Adopting New Technologies and Business Models to Deliver Innovative Training Solutions in an Increasingly Competitive Global Military Training and Simulation Market
The global military training and simulation (T&S) market is witnessing a growing shift away from traditional live methodologies towards a more blended environment, with T&S contracts becoming imbedded within platform procurement (aircraft and vehicle) contracts. Several Western countries have already started implementing live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) visions in T&S, facilitating the evolution of training environments through multiphased projects involving multiple defence and commercial industry participants. Although live training will still be predominantly used by Armed Forces globally, the adoption of virtual and constructive simulation is expected to increase during the forecast period. There will also be a growing emphasis on blended synthetic architectures through LVC solutions and an increasing demand for LVC networked architectures that are interoperable with existing systems. However, the integration of legacy systems with these new architectures will come with certain challenges.
High operational tempos and stretched defence budgets have resulted in the need for new business models for cost reduction. The Training as a Service (TaaS) model will increasingly become prevalent, especially in the air domain where the delta between military and civil aircraft is small. This will usher in greater market opportunities for new entrants that can leverage these novel business models rather than traditional T&S offerings.
Commercially developed technologies are increasingly becoming relevant for T&S in the defence industry and displacing traditional T&S technology leaders. Particularly, developments in the video gaming industry are paving the way for technologies that allow for greater levels of visual fidelity in T&S systems (such as Bohemia Interactive Simulations’ Virtual Battlespace 3). The proliferation of commercial off-the-shelf technologies (COTS) will further increase market competition. Technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality will play a greater role in the T&S market as they mature. As T&S solutions become more mobile to meet the demands of global force deployments, the role of material science and technologies in different industries will become increasingly important. These will facilitate a decrease in the size, weight, and power requirements of T&S systems. Traditional T&S companies will need to adapt to and integrate these COTS technologies in order to stay relevant in this evolving market environment.
This study delves into the key trends in the T&S market, identifies the drivers and constraints, and sheds light on the competitive landscape and evolving market share of major participants. Based on a thorough analysis, it seeks to generate a forecast for the global market, identifying future opportunities for T&S systems across the land, maritime, and air domains.
