File:A comparison of current naval marksmanship training vs. simulation-based marksmanship training with the use of Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer (ISMT) (IA acomparisonofcur1094541383).pdf

The Navy small arms training and qualification instruction focused on dry fire and simulators should be utilized when available. However, naval personnel often do not have access to dry fire training opportunities and therefore may be at risk for losing perishable marksmanship skills. The purpose of the study was to determine if the use of a simulator is at least as effective in marksmanship training as traditional dry fire techniques. A between-groups study with a random selection of volunteers (blocked by previous marksmanship experience) was conducted to determine if participants who completed simulation-based training showed greater improvement and retention of marksmanship skills than participants completing dry fire training. The main measures were the qualification scores, average shot group size, shot group size and mean point of impact to center zeroing point length. The experiment utilized a simulated M9 Berretta for the qualification. Results demonstrate that simulation training improved performance on the seven-yard line to a greater extent than current naval training. Exploratory analyses suggest that simulation training may be most beneficial for less-experienced shooters, and that a minimum of two weeks' time is needed to detect group differences in the retention of skills.

Subjects: Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer (ISMT); simulation based marksmanship training; current naval marksmanship training; standard Navy handgun qualification and part-task trainer.