Tactical Unmanned Systems · Simulation & Training

STRATOSPHERE

System Functionality & Operator Documentation

UNCLASSIFIED // FOR PROCUREMENT EVALUATION

Operator Documentation v1.0 · Software build 20260722 · Web-delivered (zero-install) · EN / PL / DE / NL

1Purpose & Scope

StratOSphere is a tactical unmanned-systems simulation and training platform delivered to the browser with zero installation, over a real-world photorealistic 3D model of the earth. This document is an operator and evaluator walkthrough: it describes what each functional area does, the on-screen controls that drive it, and — following the platform's rationale — why each capability builds transferable operator proficiency.

The platform is modular. Every capability area is an independent, separately-enableable module sharing a common runtime; a delivery can contain only the modules a customer needs. The sections below map to those modules (M1–M12) and to the interface a trainee actually touches.

StratOSphere turns any city or area of operations into a training range in seconds — no airframe, no range booking, no flight-line risk.

WHY IT MATTERSUnmanned-systems training is constrained by the cost and scarcity of airframes and ranges, by access to a place and network on which to train, and by the difficulty of making mistakes consequential without real risk. The platform attacks all four so a unit gets more deliberate repetitions, by more trainees, more often, in more places.

2Getting Started & Navigation

Access is controlled by a device-bound licence key entered at the gate on first load; keys are issued and revoked by the customer from its own administration dashboard and are capped per device. Once licensed, the operator lands on the title screen.

The title screen

The title screen is the launch hub. From the left menu the operator can enter Open World free flight, Single Pilot or Multi Pilot sessions, the Theory academy, the UAV Configurator, Stats/Records, and the Missions catalogue. A drone carousel previews the selectable airframes with live specifications.

The top module menu bar. Every capability area is one dropdown — Flight, Train, Electronic Warfare, Counter-UAS, Tools, Comms, TAK (ATAK/CoT), Records and System. The same actions are reachable from the ⌘K / Ctrl-K command palette and the ▦ Modules launcher.

While flying or building, every function is organised under the top module menu bar shown above, with matching entries in the ⌘K / Ctrl-K command palette (type to search any action) and the ▦ Modules full-screen launcher (Shift-M).

The language selector. English, Polish, German and Dutch are the actively-maintained interface languages; the whole DOM interface re-translates live when switched. (The in-flight OSD is drawn on the video canvas and is intentionally left in a fixed cockpit convention.)

Control	Action
Ctrl + K / /	Open the command palette — search and run any action by name.
Shift + M	Open the full-screen Modules launcher.
🌐 Language	Switch the interface between English, Polski, Deutsch and Nederlands, live.
Esc	Close the top-most open panel.
⛶ Fullscreen	Cover the whole screen (immersive; hides the top bar).

The whole system runs from a single self-hosted server inside the unit's own network or an air-gapped enclave — it runs on hardware a unit already owns.

M1Flight Dynamics & Airframe Module

The flight core models rotary FPV, fixed-wing, VTOL/tiltrotor, ISR multirotor and ground-vehicle airframes on a physically-grounded engine — thrust and drag, ground effect, vortex-ring state, blade-flapping, a building-aware wind field, battery sag and per-motor failure. A Realistic model reproduces the disturbances a pilot must actively correct; a Perfect model removes them for early stick-and-rudder familiarisation.

The in-flight HUD (OSD). Left: throttle, link quality and EMCON. Centre: artificial horizon, pitch ladder and CCIP crosshair. Right: battery, endurance and smart-bingo return-to-home reserve. Top: warhead state and munitions remaining. The barometric ALT/POS hold chip appears for GPS rotary airframes.

Flying the aircraft

Control	Action
Space	Arm / disarm the motors (Shift-Space keeps it armed). Refuses to arm if the airframe is overloaded.
▲ ▼	Throttle up / down.
W A S D	Pitch and roll.
◀ ▶	Yaw left / right.
C	Toggle first-person / chase camera.
Enter	Catapult-launch a fixed-wing / deep-strike airframe.
H	Return-to-home.
R	Respawn after a crash.
3	Minimal / phone OSD with on-screen sticks.

Wind, weather and air density feed the model directly. The Humidity weather slider reduces available thrust and accelerates battery drain; altitude thins the air toward a natural service ceiling; a hot, heavy pack sags and cuts authority. Endurance and a distance-aware "smart-bingo" reserve are shown live so the operator learns to manage energy, not just fly.

The configurator's live weight and thrust-to-weight readout. If a chosen warhead + battery pushes the airframe past its lift (TWR below ~1.12), the badge turns red and the motors will refuse to arm — the drone will not take off until the load is reduced, just as an over-weighted quad cannot leave the ground.

WHY IT MATTERSSkill is built by volume of varied repetition, and it transfers only when the synthetic aircraft behaves like the real one. A model that punishes an over-weighted airframe, an aggressive descent into its own downwash, or a flat battery teaches judgement that survives contact with a real airframe.

M1+Battery, Power & the Flight Physics Model

Two systems make the flight feel honest: a battery simulated as a real lithium-polymer pack (not a linear fuel gauge), and a force-based flight model that reproduces the aerodynamics and failures that actually kill drones. Both are described here in the detail an evaluator would want.

The battery — sag, resistance, heat and cut-off

Control	Action
Charge → voltage curve	A 12-point LiPo discharge curve maps state-of-charge to resting cell voltage: 4.20 V full, a long flat plateau around 3.8 V through the mid-band, then a steep cliff below ~20% down to 3.27 V. This is why a pack reads healthy for most of a sortie and then falls off a cliff.
Coulomb counting	Current draw is integrated into mAh consumed; state-of-charge = 1 − mAh/capacity. Draw scales with throttle and thrust demand, so an aggressive high-throttle sortie drains far faster than a gentle one.
Internal resistance	~4.5 mΩ per cell baseline — and it RISES as the pack depletes (up to about +70% near empty) and when the pack is COLD (~+0.4% per °C below 24 °C). A cold or nearly-empty pack sags harder.
Voltage sag	Loaded voltage = (resting voltage − current × internal resistance) × cells. Under a throttle punch the voltage drops almost instantly (time-constant ~0.06 s) and recovers more slowly (~0.45 s) — exactly like a real LiPo. The gap between resting and loaded voltage is the 'sag' shown on the HUD.
I²R self-heating	The pack heats with the square of current and cools toward ambient — sustained high current warms the pack, which in turn changes its resistance.
Sag → thrust & control	Available thrust scales with pack voltage, and control authority is scaled down with it too — a tired pack makes less thrust and feels mushy.
Low-voltage cut-off (LVC)	If a cell drops below 3.30 V for more than ~2.5 s, or below 3.0 V instantly, the flight controller disarms and cuts the motors. You must land before the pack collapses — the endurance HUD projects remaining time and a distance-aware return-to-home reserve so you can plan the recovery.

