Re-post from Hoggit and BMS DEV Forum:
I’ll post a translation from my VFS mate blog:
https://note.com/cypher1778/n/na82b5177f0f0
We participated in the Milsim Far East (a.k.a. MFE) event held on May 3 and 4.
We were neither an organizer nor a participant in the event, but we were able to help in the “close air support re-enactment” that took place during the event.
What exactly is a millisim? Military Simulation, or MilliSim for short, is a recreation of a military exercise. There is also a similar event called re-enactment, which has some gameplay but is more for reenacting historical battles.
MFE is an event that aims to bring such a millisim event that originated overseas to Japan. This year will be the second time that MFE has been elevated from its predecessor, Mason Rock, to a full-fledged millisim event.
A few weeks before the event, the situation and maps are presented by the management, and the participants in each camp analyze them, formulate a strategy, and decide on the day’s movements. Each camp has 4-5 squads of about 8 members, and the platoon commander who organizes them is the supreme commander on site. In order to experience a realistic military structure, participants must be disciplined and follow the instructions of their superiors. Even if the enemy is within shooting distance, if it is not in line with the platoon’s mission, they will not fire. Can you see that this is unlike airsoft?
MFE02 was an event with a more millisim element than the previous one. It was larger and more complex, with 22 continuous hours of situational assumptions, assigning missions, introducing pseudo-battlers with B2i, deploying drones and vehicles, building positions, recreating wounds and first aid, and coupling with a flight simulator.
Participants will pack food, water, ammunition, sleeping bags, etc. for two days in a backpack, which they would not normally use in an airsoft game, and goes into the mountains. They will go to the deployment positions indicated in the pre-briefing, dig the ground with shovels, and build up their positions with sandbags. Traps and mines are also set up to prevent the enemy from entering. Since this is a continuous scenario, even sleeping is in the mountains.
We generated the scenery and coordinates of the venue for FalconBMS, allowing for a complete recreation of the field.
We designed a circuit to put the IP radio signal on the IVC, so that it can communicate directly with the JTAC at the IP radio destination by pressing a switch on the controller, which resembles the control stick of a fighter plane.
A total of three air support missions were planned for the day for both sides. Two F-16CM Block 50 fighters of the 14th Fighter Wing of the U.S. Air Force will be launched from Iwakuni Air Base, Yamaguchi Prefecture, to Gifu Prefecture, where the event will be held. The fighters will start from the engine start and actually fly over a 1/1 scale reproduction of a map of Japan. Naturally, the planes carry the same amount of fuel as in real life, fly the same distance, and take the same amount of time as in real life.
Communication with the JTAC was also thorough and was conducted based on the Close Air Support Manual issued by the U.S. Department of Defense. Pilots were able to conduct their attacks while viewing the field in Gifu Prefecture, which was reproduced in FAlconBMS, with a large camera (Sniper ATP) mounted on the fighter plane.
The pilot listens to the radio while flying the fighter and punches the coordinates sent by the JTAC into the fighter’s system to confirm the method of attack and type of target. Once the communication is over, the fighter turns and heads for the drop.
Once the operator has intercepted this exchange and determined that the coordinates have been correctly transmitted, it is now entered into the map app. This map app is a civilian version of the one used by real JTACs and special forces, and all participants have it installed on their smartphones. The operator can then monitor each participant’s location in real-time and send bombing hit notifications to those within a ~ meter radius of the attack coordinates. At the same time, a number of judges on the ground will indicate the bombing by exploding firecrackers or other devices at the coordinates in question.
