Modern military operations demand that Allied forces train together long before they deploy together.
Increasingly, that preparation is taking place in sophisticated digital environments where personnel from multiple nations can participate in the same exercise while remaining in their respective countries. Known as Distributed Synthetic Training (DST), this approach connects training systems, simulation environments and operational networks to create realistic, collaborative exercises that would be difficult—or in many cases impossible—to replicate through traditional live training alone.
As NATO places greater emphasis on interoperability and collective readiness, the ability to connect national training environments has become increasingly important for preparing forces for modern coalition operations.
Earlier this year, the Canadian Armed Forces participated in the first official NATO Distributed Synthetic Training activity, a milestone that successfully connected Canadian and UK training environments within a shared synthetic battlespace. Recognized as a NATO High Visibility Project, the activity marked an important step toward strengthening interoperability and expanding how Allied nations prepare for future operations.
Supporting the Directorate of Land Command Systems Program Management (DLCSPM)-led activity were ADGA employees Jean-Pierre Cuerrier, Product Owner for the Virtual Training and Experimentation Network (VTEN), Leif Gruenwoldt, Communications Exercise Lead, and Jonathan Brockman, Product Owner for the Mobile Domain Vehicle Trainer (MDVT).
“Distributed synthetic training is helping transform how Allied forces prepare, collaborate, and build readiness for future operations”
Connecting Allied Training Environments
Working alongside partners from the Canadian Army Doctrine and Training Centre (CADTC), the Canadian Army Simulation Centre (CASC), the Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC) and the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (UK MOD), our team contributed to the network architecture, technical integration, coordination, and execution required to connect the participating training environments.
“This was a proof-of-concept activity designed to connect NATO training networks for the first time in a shared training environment,” said Cuerrier. “Successfully bridging those systems demonstrated what’s possible as Allied nations continue building more connected approaches to collective training.”
Achieving that objective required close collaboration across multiple organizations while overcoming technical, security, and operational challenges associated with connecting national training networks. Architectural design, governance considerations, security policies and coordination across different organizations and time zones all had to be addressed while minimizing impacts on existing training activities.
The successful execution of the activity demonstrated that complex multinational training can be conducted across distributed synthetic environments while maintaining the technical and operational standards required by participating nations.
Building the Foundation
While this activity focused on connecting training environments for a specific NATO event, it also reflects a broader evolution taking place across defence. Modern training increasingly depends on interoperable digital ecosystems capable of integrating multiple platforms, organizations and nations into a single training enterprise. Building those environments requires not only advanced simulation technologies, but also the systems integration, governance and technical expertise to connect them securely and effectively.
Beyond the immediate exercise, the achievement establishes an important foundation for future NATO collaboration.
By enabling geographically dispersed forces to train together in increasingly realistic digital environments, Distributed Synthetic Training expands opportunities to rehearse multinational operations, explore more complex scenarios and strengthen interoperability before forces deploy. It also reduces many of the logistical, environmental and financial challenges associated with conducting large-scale live exercises while providing greater flexibility to introduce new capabilities as they emerge.
As NATO advances Distributed Synthetic Training, activities like this illustrate what the next generation of collective training will require: secure connections between national systems, technical architectures designed for interoperability and close coordination across military and industry teams. They also demonstrate the Canadian expertise that is helping to build training environments that can expand as new partners, technologies and operational requirements are introduced.