next time.
