Military training, Primes and SMEs

As simulators have taken an increasingly prominent role in military training since the 1980s, their complexity – and cost – has also changed. Buying, operating and maintaining those systems has become too expensive for militaries to run themselves and commercial partners have slowly but steadily grown their own role in the process. Over the past 20 years, defence primes have brought out independent training providers and taken over many of these contracts but SMEs are providing in increasingly important role. These small boutique companies provide specialist knowledge to the commercial giants, in data analytics or gaming level VR, and play an important role as disruptors in keeping both the military and defence primes honest: Provided the prime has a culture that accepts and sees the need for these behaviours. Peter talks to Alan Roan, co-founder of Cervus and a veteran from the British Army, about where an SME fits into the commercial provision of military training.