WHY IT MATTERSEnergy is the constraint that ends most sorties. A pack that sags under load, resists more when cold or empty, heats with current and cuts out at the cliff turns battery management from a number on a screen into a trained decision — and teaches the operator to bring the aircraft home.

The flight physics model — what it actually contains

The model is force-based and runs on a fixed-timestep integrator at 250 Hz (up to 1000 Hz, driven by the telemetry rate), allocation-free on the hot path, with gyro noise scaled with √dt so the feel is identical at any step rate. It models:

Control	Action
Thrust	Rotor thrust = throttle × (thrust-to-weight × airframe mass × g), then scaled by pack voltage, ground effect, motor health, air density, ESC state and air humidity.
Air density & service ceiling	Density follows the ISA troposphere model ρ/ρ₀ = (1 − 2.25577×10⁻⁵·h)^4.2559, so thrust decays with altitude until it can no longer exceed weight — a natural, physics-based ceiling.
Drag	½·ρ·C_dA·v², with a size-dependent frontal area.
Rotor inflow	Translational lift (up to +14% thrust as the disc flies out of its own downwash) and vortex-ring state (settling with power when descending fast into your own wash).
Ground effect	Extra thrust in the cushion near the ground.
Blade flapping / dissymmetry of lift	Crosswind and forward flight induce a roll and nose-up trim the pilot must correct.
Wind field	A boundary-layer gradient (stronger wind with height), gust buffet, and a building-aware urban field — wind shadow behind buildings, turbulent wake, street-canyon venturi acceleration and windward-face updraft.
Humidity	Damp air reduces density and motor/ESC efficiency — up to ~6% less thrust and faster battery drain.
Failures	Per-motor thrust loss and ESC desync.
Propeller	Blades lofted from a real NACA 4-digit airfoil — cambered, twisted and tapered root-to-tip.
Damage & fragility	Impacts below 4.5 m/s are free; above that, hull damage scales with impact speed × a fragility factor; a hard enough hit destroys the airframe.
GNSS	Denial (inertial dead-reckoning with a growing error radius), spoofing, meaconing, urban multipath, and a barometric altitude hold that drifts ±2–3 m when denied.
Per-airframe models	Multirotor (acro / angle), fixed-wing (thrust-drag-lift with stall and catapult launch), VTOL tiltrotor (a genuine three-regime hover → transition → cruise force model), ISR multirotor, and tracked UGVs (skid-steer, terrain slope, tracks).
Collision	Buildings are raycast — the airframe cancels the into-wall component and slides rather than tunnelling through, and the camera never sees through walls.

WHY IT MATTERSTraining transfers only when the synthetic aircraft behaves like the real one. A model that punishes a descent into your own downwash, an over-weighted airframe that cannot climb, a service ceiling you cannot power past, or a flat cold pack that sags and cuts out builds judgement that survives contact with a real airframe — and is honest enough to defend to a technical evaluator.

M2Airframe & Threat Library / UAV Configurator

The UAV Configurator is where a sortie is built. The operator selects an airframe from the catalogue (5–12" FPV, interceptors, fibre-optic, Vampyr ISR bombers, fixed-wing strike, VTOL tiltrotor, tracked UGVs and more), then a payload category, a specific warhead, a fuze, a battery, a video transmitter and options such as fibre-optic control. A live 3D preview renders the airframe with its slung ordnance, fibre pod and trigger wires.

Selectable warhead categories in the UAV configurator. Each detonation renders a distinct, FPS-safe signature — thermobaric is a bright white fuel-air flash with a second overpressure pulse; incendiary throws burning white-phosphorus particles and leaves ground fire; IED kicks up dirt; cumulative/HEAT produces a focused blue-white jet.

Payload categories include HEAT, Cumulative (shaped-charge / anti-armour: RKG-3, PG-9, tandem anti-ERA, self-forging EFP), Fragmentation, Thermobaric, Incendiary (thermite, white phosphorus, napalm), IED (improvised pipe, mortar-round, roadside EFP, ANFO satchel) and GP/HE. Each warhead carries its own mass, penetration and fuze list, and the configurator only offers warheads the airframe can physically lift.

Control	Action
Airframe selector	Choose the platform; specifications and the 3D preview update instantly.
Payload type → Warhead → Fuze	Cascading menus; fuzes are filtered to the selected warhead.
Battery / VTX / Fibre	Set the pack, transmitter power and control link. Each changes weight and behaviour.
Drone weight badge	Live all-up weight and thrust-to-weight; turns red when overloaded.

WHY IT MATTERSAirframes, threats, munitions and scenarios are data-defined, so a customer can extend the library. Matching airframe, warhead, fuze and profile to a target is a real weaponeering decision — the configurator makes that decision explicit and constrains it by physics.

M3FPV Strike & Weaponeering Module

The strike module models the terminal engagement. The warhead is inert until deliberately armed; arming is staged and shown by an unmistakable banner. On impact, damage is aspect-dependent (top and rear attack defeat armour that a frontal hit will not), fuzing changes the effect (delay penetrates, proximity airbursts, impact detonates on contact), and a defensible exterior-ballistics engine drives dropped and fired munitions with CCIP/CCRP delivery cues.

Warhead safety states. The munition is inert until armed; an impact while SAFE is a dud, not a detonation — the operator must consciously arm before the terminal dive.

