The international delegation, headed by Ana Lucía Bueno, ICRC Public Health Coordinator, and Sujit Panda, Head of the Physical Rehabilitation…
Ukrainian military engineers have developed, manufactured, and sent for practical testing in Defense Forces units next-generation simulators designed to train two-way interaction between an FPV drone operator and a shooter.
Currently, the troops have a certain number of these equipment sets. In express interviews, an ArmyInform correspondent asked servicemen from two Armed Forces units — who were the first to master these simulators and now train their fellow soldiers — about their impressions of using them.
“The level of realism when using this equipment is simply impressive. The ballistics, bullet drop, and wind effects are reproduced particularly accurately on the ‘picture’. The realism of terrain imagery and the construction of cover is also striking.
I would say that the computer image corresponds to at least 90% of my combat experience — what I have seen in real combat conditions. The only thing that computer simulation cannot fully convey is the factor of enemy actions and the real physical strain on one’s body”, — described his impressions of working with the ‘Shooter VR: Duelist’ simulator serviceman Serhii “Fester”.
In turn, serviceman Bohdan “Yaryi” said that their unit works with this simulator using smoothbore weapons. He added that in software updates, the developers expanded the set of versions and added the ability to train with self-loading assault rifles.
“In principle, regarding ballistics and bullet flight — everything is correct: when a drone is flying, if you aim directly at it, you won’t hit the ‘bird.’ You need to take lead and ‘feel out’ where you are shooting. If you hit the drone, it falls. In real life, I worked against drones with automatic weapons. Essentially, both in real conditions and in such visualization, there is no difference”, — noted Bohdan “Yaryi”.
We asked experts from frontline units whether the developers managed to recreate the psychological pressure and stress they experienced in real combat, and which elements contributed most to this.
Serhii “Fester” said that, in his opinion, the engineers of the defense industry enterprise succeeded in conveying a sense of pressure. Three elements contribute most to this: limited mission time, as scenarios have strict time constraints that force users to make decisions quickly.
“Also audio effects: realistic sound, gunfire, explosions, shouts, and radio chatter with other pairs create a chaotic background like a real battlefield. And mistakes: if the shooter or operator makes a fatal mistake, the scenario instantly ends in failure, which psychologically motivates focus. However, the feeling of real physical danger and the lack of adrenaline are, of course, incomplete”, — Serhii “Fester” stated.
Meanwhile, Bohdan “Yaryi” spoke specifically about computer duels with UAVs.
“Those who have been at war and know what an FPV drone is — essentially, in this simulator the sounds of enemy drones are really close to real situations. People who are training and have not yet encountered FPV drones may not recognize or feel this. But those with combat experience who have faced FPV drones — for us, this simulator is much closer to reality”, — the defender of Ukraine concluded.
In further conversation, Serhii “Fester” told our agency’s reporter about his impressions of training on the simulator in terms of improving communication and coordination in the ‘FPV operator–shooter’ pair.
“We carried out such training-combat work extremely effectively. My partner and I drilled standard terminology — ‘Target behind the tree!’, ‘Moving target, intercepting!’ — to the point of automatism. The simulator allows you to pause the scenario and analyze communication errors. The speed of target handoff doubled. This is because we learned to see the battlefield, so to speak, with one set of eyes and to anticipate the partner’s next command”, — the defender stated.
Bohdan “Yaryi” also spoke about the importance of training newcomers who had no combat experience confronting enemy kamikaze drones:
“When young fighters who have never worked against drones train on this simulator for the first time, they at least begin to roughly understand how to aim correctly, how to take lead on a target, where to shoot. Then they practice these actions in real skills — and they hit. Because if, for example, you put a person on the range for the first time and say ‘Shoot at the target!’ — and we use balloons instead of UAVs in training because drones are expensive, we tie balloons to drones and say ‘Shoot the balloons!’ — the person does not understand how this works at all. But after the simulator, recruits are much better oriented in how to properly engage a target”.
Meanwhile, the developers of this training program told the reporter additional details of its application. During communication with unit commanders, defense industry engineers identified a key challenge in FPV operator training — transferring control in the final phase of an attack.
Most simulators of previous versions ‘cut off’ training at 50 meters from the target. The ‘Shooter VR: Duelist’ training station is effectively the first to implement technological integration that allows maintaining control of the drone until the very last second, while simultaneously training the shooter in conditions of live confrontation and conveying combat stress and reactions without risk to life or equipment.
“We solved not only a technical but also a pedagogical task: we created a simulator that truly teaches, not just demonstrates”, — emphasized Anton Ponomarenko, founder and CEO of the defense product manufacturing company, in a comment to our agency.
According to the simulator developers, positive feedback from instructors, commanders, and operators confirms that this device reduces the adaptation time of recruits, increases tactical effectiveness, and decreases the number of mistakes in real combat. The simulator’s architecture provides not just interface translation and flexible localization, but also compatibility with international standards, such as NATO-compatible training protocols.
“The future of combat training is the fusion of the virtual and the real. We are developing an ecosystem where technology enhances the human. This is a demand not only of the Ukrainian military — it is a demand of the global market”, — Anton Ponomarenko concluded.
“Most pilots and shooters in our unit come to combat missions not ‘from scratch,’ but with hundreds of hours practiced in a virtual yet very realistic environment. Our main advantage is coordination and speed of decision-making within the pair. In real combat, we act as a single mechanism because we have already lived through dozens of similar situations on the simulator. This reduces the time between target detection and destruction, which is often a decisive factor. A next-generation simulator is not a substitute for reality, but a powerful multiplier of combat experience”, — serviceman Serhii “Fester” summed up.
Bohdan “Yaryi” added: “These simulators simply bring you closer to realistic conditions. But there is one difference. A significant difference: nothing threatens you”.
