Makati City police training exercises go high-tech

By MICHAEL PUNONGBAYAN
The Philippine Star

Makati City’s officers from its elite assault and tactical operations team staged an anti-terrorist training exercise Tuesday using training guns used by the United States military and police personnel.

With Makati police chief Superintendent Gilbert Cruz and other officials playing terrorists, commandos of the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT) and other units of the Makati police tested the guns, which are designed to help police and soldiers sharpen their skills without getting anybody killed.

Known as the Real Action Marker (RAM), the "simulated ammunition" guns are rapidly gaining popularity worldwide as a safe and effective training tool for simulation training and live-fire exercises.

Exclusively marketed in the Philippines by ATACS-Advanced Tactical Training Systems (ATACS-ATTS), the guns are far more advanced than paintball and airsoft guns, and are meant for the kind of training needed by the military and the police.

In the exercise, Cruz and other officials played terrorists and took up positions on the fifth floor of an abandoned school while SWAT policemen hunted them down.

Both sides suffered "wounded" and "casualties" but the SWAT officers won.

"It was a great experience," said Cruz, adding that he will recommend the guns to the Philippine National Police for training exercises. Cruz was able to “kill” three SWAT officers before he was shot dead.

ATACS founders Jasper Briones, Jose Viven Balsomo, Jose Luis Valdes and Michael Salvador said the RAM training system they offer will provide affordable and modern "simulated ammunition" training systems for the PNP, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and security agencies.

According to Briones, the RAM guns are essentially a hybrid of the paintball and airsoft designs already in use Wednesday. They combine the best of both worlds in a replica firearm of the same size and shape as a Colt M4- or M-16 rifle. It also uses a paintball projectile that effectively marks hits via paint splotches.

Briones said the realism of the RAM design also features a magazine-fed ammunition loading system that can hold up to 20 rounds of paintball ammunition.

"Another unique touch in the RAM concept is the alloy casing that encloses the paintball round, protecting it while it is in the magazine and is ejected during firing to simulate the shell casing ejection of a real rifle," Briones said. "The CO2 propellant tank for the rifle itself is concealed within the stock of the RAM, making it an unobtrusive part of the simulated ammunition rifle."

Briones said the RAM is a very realistic tool for tactical training and a must for law enforcers to experience so as to enhance and to prove the effectiveness of their tactics.

He noted that the arrival of ATACS in the Philippines and RSAU’s field test makes the country only the ninth in the world to employ the RAM as a training tool for law enforcement.

The other countries now using RAM are Australia, the special administrative region of Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, China, Singapore, Taiwan and the US.

In the United States, 15 law enforcement agencies use the RAM system, while two military installations have incorporated the technology in their training programs.