The training and simulation market will continue to grow and evolve as governments move away from a reliance on live training towards greater adoption of virtual and constructive systems. The training and simulation market has been resilient in the face of the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the need for social distancing led to a decline in the demand for live training sessions, it also led to an increase in the adoption of virtual solutions. The training and simulation market continues to be an enthusiastic adopter of commercial off-the-shelf technologies as the commercial industry has developed technologies faster and at more affordable costs than the defense industry. This has led to the entry of several non-traditional companies into this market. Microsoft, for instance, is providing Hololens, a virtual reality headset system, for the United States Army’s training needs. There is also a greater adoption of commercial gaming technologies in military training sessions.

The base year for this report is 2020, and the forecast period is from 2021 to 2029. The report explores the changing trends in the defense training and simulation market as affected by the changing geopolitical landscape, economic turbulence, and developments in military doctrine. The report covers these changes at a macro global level. Specific regional and country changes are not reflected. A key component of the report is the investigation of technological developments (like cross reality, haptic feedback, and commercial game engine technologies) that will have an impact on the training and simulation market and affect future capabilities.

Future expectations covered in the report include the prioritization of rapid prototyping and development cycles with upgrades through software packages to reduce the overhead costs of upgrading physical training systems. Another trend observed is the gradual adoption of live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) blended architectures and strategies, with a strong focus on the upgrade and integration of legacy training systems. The United States will continue to be the main innovator in the adoption and direction of new training doctrines, with other NATO countries and allies following suit. With global tensions on high and the nature of warfare shifting towards a hybrid model, training and simulation requirements are also shifting, with a reprioritization of capability development. This can lead to a greater focus on cyber and electromagnetic activities (CEMA) as Western countries fall behind the capabilities of Russia and China that are both very active in the CEMA domain. This will require training and simulation systems to include these capabilities in order to keep pace with developments within military organizations.