Control	Action
B	Arm / safe the warhead (staged; Shift-B toggles VTX band).
Z	Release / drop the munition (Shift-Z cycles the munition).
L	Target lock / terminal guidance.
X	Designate a target.
CCIP pipper	The continuously-computed impact point for dive and toss deliveries.

Each warhead category now detonates with a distinct, FPS-safe signature: thermobaric is a bright white fuel-air flash with a delayed overpressure second pulse; incendiary throws arcing burning white-phosphorus particles and leaves lingering ground fire; an IED produces a dirty orange blast with a wide dirt kick-up; cumulative/HEAT shows a focused blue-white jet with fast spall. The effect reads instantly, which reinforces correct weaponeering.

WHY IT MATTERSWeaponeering rewards correct choices only if the effects are honest. Aspect-dependent penetration, fuze behaviour and a real ballistics model mean a trainee must think about how to kill the target, not merely point at it.

M3+Payload Employment — How Each Warhead Works, Its Lethality & When to Choose It

A drone kills by matching the right warhead to the target's protection and the effect required. StratOSphere models each family's real formation, lethal radius and penetration mechanism, and renders each with a distinct, FPS-safe explosion signature so the effect reads instantly — the operator learns to see what they employed.

The seven families

Family	How it works (formation)	Lethal radius	Penetration	Explosion signature	Best against
HEAT	A conical metal liner is collapsed by the charge into a hypervelocity metal jet — it penetrates by focused pressure, not blast, so penetration is largely independent of range/speed.	1–2 m (point effect)	~260–900 mm RHA (PG-7V ~300, PG-7VR ~600 after ERA)	Compact blue-white jet + fast spall, little smoke	Tanks, IFVs, hard points — hit top/rear
Cumulative	Purpose-built shaped-charge anti-armour. A tandem round fires a precursor to defeat reactive armour, then the main jet; an EFP forms a single slug that stays lethal at standoff.	2–3 m	~170 mm (RKG-3) · ~300 mm (PG-9) · ~600 mm after ERA (tandem) · ~140 mm at standoff (EFP)	Blue-white shaped jet	Modern MBTs with ERA (tandem); top-attack from standoff (EFP)
Fragmentation	A cased charge shatters its casing into a cloud of high-velocity fragments; lethality is fragment density × velocity over an area.	5–20 m (Claymore ~50 m in a 60° arc)	~5–30 mm steel only	Bright white-yellow flash + dense fast spall + grey smoke	Infantry, dismounts, soft-skin — NOT armour
Thermobaric	Disperses a fuel cloud then ignites it — a sustained high-temperature overpressure wave that fills volume and reflects off walls.	~3–10 m	Overpressure + fire; breaches light walls	VERY white flash + fuel-air DOUBLE pulse + big slow pressure ring	Troops in structures/trenches, bunkers, wall breaching
Incendiary	Burns rather than blasts — white phosphorus ignites on contact and screens with white smoke; thermite burns through 3–5 mm steel and ignites fuel/ammo/optics; napalm-gel spreads area fire.	~3–15 m	By burn-through	White-yellow + arcing falling burning particles + lingering ground fire	Fuel/ammo stores, dug-in infantry, deny/screen terrain
IED	Field-built charges — pipe/mortar-round bombs throw shrapnel; a roadside EFP forms a slug; an ANFO satchel is a large blast charge.	6–25 m by type	Shrapnel / up to ~120 mm RHA (EFP) / structure breach	Dirty orange blast + dirt kick-up + dark smoke	Soft-skin, logistics, ambush, structure breach
GP / HE	A balanced blast + fragmentation bomb.	~15 m (Type 69) to 100 m+ (MK-82)	~300–400 mm reinforced concrete (MK-82)	Big orange fireball + strong shockwave + heavy smoke	General targets, structures, area effect

Intentional selection — think before you arm

The configurator constrains the choice by physics (an airframe only offers warheads it can lift), and the sortie rewards a correct decision:

Control	Action
Against armour (tank / IFV)	HEAT or Cumulative. Use a tandem round against explosive reactive armour, and attack the top or rear aspect — the model's penetration is aspect-dependent, so a top-attack dive that a frontal shot would bounce off gets the kill.
Against infantry / soft targets	Fragmentation in the open; Thermobaric when they are in cover, a trench or a building — the overpressure fills the space a fragment cloud would miss.
Against fuel, ammunition, optics — or to deny/screen	Incendiary: it burns stores and dug-in positions and lays a white-smoke screen.
Against structures / to breach	Thermobaric for rooms; IED / ANFO or GP/HE for walls.
At standoff / against reactive armour	EFP (Cumulative) forms a slug that survives the distance; tandem defeats ERA.
Fuze completes the choice	Impact detonates on contact; delay lets the round penetrate first (armour/structures); proximity airbursts above troops for the widest fragment spread.
Weight is a real constraint	Heavier warheads cut endurance and can overload a small airframe — the TWR badge turns red and the drone will not arm. Match warhead mass to the platform's lift.

WHY IT MATTERSWeaponeering rewards correct choices only if the effects are honest. Aspect-dependent penetration, real lethal radii, fuzing behaviour and a distinct visual signature per family mean the trainee must think about HOW to kill the target — the same judgement that separates a wasted munition from a kill in the field.

M4ISR, EO/IR & Autonomy Module

ISR airframes (Vampyr-class, Mavic-class and dedicated recon platforms) carry a stabilised, slewable gimbal with electro-optical and thermal imagers, optical and digital zoom, and target tracking. A GPS-denied navigation assist models the real fallback behaviour of the sensor set.

Control	Action
Space	Take off / land (ISR airframes launch and recover vertically).
[ ]	Slew the gimbal tilt (keyboard); <span class="kbd">;</span> <span class="kbd">'</span> pan; <span class="kbd">\</span> recentre.
T	Thermal imager; <span class="kbd">N</span> night vision.
+ −	Optical / digital zoom.
J	ISR auto-detection; <span class="kbd">L</span> lock / ActiveTrack; <span class="kbd">X</span> designate.
I	Cycle nav mode — MANUAL → ALT HOLD → POS HOLD (GPS rotary airframes).

