Delivering MCTIS at the Marine Warfighting Exercise
At the most recent Marine Air-Ground Task Force Warfighting Exercise (MWX) for the U.S. Marine Corps, Saab unveiled the newly upgraded Marine Corps Tactical Instrumentation System (MCTIS). The resulting event brought together 7,000 Marines from all specializations for the largest instrumented exercise that the USMC has ever executed.
In early 2024, Saab unveiled the newly upgraded Marine Corps Tactical Instrumentation System (MCTIS), a next-generation live training system that our multinational team has been diligently working on for the past 18 months. The unveiling took place at the February Marine Air-Ground Task Force Warfighting Exercise (MWX), the premier all-domain warfighting training exercise for the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC). The exercise is hosted twice a year by Saab at Twentynine Palms, California.
February’s MWX event was a testament to Saab's capabilities and commitment. It brought together 7,000 Marines from all specializations for free-course, peer-on-peer simulated combat across urban, closed and open terrains. Saab outfitted more than 3,000 Marines and 250 vehicles, providing second-by-second position reporting across the battlespace. Our personnel provided around-the-clock support to both the Government Higher Controller (HICON) team and supporting forces in the field.
“Marine Air-Ground Task Force Warfighting Exercise (MWX) is a monumental turning point for Saab’s Training & Simulation team, “emphasized Brad Barnard, vice president and general manager of Land Systems at Saab, Inc. “This was the largest instrumented exercise Saab, Inc. has ever undertaken, and the largest instrumented exercise the USMC has ever executed. This combination was a baptism by fire, and the team not only succeeded but exceeded both our and the government’s expectations. Our customers tell us this is a game-changer for them, and it’s the same for Saab. This team has done an incredible job in difficult conditions, and it was truly amazing to see them in action.”
MWX is much more than just the four-day main event. Weeks in advance, the team began expediting new equipment into the field from our recently opened Oceanside facility, supporting complex USMC company and battalion exercises, and completing the final requirements and acceptance testing. As part of this, our team issued more than 24,000 separate pieces of equipment to the forces entering the field, ranging from dismounted Marine instrumentation to vehicle instrumentation and advanced augmented reality (AR) visualization tools. Preparations also included conducting scans and modeling 15 separate buildings in the facility to allow the tracking of individuals and weapon systems.
Planning continues for multiple upcoming battalion-level exercises and the next MWX event in August 2024. Training and Simulation’s focus now expands to refinement and delivering this capability at four more installations—Camp Pendleton, Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) and the Battle School at Quantico by fall 2024.
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