Direct Fire Weapons Effects Simulator (DFWES) Photos

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These pictures were taken and shared with the web by Richard Taylor.

The attached photographs show components of the force-on-force training system used by the British Army.  It is built by SAAB and is known as DFWES (Direct Fire Weapons Effects Simulator), generally pronounced Def-Wes.  There are two parts to the system; ATWES (Attack Weapons Effects Simulator) which allows weapon systems fire to be replicated, and TAGWES (Target Effects Simulator) which both replicates the vulnerability of the platform to different weapon types as well as allowing the platform to be attacked by vehicles equipped with ATWES.  (B Vehicles which are not fitted with the TAGWES system have to fly yellow flags to indicate this.)  The main external components of the system are mounted using different installation Kits (IK) depending on type, and are:

ATWES

1         The Transceiver Unit (or TU) which is either inserted into the barrel (120mm) or mounted above the barrel on a bracket (30mm variants) and is a laser projector;

2         The Hull Down Detector Unit (HDDU) under the main armament on CR2 which allows the vehicle to enhance its protection by adopting a hull down position relative to the firer;

3         The Flash Bang Smoke Simulator (FBSS) which fires a pyrotechnic to simulate the firing effects of the main armament;

4         The Loudspeaker (LS) which replicates the appropriate sounds when the machine gun is fired;

TAGWES

1         The Reflector Detector Units (RDU) which both detect incoming laser firings, and also reflect coded hit/miss/near-miss information back to the firing vehicle. There are two sizes, the upper ones being larger than the lower ones. The RDUs are arranged to give all-round coverage;

2         The antenna base with a bare metal VHF whip antenna, and the shorter conical green fibreglass GPS receiver/transmitter;

3         Finally, the mounting brackets and cable loom which connects these components together.

The dimensions are hard to describe, as the mounting brackets are irregular shapes, but hopefully this will be of use (dimensions in CM):

The VHF antenna is 1 meter high.

The larger (upper) RDUs are 17W x 13H x 8D

The loudspeaker is 17W x 17H x 17D

                                                                                                                                                                                          Richard Taylor