In a GPS-denied area the barometric altimeter drifts by a realistic ±2–3 m: in ALT HOLD the aircraft holds a pressure setpoint, so true altitude wanders as the barometer does; in POS HOLD the aircraft uses its visual/optical-flow reference for a tight hold — which correctly degrades in darkness or fog, where an optical sensor has nothing to lock to.

WHY IT MATTERSElectronic warfare and GNSS denial are the environment, not a backdrop. Training the sensor operator to recognise a drifting fix and switch to a visual hold is exactly the discipline that keeps an ISR asset useful under jamming.

M4+Ground Control Station — Puma 3 AE / Raven (Map-Command Operator Training)

The Ground Control Station console trains the operator workflow of a small hand-launched ISR aircraft, modelled on the AeroVironment common GCS / Crysalis method of operation. Two airframes are provided: the Puma 3 AE (Mantis i45 EO/IR, ~20 km data link) and the Raven RQ-11B (Mantis i23, ~10 km). The defining principle is that the operator does not stick-fly the aircraft: they hand-launch it, then command the autopilot from a moving map — navigate, loiter, return home, land — and spend the mission on electro-optical / infrared sensor exploitation. The console is opened from the title menu (GCS Station) or the floating GCS chip, and the airframe is chosen from the header selector.

Command	Action
LAUNCH	Hand-launch: arms the aircraft and flies a staged climb-out to the airframe's on-station altitude (Puma ~140 m, Raven ~100 m AGL), then levels.
NAV (click map)	Command a navigation point — the autopilot banks to it and, on arrival, converts to an overwatch loiter (Puma wide ~190 m orbit, Raven tight ~120 m).
LOITER / HOME / LAND	Orbit the current point; return to the launch point; or fly a staged deep-stall autoland (glide → high-alpha flare → touchdown).
MANUAL	Release autonomy and hand stick control back to the operator.
ROUTE / FLY	Plan a multi-waypoint route by clicking the map, then fly it in sequence; the aircraft holds an overwatch loiter at the final waypoint.
RALLY	Set a rally point (first press) and proceed to loiter there (second press). The rally point is also the automatic lost-link fallback, used in place of home when set.
LOCK (geo-lock)	Ground-stabilise the sensor on the point under the reticle so the gimbal holds a fixed grid location as the aircraft flies past or orbits.
EO / IR / Low-light	Switch the Mantis sensor between electro-optical, thermal (WHOT / BHOT / Ironbow palettes) and low-light.
FOV zoom	Continuous zoom with a field-of-view readout in degrees (i45 56°→1.2°, i23 25°→1.5°).
Slew-to-cue / Track / Stow	Point the gimbal at the commanded point (ground-stabilised); lock onto a moving target; or return the gimbal to boresight.
Geo-point / Snapshot	Geolocate the sensor reticle to a grid and drop a numbered target mark; or capture a freeze-frame.
Illuminator / Pointer	860 nm IR illuminator and IR laser pointer, as on the Mantis payload.
N-up / Track-up	Toggle the moving map between north-up and track-up orientation.

Flight-mode annunciator. The console shows the current mode — STANDBY, ON DECK, CLIMB-OUT, ON STATION, NAV, LOITER, HOME, LAND, DEEP-STALL, LANDED and CONTINGENCY — colour-coded. Lost-link contingency is automatic: if the data link falls below threshold while airborne, the aircraft flies an autonomous return-to-home on CONTINGENCY and recovers when the link is restored, training the real lost-link procedure. The link budget is per-airframe and terrain-aware — the Raven's shorter-range link degrades sooner than the Puma's, and terrain masking between the aircraft and the launch point reduces link quality.

Geolocation — the exploitation skill that transfers. Moving the map cursor gives a live MGRS grid and latitude/longitude readout (Cursor-on-Target). The console continuously computes where the gimbal is actually looking on the terrain and displays that ground point's MGRS and slant range in the video head-up display. Telemetry follows military convention: altitude above ground and mean sea level, ground speed, magnetic heading, endurance minutes remaining, data-link signal strength, GNSS satellite count (which shows DENIED under jamming), a Zulu clock and a mission timer. Endurance is shown as a distance-aware return-to-home reserve (a "bingo" check): the console subtracts the time to fly home at cruise, plus a landing margin, from the remaining endurance and warns RTL SOON or RETURN NOW as that reserve runs out — training the fuel-versus-range discipline a real operator lives by. The data-link quality is modelled per airframe (Puma ~20 km, Raven ~10 km) and is terrain-aware, so the Raven's link degrades sooner and masking behind terrain triggers the lost-link contingency realistically.

WHY IT MATTERSA Raven or Puma operator's job is not to fly — it is to command autonomy and exploit the sensor. Map-command navigation, MGRS geolocation, EO/IR exploitation and lost-link discipline are the transferable skills, and they are drilled here to a military-GCS standard so the operator arrives at the real seat already fluent in the workflow.

HONESTYThis is a training-representative Ground Control Station. It follows the documented common-GCS / Crysalis workflow and standard NATO-GCS conventions, and this is stated on the console itself. It is not the OEM Crysalis software, its exact button layout or data-link waveform, and it is not airworthiness-certified. Its value is teaching the operator's job and building the correct muscle memory, not reproducing the proprietary interface.

M5Electronic Warfare & Spectrum Module

The EW module makes the electromagnetic spectrum a contested, consequential domain. A live EMCON meter shows the operator's detectability in real time; a hot video transmitter left inside enemy EW coverage geolocates the launch point and can draw a counter-battery strike. Jamming, direction-finding, GNSS denial with inertial drift, GNSS spoofing and meaconing, and a cognitive (adaptive) jammer are all modelled, with physically-correct directional antenna radiation patterns.

Control	Action
[ ]	Cycle VTX output power (lower power = smaller signature, shorter range).
RF link HUD	Live link quality, VTX power, range and control-degradation warnings.
GNSS HUD	Satellites, fix quality, urban multipath, denial / spoof / meacon state.
C-UAS console	Detect → identify the link → jam the matched band; barrage vs pulse.

