Bohemia Interactive Australia (BIA) was formed in 2001 as an initiative of both David Lagettie (of the band Seventh, whose music features in the soundtrack for OFP) and BIS. BIA has released numerous serious games including the Virtual Battlespace series (VBS1, VBS2) and the ‘Australians In Vietnam’ military history product. BIA has also recently released the Aircrewman Virtual Reality Simulator (AVRS), their first hardware-based simulation system developed under contract to the Australian Defence Force.
Virtual Battlespace (VBS) is a fully interactive, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS), three-dimensional training system providing a premium synthetic environment suitable for a wide range of military (or similar) training and experimentation purposes. Within the VBS Real Virtuality 3D engine, a participant views the virtual environment from the first-person perspective and is able to move, interact and otherwise operate as he or she would in real life. VBS participants may operate weaponry, drive vehicles, and fly aircraft within the simulation for any training or analytical purpose. Any real-world environment can be replicated within the simulation.
VBS offers large, realistic terrain areas and the ability to operate a myriad of land, sea, and air vehicles. VBS is currently used by a number of military organizations worldwide, including the Australian Defence Force (ADF), the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and the UK MoD.
Applications of VBS include collective training (such as combined arms, MOUT, infantry minor tactics), individual training (such as loadmaster training, mortar training, forward observer training, navigation), experimentation and analysis, as well as terrain and 3D model visualization and walkthroughs for AO familiarization.
VBS is based on the commercial gaming engine Real Virtuality created by Bohemia Interactive. It can be specifically tailored to meet the individual needs of military, law enforcement, homeland defense, and first responder training environments. VBS is designed for deployment on networked laptops or desktop PCs, allowing large numbers of participants to operate within the Virtual Battlespace. VBS is shipped with data logging and after-action review (AAR) functionality and also a graphical mission editor. VBS is HLA and DIS compliant.
BIA has a proven record at delivering on time and on budget, having completed numerous development projects for government agencies around the world. BI can quickly develop models or terrain, modify the simulation engine to suit new requirements, integrate new hardware, provide training courses for VBS2 operators or administrators and also deliver varying levels of product support.