Soldiers at Fort Riley will be spending more time in simulators and computer training centers and less in the hills of northeast Kansas as they hone their skills in the coming months.

Brig. Gen. Donald MacWillie said Friday the changes are part of the 1st Infantry Division's strategy to cope with automatic cuts in federal spending. MacWillie says the cuts are forcing unit leaders to be more creative in how they schedule training and make the most of reduced budgets.

Fort Riley has the capability to train using simulators and virtual training centers in part because of new facilities built since 2006.

MacWillie says soldiers and helicopter pilots will do more of such training, but will still get in the field and air to finalize training before deploying to war.