A placed opposing force detects, takes cover, returns fire, and can hunt the trainee — a scenario is a contested engagement, not a static target set.

WHY IT MATTERSThe war teaches EMCON through consequences. A simulator that geolocates a careless transmitter and answers with a strike teaches emissions discipline, terrain-masking and power management the way the field does — cheaply and repeatably.

M6Scenario Builder & Reactive OPFOR Module

The Scenario Builder is the instructor's authoring surface. On the live 3D map an instructor composes a mission from a catalogue of real, individually-modelled systems, gives them movement and behaviour, tags each to a side, attaches a briefing, and saves it — to reuse, share by code, or push to a whole class. Nothing is scripted from a text file; the scenario is built by placing and tasking objects directly on the terrain.

The Scenario Builder palette. On the left, a catalogue of real, individually-modelled systems; on the right, the authoring tools — draw movement paths and orbits, define patrol areas, drop pilot spawn points, and select-and-command placed units. Every entity is tagged BLUFOR or OPFOR.

What you can place

Control	Action
Infantry	Rifleman, a 4-man Squad, Sniper, Anti-Tank team and Machine-Gun team — dismounts that take cover and return fire.
Armour & vehicles	T-72B and T-90M main battle tanks, BMP-2M IFV, BTR-70 / BTR-82A APCs, plus light/logistics vehicles (Technical, Tigr, UAZ, GAZ-66).
Air defence & artillery	Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air system and 2S19 Msta-S self-propelled artillery.
Air threats	Shahed-136 one-way attack drones, Gerbera UAVs, Mi-8 transport and Ka-52 gunship helicopters.
Electronic warfare	R-330Zh and Krasukha-4 EW / jamming systems, and a Signal Antenna with a physically-correct directional coverage lobe.

Authoring tools

Control	Action
Place	Pick an entity, then click the terrain to drop it and set its facing. A toggle chooses whether a spawn drops a drone or a soldier.
Path / Circle path	Draw a movement route by clicking waypoints (double-click to finish) or an orbit — units follow it, with loiter times.
Patrolling area	Define an area a unit patrols autonomously.
Pilot spawn points	Drop FPV-pilot and ISR-pilot start positions so trainees launch exactly where the mission intends.
Select & command	Select placed units and task them — assign routes, behaviours and grouping.
Faction	Tag every entity BLUFOR (blue) or OPFOR (red); scoring and the AI treat them accordingly.

Behaviour, briefing and reuse

Placed enemies are not static targets: the reactive opposing force detects, takes cover behind buildings, returns fire, employs MANPADS and mobile jamming, routs under attrition and can actively hunt the trainee. Routes, orbits and patrol areas drive movement, and the signal antenna projects a real coverage footprint. A briefing (intent, situation, tasks) is attached to the scenario, and the whole layout is saved under a name — loadable later, shareable by code, and gradable as an assignment.

Procedural generation — Mission Forge

Where an instructor wants volume or an unseen problem, Mission Forge generates a complete scenario from a seed by mission type — reconnaissance, strike, SEAD, counter-UAS, deep raid or casualty evacuation — and difficulty. The same seed reproduces the same mission for a whole cohort; a fresh seed produces a fresh one. Generated missions can be opened in the builder for hand-editing.

Difficulty & live injects

Three difficulty tiers (Recruit / Veteran / Elite) scale the adversary's numbers, competence and reactivity, and a "living battlespace" director escalates pressure as the trainee succeeds. In a multiplayer exercise a white-cell instructor can inject events live — spawn threats, raids, jamming and failures — to reshape the problem in real time while it runs.

WHY IT MATTERSA contested, reacting adversary forces the full find-fix-track-target-engage-assess cycle under pressure, and data-defined entities plus seed-based generation let one instructor hand the same problem to an entire cohort — or an inexhaustible supply of fresh ones — and grade the outcome against the unit's own rubric.

M7Multiplayer & Distributed C2 Module

A shared session synchronises the whole battlespace and a fused common operating picture across up to roughly 150 participants. Each participant joins in a role — Coach, Commander, Operator, FPV pilot, ISR pilot, Analyst or Observer — and the Commander works from a dedicated full-screen C2 station with a common operating picture, live feeds and an EW board.

The World browser lets pilots join a running world at real coordinates; when the location changes, each pilot's active flight stays anchored to its true geographic position rather than being teleported, with a one-tap option to bring it to the new area.

Changing the world keeps the active flight anchored to its true geographic coordinates rather than teleporting it. A one-tap button re-centres the flight onto the new location if that is what the operator wants.

Operators, observers and a command cell task, spectate and share detections — rehearsing the coordinated kill chain as a crew, not as lone pilots.

WHY IT MATTERSOperations are conducted by teams and command elements. Training the crew as a unit — shared picture, shared tasking, one commander — rehearses the collective behaviours that a single-pilot simulator cannot.

M8Instructor & Coaching Module

The coaching module multiplies one instructor across a class. From a single console the coach sets difficulty, briefs, launches a scenario and injects events live; monitors every trainee with one-click jump-to-POV; telestrates on the feed and pushes spoken or on-screen cues to one trainee or all; and can take the controls of a struggling trainee's aircraft to demonstrate or recover a manoeuvre, then hand back.

Control	Action
Coach cue bar	One-tap spoken + on-screen prompts, addressed to one trainee or the class.
Jump-to-POV	Instantly spectate any trainee's video feed.
Live injects	Spawn threats, jamming and failures to shape the problem in real time.
Take controls	Fly a trainee's aircraft to demonstrate, then return control.
Roster	Track the whole cohort's progression against the rubric over time.

One coach, many trainees — set the problem, watch every feed, correct the fault, and hand the aircraft back.

WHY IT MATTERSQualified instructors are the scarcest resource in a training pipeline. Leverage — one coach shaping and grading a whole class — is what turns a good simulator into a training programme.

M9Training, Assessment & After-Action Review

The platform closes the loop from tasking to certification. A coach assigns a gated graded course, drills or a scenario as homework; every sortie is recorded automatically with a timestamp; each run is graded on positive-identification and rules-of-engagement compliance, control smoothness, results and collateral, pass/fail against the unit's own rubric; replay, kill-cam and the strike debrief let the trainee review; and per-pilot records, a printable gradebook, CSV export and a squadron leaderboard certify proficiency across the cohort.

