Rheinmetall-led next-gen training solution wins EU backing

19th October 2023 - 15:51 GMT | by The Shephard News Team in London

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FEDERATES will support the joint procurement and bundling of simulation resources.

The FEDERATES consortium will aim to create a distributed synthetic simulation environment, fostering collaboration in a networked digital ecosystem similar to NATO's MSaaS.

The Federated Ecosystem of European Simulation Assets for Training and Decision Support (FEDERATES) consortium, headed by Germany's Rheinmetall, has been backed by €30 million (US$31.7 million) worth of funding from the EU to implement a synthetic training solution prototype.

The training system, referred to as the distributed synthetic simulation environment by the consortium, draws on different simulation resources linked via a common-network infrastructure.

Rheinmetall noted in an 18 October statement that the aim of the solution was to allow EU member states to pool their resources and use them in a networked digital ecosystem – similar to NATO’s Modelling and Simulation as a Service (MSaaS).

Once established, FEDERATES will use the simulation environment to integrate and jointly use existing resources such as simulators, training systems and advanced technologies such as AI, cloud technologies and VR in simulated environments across all military domains. The company has not specified the country's solutions it plans to leverage, nor has it mentioned any precise systems.

FEDERATES comprises 32 companies from 14 EU member states and Norway, with the core team consisting of Rheinmetall, France’s Thales, Leonardo from Italy, Spain's Indra Sistemas and Hungary’s HM EI. The group also incorporates SMEs, large organisations, research facilities and universities.

Group coordinator Rheinmetall said: ‘FEDERATES will support the joint procurement and bundling of simulation resources, as well as the formation of a new marketplace for corresponding services.

‘This will result in improved availability and shorter construction times, culminating in lower costs, greater access to training and faster development of future solutions.’