Off the shelf military simulations used by real militaries

Read an interesting article about how much the US military spends on off the self military simulations.
57 million last year. that's not including the simulations they have designed for them
I know we have a lot of serving and ex military on this forum from many nations.
What simulations did you use whilst in the army. Especially if they were available retail.

Darewars.. A slightly illegal OFP. IE..the contractor STOLE some mod makers models.

Or DARWARS? I dont remember..

It was the DARPA, and they called "their" Flashpoint mod DARWARS. Bohemia wasn't too amused at the time but I suppose they no longer complain.

what better marketing them saying "used by the US Army"...

That ranks up there with "Military Grade"

Manufacturers think it makes a product sound like it's super durable, yet it makes me think it's the cheapest thing they could use that still kinda works.

Ssnake, does Krauss Maffei still use their own "tank simulator"? Knew a guy who was involved with that a couple of years ago.

Well, the centipede is an ant built to military specs...



The Jedi Master

They do. At least they try selling it to their customers - not without success. Still, we just finished refurbishing one of theirs for Austria, expanding the functionality quite a bit while we were at it.

Well, I suppose back then they would have loved it more had it not been "pirated by the US Government", but "purchased by the US Army" instead.

As of a few years ago, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff School was using Combat Mission: Shock Force in some of their classes. Here's an article about it: http://www.benning.army.mil/Armor/ArmorMagazine/content/Issues/2012/NOVDEC12ARMOR_WEB.pdf#page=30

The Canadians were using SWAT 4 with a custom mod for urban tactics. I don't know about now.

http://www.moddb.com/games/swat-4-the-stetchkov-syndicate/downloads/canadian-forces-direct-action-41

I wonder.
Without military funding what state the milsim market would be in
My guess it would be very impoverished.

I don't know. Sure, a few games/developers profit from it but what typically passes as a commercial game isn't of much use in training and education. Outside of this rather narrow field of T&E suitable programs the involvement of armies doesn't play a large role, for better or for worse.
Maybe armies could select from a broader range of products if they subsidized game developers on a broader scale but let's be honest, it wouldn't be politically palatable if tax dollars were seemingly wasted on rather unspecific "game development" in the hope that out of five or ten games on which money is spent, one useful product will eventually emerge.

IOW, the market is about as impoverished as it gets.