The Theory academy carries 25 modules and 141 questions (flight, systems, safety, ISR, modern drone warfare and a full electronic-warfare course), fully available in English, Polish, German and Dutch. An AI tactical debrief grades six competencies and narrates the two weakest with doctrine-referenced fixes, and a tamper-evident Certificate of Competency can be issued and server-verified.

Control	Action
Records / Stats	Rank, XP, theory progress, unlocks, leaderboards and after-action tools.
Replay / Kill-cam	Scrub the sortie; jump to the strike; review the engagement frame by frame.
AI tactical debrief	Six-competency grade with a spoken, doctrine-referenced hotwash.
Certificate	Issue and verify a signed Certificate of Competency.

WHY IT MATTERSTraining that cannot be measured cannot be managed or certified. An automatic, auditable loop from tasking to a printable gradebook is what lets unit training management prove proficiency, not just claim it.

M103D Content Ingest & Reconstruction

Beyond the global photorealistic model, the platform ingests custom 3D content: import a map area, add and drive imported objects as vehicles, generate terrain from an area, add LIDAR terrain, and apply AI deshadowing. Areas can be cached for offline and air-gapped use.

Control	Action
Import map area	Bring a specific real-world area into the scene.
Add a 3D object / Library	Place models; imported objects can be driven as vehicles.
Add LIDAR terrain	Overlay LIDAR-derived terrain.
Cache area offline	Store an area for disconnected / air-gapped training.

WHY IT MATTERSTurning any area of operations into a range — including a specific, mission-relevant one — is what lets a unit rehearse the actual ground it will operate over.

M11Telemetry, Data & Interoperability

Synthetic training earns its keep when its products map onto real systems. A live MAVLink link ingests telemetry from a real or software-in-the-loop autopilot (ArduPilot / PX4) for hardware-in-the-loop practice and mission rehearsal. Cursor-on-Target output and a full ATAK Data Package (track, markers, debrief) feed the live command-and-control ecosystem, and gamepad and RC-transmitter input mean the trainee flies on the controls they will use. A high-rate telemetry stream, multi-stream EO/IR cameras and MISB KLV metadata are available to integrators through the SDK and network bridge.

Control	Action
Integration panel / SDK	Multi-stream cameras, high-rate telemetry, master-clock sync, object import.
TAK menu	Stream CoT live, export an ATAK Data Package, connect WinTAK / iTAK / ATAK.
Telemetry viewer	Live plots of the flight-model channels.
RC / gamepad	Fly on a real transmitter or controller.

WHY IT MATTERSSkills and products transfer to operations when they plug into the real flight stack and the real C2 picture. MAVLink, CoT/ATAK and real transmitters make the synthetic rep continuous with the live one.

M12Security, Licensing & Deployment

The platform is built to be owned and run by the customer. The whole system runs from a single self-hosted server inside the unit's own secure or air-gapped network, on hardware the unit already owns, with no per-machine install. The customer controls its own licences from an administrative dashboard — issue, list and revoke device-bound keys, each capped at three devices, with per-key activation visibility.

Control	Action
Licence dashboard	Issue / list / revoke keys; see per-key device activations.
Self-hosted server	Runs inside the unit's network or an air-gapped enclave.
Modular deployment	Field only the modules a role requires; enable / disable per deployment.

WHY IT MATTERSA training capability has to be ownable and maintainable by the customer, not perpetually dependent on the vendor — and it has to keep training data inside the perimeter.

3Training Progression — A Three-Stage Curriculum

The content is organised as a progression from individual airmanship to collective operations.

Stage 1 — Essential Training (Flight Fundamentals)

Controls, orientation, throttle and energy management, take-off and landing, emergencies and basic navigation — the stick-and-rudder base, gated and graded.

Stage 2 — Combat Training (Mission Employment)

Weaponeering, EMCON and survival under electronic warfare, ISR and target designation, and the terminal engagement against a reacting adversary.

Stage 3 — Multi-Pilot, Multi-Role Progression (Collective Operations)

Crews and command elements running the coordinated kill chain in a shared battlespace under a commander, with the instructor shaping and grading the exercise.

From foundational airmanship to collective, command-level operations — proven at each stage against the unit's own rubric.

4Keyboard & Control Reference

The complete in-flight control set. All bindings are also reachable from the command palette, and flight can be driven on a gamepad or RC transmitter.

Control	Action
Space	Arm / disarm motors (Shift = keep armed)
WASD	Pitch / roll
◀ ▶	Yaw
▲ ▼	Throttle
B	Arm / safe warhead (Shift = VTX band)
Z	Drop munition (Shift = cycle munition)
L	Target lock / terminal guidance
X	Designate target
J	ISR detection
I	Nav mode: MANUAL / ALT HOLD / POS HOLD
[ ]	Gimbal tilt / VTX power
; ' \	Gimbal pan / recentre
C	First-person / chase camera
T	Thermal · <span class="kbd">N</span> Night vision
H	Return-to-home
G	Drop waypoint
P	Show flight path / trail
Enter	Catapult-launch (fixed-wing)
R	Respawn
3	Minimal / phone OSD
Esc	Exit / close panel
/	Show / hide shortcut hints

5RC Transmitter — Calibration & Action Binding

StratOSphere accepts any USB transmitter or game controller — a RadioMaster Boxer or TX16S, an FrSky radio in joystick mode, or an Xbox/PlayStation pad — through the browser's standard gamepad interface (the same principle as Unreal's RawInput). Bindings are Betaflight-style and are saved per device, so each radio keeps its own map and is auto-loaded on every launch.

Opening the panel

Open the 🎮 RC Controller panel from the Tools menu (or start flying a drone — your sticks take over automatically once mapped). The panel has three parts: a live Receiver monitor, the Channel map, and the Modes (action) list.

