Support: October 1, 2002

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The U.S. Air Force spent six years, and $2.75 million developing a rescue and survival trainer that uses video game and professional flight simulator technology. Using a dome projection system, the trainees are fully immersed in the simulations of things like ditching in the water or finding their way in unfamiliar terrain after bailing out. The system can be networked so instructors and students from different bases can train together. It's unknown if there is any additional benefit to using the very expensive and bulky 3-D dome projection system versus a PC based trainer. But the air force has long used the dome projection system for its flight simulators and the temptation is always there to find other uses for stuff like that.