"Only perfect practice makes perfect." Warfighters must train as they would expect to fight to ensure that sound mental habits are established that will increase their opportunities to make good (and winning) decisions in stressful situations. In 2004, we reported on the Mission Rehearsal Tactical Team Trainer (MRT3), a new program sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) under the Virtual At Sea Training (VAST) program, which provides SH-60B aircrews the ability to rehearse Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) tactical missions as a team. This follow-on paper discusses current Navy initiatives to enhance MRT3 training capabilities to include integration into the Navy Continuous Training Environment (NCTE), thereby bringing together the total ASW Strike Group team: Aviation, Surface, and Undersea platforms and Strike Group Staffs during an in-port Fleet Synthetic Training (FST) event. This paper will explain the significant training benefits of using MRT3 technologies to provide a complete Integrated ASW training capability within the NCTE and to sites around the globe that do not possess tactical team trainers.

This paper also discusses the technical challenges that were overcome while interfacing with the NCTE, including passing real-time environmental updates including Meteorological and Oceanographic (METOC) data, among the training system components. Results of using MRT3 during FST events will be presented. Additionally, the paper provides an overview of ongoing improvements that will enhance the fidelity and resolution of the underlying MRT3 acoustics modeling.

Finally, the paper will discuss how MRT3 technologies are on the tip of the virtual spear and will become the new training paradigm, and how PC-based simulation has been demonstrated as being an effective "disruptive technology" within the entire training industry. The case will be made for using MRT3 technologies to enable Warfighters to cost-effectively train in an operationally relevant synthetic battlespace, just as they would fight during combat operations.