The RC Controller panel (Tools / fly a drone to open). The live Receiver monitor shows each raw axis so you can identify which stick drives which channel; the Channel map assigns Throttle, Yaw, Pitch and Roll, with a per-channel reverse. Deadzone removes centre jitter, Trims null residual drift, and your map is saved per device and auto-loaded every launch.

Calibration — step by step

Control	Action
1 · Connect	Put the transmitter in USB Joystick / Game-controller mode and plug it in over USB. Windows must list it under 'Game Controllers'. Click ↻ to refresh, then pick it in Device.
2 · Identify channels	Move each stick and watch the live Receiver bars (Ax0, Ax1 …). Note which axis moves for throttle, yaw, pitch and roll.
3 · Map channels	Set Throttle, Yaw, Pitch and Roll to those axes. Tick 'rev' on any channel that runs backwards.
4 · Deadzone	Raise the Deadzone slider until a centred stick reads zero — this removes jitter and creep.
5 · Trims	Nudge the Throttle/Yaw/Pitch/Roll trims to cancel any residual drift; 'Center' resets them all.
6 · Extra axes	Optionally map a knob to VTX power, a pot to Cam tilt (gimbal pitch) and a pot to ISR zoom.
7 · Save	Press 💾 'Save as my default' — the map, rates and deadzone are stored for that controller and reloaded automatically. '↺ Reset to system' restores the factory defaults.

Binding actions to switches (Modes)

The Modes list assigns app actions to your radio's switches, exactly like a Betaflight modes tab. For each action, choose an AUX channel and the active range (in 1000–2000 µs); the action is live whenever that switch sits inside the range. Actions can also be bound to a button — toggle-type actions latch (press once on, press again off), momentary actions fire on press.

Action binding. Each action is attached to an AUX channel and an active pulse-width range (1000–2000 µs), exactly like a Betaflight mode tab — flick the switch into the range and the action fires. Momentary actions (detonate, respawn) trigger on entry; flight-mode and sensor toggles latch.

Bindable actions include:

Control	Action
Flight	Arm · Angle (self-level) · Acro (rate) · Horizon · Turtle / flip-over · Cycle FPV mode · Return To Home · Respawn
Weaponeering	Payload arming · Command Detonation · Lock-On targeting
Sensors / view	Thermal camera · Night vision · Motion blur · ISR Cine/Normal/Sport · ISR Track: Follow / Orbit / Spotlight / Off
Signal	VTX power up · VTX power down · VTX band (2.4/5.8) · Signal frequency · Beeper

WHY IT MATTERSA trainee should fly on the controls they will use in the field. Mapping a real transmitter — sticks, arm switch, and switch-bound arming, detonation and sensor modes — makes the synthetic repetition continuous with the live one, so muscle memory built here transfers directly to the aircraft.

6Runtime & Deployment — How the System Runs and Supports the Unit

StratOSphere is a thin-client application over a single shared runtime. The runtime hosts a common core — rendering, the real-world 3D world model, the flight-dynamics host, and the event / data / telemetry bus — and every capability area is a self-contained module that plugs into that bus and can be present or absent without affecting the others. This is why a delivery can contain only the modules a unit needs, and why disabled modules expose no controls at all.

How the system runs. The heavy work — rendering the 3D world and the flight model — happens in each trainee's own browser and GPU. The self-hosted server only serves the ~1.6 MB application and relays lightweight collaboration and scoring traffic, so one commodity host serves a whole class (~150). Photoreal terrain streams directly from the tile source to each client. The single GPU-heavy option, 3D reconstruction, can be offloaded to a shared workstation or virtual machine.

Where the work happens

The demanding work — rendering the 3D world and running the flight model — happens in each trainee's own browser and GPU. The self-hosted server only serves the roughly 1.6 MB application and relays lightweight collaboration and scoring traffic; the photoreal terrain streams directly from the tile source to each client rather than through the server. Because the server is not doing the rendering, a small commodity host serves an entire class of about 150 concurrent participants, and better client hardware simply renders more detail — an adaptive performance system tiers each device at start-up and scales resolution, tile detail and HUD redraw in flight to hold a smooth frame rate.

Deployment

Control	Action
Zero client install	Every module runs in a standard WebGL2 browser as a Progressive Web App — no installation, no administrator rights, no per-machine setup. Runs on low-specification laptops and desktops the unit already owns; tablets and phones serve briefing, the coach console and trainee monitoring.
Deployment options	Cloud-hosted, a self-hosted low-latency server (~150 concurrent), or a fully air-gapped enclave — a containerised single-host install behind TLS that stands up quickly.
Self-hosted & secure	The whole platform — application, licence control, multiplayer hub and map data — runs from one server inside the unit's own network or air-gapped enclave, so training data never leaves the perimeter.
Optional 3D offload	The one GPU-heavy task, 3D reconstruction, is optional and can be offloaded to a single shared workstation or virtual machine, keeping every training client light.
Licence control	The customer issues, lists, renames and revokes its own device-bound keys (three devices per key, per-key activation visibility) from an admin-token-protected dashboard — no dependence on the vendor.

WHY IT MATTERSA training capability has to be cheap to distribute, runnable on hardware a unit already owns, and secure inside its own perimeter. A thin client that renders locally and a single self-hosted host that only relays lightweight traffic is exactly what lets one small server put a whole class in the air at once, on- or off-line, without training data ever leaving the unit.

7Quick Start — Your First Sortie

The fastest path from a cold start to a graded strike, end to end.

Enter your licence key at the gate (issued by your unit's administrator).
On the title screen choose Quick Flight (or Open World), then pick a city or type coordinates — the photoreal world streams in around you.
Optional: open the UAV Configurator, choose an airframe, payload category, warhead and fuze. Keep the weight / TWR badge green — a red badge means overloaded and the motors won't arm.
Enter flight. Press Space to arm the motors, throttle up with ▲ to lift off, and fly with WASD (pitch/roll) and ◀▶ (yaw). Press C for the chase view.
To strike: press B to arm the warhead (the banner turns red), put the CCIP pipper on the target and dive — or press Z to release a dropped munition.
Press H to return to home, or R to respawn after a crash.
Open Records → Replay / AI debrief to review the sortie and see your graded result.

