Range Safety, Planning and Management (RSPM)

The User requires a capability to plan, conduct, and review Dismounted Close Combat (DCC) live-fire tactical training (LFTT) activities at ranges across UK and overseas. The system must enable the creation, submission, authorisation, and secure retention of compliant digital traces, in accordance with Defence Safety Authority (DSA) Regulations 1 and Live Fire Policy 2.

It must provide enhanced situational awareness for range safety staff. The system must support After-Action Review (AAR) by integrating historical activity data and allow access via Defence Gateway on both MOD and civilian devices.

Live field firing represents the apex of operational preparation for land forces yet carries persistently high risks of dangerous occurrences and fratricide. Current manual live fire range design and exercise control methods are antiquated and inefficient; they do not optimise Defence Training Estate (DTE) usage or force generation opportunities.

They are prone to human error, incapable of genuinely supporting the execution and review phases of training and cannot integrate with complementary technologies or digital modernisation capabilities. Safety incidents and fatalities on ranges are attributed to a combination of causal, contributory and other factors, often stemming from human error, procedural efficiencies, and limitations in equipment and training.

The 17 live fire training deaths of UK military personnel and subsequent investigations from Jan 2000 to Mar 2023 are an illustration of these failings. Modernising range planning and management will enhance the UK's training, improve coherence and deconfliction while maximising DTE usage, improving safety and reducing the risk of the Armed Forces preparing for operations.

A software package will apply digital parameters and technology-enabled safety interventions throughout the planning, management, execution and after-action review (AAR) phases of training. It will enable the dynamic management of the Defence range estate to maximise throughput and save lost training time and resources.

Modernised range planning, management and conduct will aid in reducing the risk resulting from the Army's key risk to life activity, without the value of the training suffering. The capability will not replace, but support the already inherently Safe Persons, Safe Equipment, Safe Place and Safe Practice as detailed in live-fire SSoW policy.

RSPM seeks to provide: An efficient range planning and management process: The legacy reversionary methods of planning DCC live-fire activity, whilst considered safe, can be made more efficient. Situational awareness and enhancing safety of live-fire activity: Incidents and fatalities have occurred during live-fire activity for multiple reasons, often compounding.

Situational awareness of range safety staff has been cited as a Contributory Factor, especially at night. Quantification of lethality: The imperative for the DCC operative is to become more lethal and this begins with the fundamentals of marksmanship training.

The aim of live-fire training is to provide a realistic tactical setting to train firers and team leaders in the skills and procedures necessary for operations. This can be shortened into the adage ‘Train how we fight’.

To garner the most benefit from any live-fire exercise there needs to be feedback, formal and informal to those involved with all stages of the training. Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) as part of the MOD, reserves the right and has no obligation to continue with the requirement following Preliminary Market Engagement (PME), and if potential suppliers choose to act on any information received during PME, it is entirely at their own risk.