Rep. Forbes tries flight simulator in Rayburn

Lawmakers and military officials browsed a technology exhibit in Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday, getting a look at modeling-and-simulation products that companies say could save the government money.

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), founder of the Congressional Modeling and Simulation Caucus, said simulation technology can speed up the process of testing new ideas that might yield solutions applicable to crises like the oil spill or Hurricane Katrina.

"Imagine if we can take all of those creative ideas and be running them through simulation and modeling programs, and all of a sudden we can say, 'That's the one, those are the five' ... so it doesn't take us weeks to do it," he said.

Forbes tried a flight simulator from HotSeat Chassis Inc. that's being used for training in the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA.

Col. Ross Woodley of the U.S. Joint Forces Command said the government has already saved money by using modeling and simulation technology.

"Now we're taking that same capability and pushing it down to the lowest level, the soldier on the field, so he can practice and inoculate himself from some of the difficult situations that he'll face in combat prior to actually entering," Woodley said.

Other members of the Modeling and Simulation Caucus in attendance were co-chair Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) and Reps. Robert "Bobby" Scott (D-Va.), Rob Wittman (R-Va.), Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) and Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.).



The National Training and Simulation Association sponsored the event. It featured more than 15 exhibitors, including Lockheed Martin, EMS Solutions and Laerdal Medical.

The initial version of this post misspelled Col. Woodley's first name. It has been corrected.