Flying on a real transmitter? Map it first in the RC Controller panel (see the RC Transmitter section), then your sticks take over automatically once a drone is active.

8Airframe Catalogue

The selectable fleet spans single-use FPV strike quads, high-speed interceptors, jam-immune fibre-optic drones, ISR/bomber platforms, fixed-wing and VTOL aircraft, long-range one-way-attack munitions, and tracked ground robots. Every airframe flies on the same physics core with its own real specifications; the configurator only offers payloads an airframe can physically lift.

Class	Examples	Mass	Top speed	Role
FPV strike quad	Shpak 10″, FPV Kamikaze 10″, T-BAR 9″, Erebus 7″	0.65–2.2 kg	108–140 km/h	Single-warhead kamikaze; GPS or line-of-sight
Fibre-optic FPV	FPV-PJ Fibre 8″	1.9 kg	90 km/h	Jam-immune wired control; drag/endurance trade-off
Interceptor	Strila, Bagnet, Sting	1.0–3.0 kg	198–342 km/h	High-speed air-to-air drone intercept
ISR / bomber	Vampyr 8″/10″/12″, ISR Mavic-class, Autel-class	0.9–3.4 kg	72–86 km/h	Stabilised EO/IR gimbal; multi-munition drop
Fixed-wing	Recon Fixed-Wing, Bayraktar TB2, Fixed-Wing Strike	3.5–6.5 kg	180–216 km/h	Catapult launch; ISR or strike
VTOL / tiltrotor	VTOL ISR, Vector VTOL	4.0–7.4 kg	86–151 km/h	Vertical launch, wing-borne cruise
Deep-strike OWA	Geran-2, Geran-3 jet, Shahed-136	200–240 kg	184–371 km/h	Long-range one-way attack
Ground UGV	THeMIS Combat / CASEVAC / Carrier	~1.6 t	20–23 km/h	Tracked robot: turret, casualty evacuation, drone carrier

WHY IT MATTERSMatching the platform to the task — a fibre-optic drone into heavy jamming, an interceptor against an inbound UAV, a Vampyr for ISR-then-strike — is itself a trained decision. A broad, physically-honest fleet lets that decision be rehearsed.

9Assessment & Grading

Every sortie is scored automatically and auditably, pass/fail against the unit's own configurable rubric, so proficiency is measured rather than assumed. The AI tactical debrief grades six competencies and narrates the two weakest with doctrine-referenced fixes.

Control	Action
Airmanship	Control smoothness and stability — jerk-free stick work, clean energy management.
EMCON / signature	Emissions discipline — time spent as a bright RF beacon inside enemy EW coverage.
Threat survival	Exposure to SAM/AAA rings, radar lock and jamming; terrain use.
PID & ROE	Positive identification and rules-of-engagement compliance — shoot / no-shoot, engagement authority.
Effectiveness	Results on target — correct aimpoint, aspect and fuzing; kills achieved.
Energy management	Battery, endurance and a distance-aware return-to-home reserve.

Scores roll up to an overall grade and a competency band (Developing → Competent → Proficient → Expert). Fratricide is an overriding failure regardless of other marks. Results are trended per operator with currency tracking, replayed in a structured after-action review, and exportable as xAPI / cmi5 learning records to a Learning Record Store.

10Glossary

Term	Meaning
AGL / MSL	Height Above Ground Level / above Mean Sea Level.
AUW / TWR	All-Up Weight / Thrust-to-Weight ratio (the overload gate uses TWR).
ATAK / CoT	Android Team Awareness Kit / Cursor-on-Target — the live C2 map and its message format.
C2	Command and Control.
CCIP / CCRP	Continuously Computed Impact Point / Release Point — the strike aiming cues.
DF	Direction Finding — locating a transmitter by its emissions.
DRI / Johnson	Detect–Recognise–Identify criteria for how many pixels a sensor needs on a target.
EMCON	Emission Control — managing your electromagnetic signature.
EO / IR / FLIR	Electro-Optical / Infrared / Forward-Looking Infrared (thermal) imaging.
GNSS / INS	Global Navigation Satellite System / Inertial Navigation System (the GPS-denied fallback).
HPM	High-Power Microwave — a counter-UAS effector.
ISR	Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance.
MANPADS	Man-Portable Air-Defence System (a shoulder-launched SAM).
MAVLink	The telemetry / command protocol used by ArduPilot and PX4 autopilots.
OWA	One-Way Attack — a long-range loitering / kamikaze munition.
PID	Positive Identification (of a target as a valid, hostile object).
PWA	Progressive Web App — the installable, offline-capable browser delivery.
ROE	Rules of Engagement.
RTH	Return To Home.
SEAD	Suppression of Enemy Air Defences.
VRS	Vortex Ring State — settling into your own downwash in a fast vertical descent.
VTX	Video Transmitter (its power sets both video range and your RF signature).

11Troubleshooting & FAQ

Control	Action
Controller isn't detected	Put the transmitter in USB Joystick / Game-controller mode; confirm Windows lists it under 'Game Controllers', open the RC Controller panel, press ⟳ and move a stick.
It won't arm / motors won't spin	The airframe is overloaded — the weight badge is red (TWR below ~1.12). Reduce the warhead or battery in the configurator until the badge clears.
The world is blank or slow to load	Photoreal terrain streams from the tile source, so it needs network access (or a cached / air-gapped build). Give the tiles a moment to stream in around the spawn point.
My position is drifting / GPS looks wrong	You are in a GPS-denied area. Press <span class="kbd">I</span> to cycle MANUAL → ALT HOLD → POS HOLD and navigate by terrain and visual references; the barometer drifts a realistic ±2–3 m in ALT HOLD.
The flight 'moved' when I changed location	By design it stays anchored to its true geographic position across a relocation. Use the 'Bring flight here' button on the prompt if you want it moved to the new area.
I don't see the newest update	The app is an offline-capable PWA with a service-worker cache. Hard-refresh (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+R) or reopen it to pick up the latest build.
Some text is still in English	The interface toggles between English, Polish, German, Dutch and Ukrainian; the core UI is translated and deeper training content is being extended language by language.