The US Army has awarded Florida-based Serious Simulations a $28-million deal to develop simulated grenades and mines for training.
The new training grenades and mines look and feel like the real thing, complete with authentic parts such as a spoon, pull ring, and safety clip for grenades, and a firing device, wire spool, and bandoleer for the Claymore kit. But instead of explosives, the munition bodies contain Serious Simulations’ patented proximity technology.
When deployed, the devices calculate their distance to nearby soldiers or vehicles and determine whether they would realistically be hit, killed, or unaffected. They also factor in obstacles, reinforcing the value of taking cover.
Each result is instantly sent to a Universal Receiver Unit worn by soldiers or mounted on vehicles, which logs “damage” outcomes in real time and feeds them into the Army’s Synthetic Training Environment.
US Army Synthetic Training Environment Live Training Systems (STE LTS) product manager Michael Powell said that these training systems help fill a “long-standing training gap that persisted in live force-on-force training for these close combat weapon systems.”
Why Simulated Grenades and Mines?
In the past, armed forces worldwide have had to rely on improvised training devices — such as tennis balls, pine cones, rocks, sandbags with chemical lights, or hard rubber replicas — to roughly simulate grenades during live exercises.
For instance, the Massachusetts National Guard notes that training aids are devices that help prepare soldiers for the rigors of combat since they create the stress and confusion associated with realistic battle conditions.
The US Army has also engaged in virtual training. In July 2025, it introduced the use of haptics technology in its STE LTS, which involves wearable devices that transmit vibrations and forces to simulate touch during combat training.
Serious Simulations, a veteran-owned small business, first entered a prototype refinement contract with the US Army in 2023 to adapt its patented proximity technology for grenades and mines to meet specific Army requirements.
Serious Simulations CEO Christopher Chambers stated that the recent contract would enable them to improve the development of high-tech solutions for training gaps, allowing for “achieving higher volume production.”
“We also expect to grow the reach of our Proximity technology to benefit other training devices such as UAS, IED, anti-tank, and anti-personnel mines,” he said.
