Calian continues to expand its presence in Europe delivering Training and Simulation for defence customers

Calian is a reliable, global defence partner for Canada, NATO, and its allies, supporting military readiness with its renowned cutting-edge military training services. 

As a global military training leader, Calian uses a blend of technology solutions, modelling and simulation, and the experience and expertise of its international team to design, develop, and deliver training to meet NATO’s training objectives. Calian’s proven technology makes developing and delivering computer aided exercises in a common synthetic training environment, possible. Using NATO-standard methods and approaches for training development and delivery, Calian integrates subject matter experts with deep military experience and industry-leading simulation technologies to design, develop and deliver cost-effective training experiences. 

Live training field training is essential for unit-level readiness training and is an increasingly expensive option. Simulation training can help forces maximize their training budgets by providing realistic, immersive training in synthetic environments. Simulation-based training allows units to work as a team in a synthetic environment, in preparation of deploying to the field for live training. This allows for joint and multinational training at a fraction of the cost.  

Calian has been delivering training for NATO for fifteen years, delivering over 75 large-scale exercises. Over the years the Calian team has supported large, complex NATO exercises, providing subject matter experts, scenario developers, and master events lists. Given NATO's increased focus on readiness post-Ukraine invasion, these exercises are crucial for joint and multinational operations, including the integration of air, land and sea forces working together in all domains including space, cyber and information domains.

To expand Calian’s range of training solutions and to establish a larger presence in the United Kingdom, Calian acquired Mabway for up to $41m. Mabway is leader for supporting large military exercise with role-playing environments that simulate real-world situations, and also deliver technical and engineering education for maritime forces.  With over a decade of experience supporting British Army training exercises, the acquisition of Mabway brings new capabilities and new possibilities for Calian in the British, European and Middle East defence markets.

Calian is also winning contracts with existing clients to continue providing exercise and training support. Recently, the Calian team won a contract for a long-term contract at the NATO Joint Force Training Centre in Bydgoszcz, Poland to support the LOYAL LEDA series of exercises. Calian was selected to provide a team to support master events list and main events list strategy, incident development and scripting workshops, and providing direct support to the exercise control training and execution phases. Calian will provide subject matter experts with experience from a range of backgrounds including government, non-governmental organizations (NGO), and international organizations. Calian has delivered support the LOYAL LEDA exercises since 2020 and are pleased to be continuing this legacy of delivery. Calian also expanded into new areas of work for NATO in 2024, winning a contract with NATO Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) to develop and conduct chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) training, with evaluation and training support components. This project will support NATO’s CBRN defence capability by improving readiness for the unthinkable in the case of major conflict.

With leading-edge technology solutions, Calian has expanded training offerings to meet the evolving needs of NATO and its member countries. Calian has consistently worked alongside NATO at the JWC, ACT and across ACO to find solutions that offer the best value to NATO; adapting to changes to ensure the right services are provided in the most effective and efficient ways possible.  As ‘Mission Partners’, the Calian team see the demand increase for theirrealistic and immersive military training across member states of NATO who require integrated end-to-end training solutions.

To design, develop and deliver large-scale exercises, Calian relies on MaestroEDE. MaestroEDE allows training leaders to design, develop and deliver simulation-based training in a common synthetic environment. MaestroEDE streamlines planning, enhances training outcomes, and centralizes data with a user-friendly interface. It fosters real-time feedback and collaboration, accommodating participants from any organization. Additionally, its AI Chatbot automates exercise content generation, reducing human effort and accelerating development for greater agility. Using AI, Calian has massively reduced the timeline and effort required to develop training.

In the NATO context, interoperability is essential. Many NATO-member nations have their own proprietary training and operational systems that are not necessarily compatible with those of their allies.  To address this challenge, Calian uses the Virtual Command and Control Interface (VCCI). VCCI is a purpose-built interoperability solution that is continuously updated. VCCI is already fully interoperable with many simulation systems used in NATO and is being used to connect operational communications and ISR systems into large headquarters. Calian’s audio distribution service (ADS), is delivering system-agnostic connectivity of field radios, allowing leaders to see and contact any callsign in the network. ADS also has voice-to-text capability, turning audio radio calls into text on screen in a headquarters. With translation capability, the language barrier is reduced with voice translated into different languages in text. ADS reduces the volume and distraction in a busy headquarters, facilitating clear communications, passage of information and enabling faster decision-making. VCCI and ADS connect simulation and operational systems to deliver a real “train-as-you-fight” experience.

For individual-level training, Calian delivers augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) solutions to offer immersive, interactive training tailored to specific job roles, complete with realistic voice procedures. This approach provides a cost-effective alternative to live training, with reduced risk of injury. Immersive environments allow trainees to learn from mistakes, enhancing the training experience. Using AR and VR, Calian provides immersive, interactive training that engages the training audience throughout the process. The Calian trainers are tailored to the processes and protocols of a specific job role and integrate the necessary voice procedure and syntax to provide maximum realism. Immersing the training audience in a virtual environment provides a very cost-effective alternative to relying on live training alone and does so with much lower risk of injury. Immersive environments allow trainees to make mistakes and learn from them, increasing the learning value of training.

Innovation drives the development of new solutions and expanding the range of what we deliver for customers and provides new possibilities for the broader defence community. Calian recently launched an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant capability for developing scenarios and writing traffic for large, complex military exercise. The AI capability allows content to be generated automatically and then reviewed by experience human operators. This technology has vastly reduced the amount of effort required to develop exercises, delivering greater agility to military customers. 

Calian’s commitment to our customers and to the defence community is being recognized. This year Canadian Defence Review (CDR) recognized Calian’s successes in defence by ranking us 21^st in their Top 100 Defence Companies in Canada. Companies are ranked on their economic impact, research and development (R&D) initiatives, innovation, contribution to Canada’s national security, domestic and international contract wins, excellence in management and overall support for Canada’s military. Calian’s CEO Kevin Ford was also recognized by CDR this year at the Defence Executive of the Year for his leadership in building Calian’s presence in the defence market in Canada.

At Calian, we have a global mindset and a commitment to delivering solutions for customers around the world. In 2024 we have sustained momentum on delivering defence programs for existing customers and expanded our commitments across the defence community. We are also expanding our ambitions with new innovations for defence customers, delivering solutions in new subject matter areas, and securing acquisitions with new capabilities in global markets. We continue to grow globally while meeting or exceeding our customer’s expectations.