The Army will invest 4.3 million euros (ME) in the construction of a Tactical Training, Simulation and Certification Centre (CCTSC) at the Santa Margarida Military Camp in Constância (Santarém) as part of its modernization strategy, it was announced today.
“Within the scope of the Army’s innovation program and strategy (…), and in relation to Santa Margarida, we have planned to build its Tactical Training and Simulation Center, a fundamental project that we intend to see implemented with funding from the Military Programming Law (LPM) to the tune of around 4 million euros,” the Army Chief of Staff (CENE) told Lusa on the sidelines of Brigade Day, which was marked there today.
According to General Mendes Ferrão, the CCTSC is a “catalyst” for the “modernization and transformation of the Land Force, contributing to the introduction of means and technologies into the Army”, and for the “development of its capabilities and for preparation, readiness and certification” from Santa Margarida.
“We’re going to upgrade the infrastructures we have here and we intend to have the most advanced simulation systems in the world, in a partnership with both the Academy and industry, which we also intend to internationalize, that is, taking advantage of all the infrastructure we have here, to make it available to our allies as well,” he said.
Bringing together the coordination of simulation in the Army, the CCTSC “will assume responsibility for developing the area dedicated to training using simulation means”, with the aim of “increasing the operational effectiveness of forces, through the combination of areas dedicated to virtual, constructive and real simulation”, an Army source told Lusa.
The CCTSC, he adds, will also “be a link in the chain of development of prototypes, systems and equipment”, a project that is seen as “fundamental” in order to “draw on the experience of the Army’s soldiers and forces to provide adequate information for the final development of technologies that can be applied militarily” on land.
“Our aim with this (CCTSC) is not only to acquire a simulation capacity that gives us more realism in training, but also more economy and security, with gains in efficiency, in the management of resources, and in effectiveness, in the quality of the troops we want to have prepared,” said the CEME.
On the other hand, noted General Mendes Ferrão, the aim is for the future Tactical Training, Simulation and Certification Center “to serve not only the Portuguese Army forces but also to serve as an attraction mechanism for training forces from other countries”.
With an area of 67 square kilometers (km2), the Santa Margarida Military Camp “is an excellent area for operational training, from the lowest to the highest echelons, for carrying out large-scale national and international exercises, as well as for the possibility of simulated or real training, even allowing real fires to be carried out with a wide range of weapons systems,” said the CEME in his speech on Brigade Day.
Noting that the Mechanized Brigade is an “essential instrument in the national force system”, and that “it is the large unit that materializes the heavy forces of the Portuguese Army (…) essential for conducting high-intensity operations”, Mendes Ferrão alluded to the events in Eastern Europe and the “inherent need for adaptation” to affirm that “the preparation of armies requires ambition, but also the ability to foresee” scenarios.
“The newly-created Tactical Training, Simulation and Certification Center, located in this Military Camp, will be our real laboratory for testing tactics, techniques and procedures, which we also intend to be a hub for national and international innovation, in partnership with Industry and Academia,” he said.
