More than 300 soldiers have this week been battling across the Waiouru Army training area, their individual fates in the hands of a skilled "enemy" force and a tracking system called Tess.
Tess, the Tactical Engagement Simulation System, is a New Zealand-made laser system attached to weapons and soldiers.
Captain Colin Huston, the Army's chief of live and virtual simulation, has been overseeing the preparation and monitoring of more than 600 Tess units.
Only now that New Zealand's East Timor commitment is reducing are troops becoming available for sizeable field exercises to test it.
Tess uses a laser projector attached to the muzzle of the weapon, each firing a uniquely signatured invisible beam.
When a soldier is "shot", the shooter's signature is recorded and the victim must lie down to stop the unit beeping. The victim's own weapon will no longer fire.
At the end of the exercise the Tess co-ordinator needs mere seconds, using a pistol-grip reader the troops already call "the God gun", to find who shot who and when.
- NZPA
Further reading
nzherald.co.nz/defence
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