The training, held in June and July 2016, was conducted by two tank companies (1 kcz and 2 kcz) from the 1st Tank Battalion of the 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade (10BKPanc). On June 26, instructors and two tank crews arrived at the MTC Thun simulator center. The following day, they met with the center’s commander, during which the key personnel responsible for operating the simulators were introduced and the simulators’ structure and training capabilities were explained. Particular attention was paid to safety conditions during simulator use and the technical differences between the Leopard 2A4 tank and the Leopard 2WE used by the Swiss army.
The practical sessions, during which a total of 18 tank crews were trained, took place in two rounds: at the beginning of July 2016, the soldiers of the 1st Tank Company underwent training, while in the second half of the month it was the turn of the 2nd Company.
The officer responsible for the training, Lieutenant Andrzej Kotwis, summed up his stay in Switzerland as follows:
Switzerland is not only about cheese, banks and watches… it also has an excellent tactical and gunnery simulator center for training tank crews, where we took part in yet another training session. This gives us the opportunity to focus meticulously on what is most important to us: gunnery and tactics. The figures demonstrate the value of such undertakings—during their stay at MTC Thun, the tank crews fired a total of 5,484 rounds of tank ammunition and carried out 12,601 machine-gun bursts.
The Świętoszów armored soldiers were highly committed to the training because it gave them the opportunity to significantly improve the skills required in their assigned posts. “The sessions gave us a great deal. Above all, this was due to the high level of realism; the training center’s infrastructure makes it possible to conduct activities reflecting real-world conditions and to perform tasks at the level of both an individual soldier and an entire platoon,” added Lieutenant Kotwis.
The capabilities of the simulators available at the center allow the exercise director to identify potential errors made by soldiers while performing tasks and to analyze their causes on an ongoing basis. This verifies their level of training in carrying out duties at their assigned posts. Early detection of errors makes it possible not only to improve crew members’ skills, but also to carry out their tasks more effectively. For this reason, the soldiers—tank crews of the 10BKPanc—are so eager to participate in sessions organized at the Mechanised Training Centre (MTC) in Thun, Switzerland.
Capt. Adriana Wołyńska/ii