DST – The Way Ahead For Multi Domain Operational Training

Around 18 months ago, MS&T’s Dim Jones visited the Air Battlespace Training Centre (ABTC) at RAF Waddington to report on progress in implementing Gladiator, the UK’s Distributed Synthetic Training system (Gladiator Steps Into the Distributed Synthetic Training Arena | Halldale Group).

NATO Commitment to DST

In Brussels on 17th October 2025, Defence ministers from 18 Allied Nations signed a Letter of Intent, developing multinational cooperation on Distributed Synthetic Training (DST). 

This initiative: 

“aims to respond to the ever-growing demand for virtual training at the multinational level. It establishes a network of advanced and immersive multinational training capabilities for militaries, with the aim of delivering regular and frequent access to high-quality, and immersive operational training at the team, collective, joint and coalition levels”; 

It clearly demonstrates that NATO is getting serious about DST, and is the culmination of years of work by the NATO Modelling and Simulation Group (NMSG). The UK’s contribution to this network is Gladiator and, during the week of 10th November, ABTC hosted Exercise ATHENA DRAGON, tasked by Allied Air Command as part of an annual training programme to which ABTC is committed. 

ATHENA DRAGON was an Air Land Integration exercise delivering the integration of fires in the joint battlespace. Due to the high quality of training which can only be delivered in the synthetic Gladiator environment, there will now be a series of follow-on exercises to a wider training audience.

What is Gladiator (and what is it not)?

Clearly NATO have got the message about the capabilities and cost-effectiveness of DST. The key message is that Gladiator is not a simulator, but rather provides a synthetic environment and acts as a hub into which players can plug their own simulators, and can also connect to other hubs. 

Progress in developing the system over the past 18 months has been steady, if not as rapid as desired. The system architecture and contracting arrangements with partner Boeing UK have proved very effective, and the latest software update (JAVELIN) is progressing well, and will confer a quantum increase in capability.

Connectivity

Rivet Joint is connected, and the first 4 F-35 Effects-Based Simulators (EBS), known as FENIX, are up and running at RAF Marham, with 4 more to follow next year. These will connect to Gladiator through the JMINIAN hub, and also to the US F-35 force at RAF Lakenheath. 

Other NATO F-35 forces (Norway, The Netherlands, Denmark and Italy) are also looking at FENIX and could train together as a NATO F-35 force.  Within UK, work continues to connect with the Typhoon Synthetic Training (TST) system, although there have been technical issues to be worked through and the TST focus has been on achieving IOC.  

Further connections are planned with E-7 Wedgetail, P-8 Poseidon and Protector UAV, as is inclusion of Air C2 Force at RAF Boulmer, who should join in early 2026. Gladiator is UKMoD owned, including Foreground Intellectual Property Rights, entities and their capabilities, and the system architecture, and these can be shared with whomever the MoD chooses.  

The synthetic environment (VR Forces from MAK) is COTS, and ABTC is buying Enterprise Licences. The unique risk-sharing contractor-customer relationship between ABTC and industry partner Boeing UK, has been a success.

Air-Land Integration

When I first visited ABTC in 2010, the emphasis was on Air-Land Integration (ALI) training, specifically for Afghanistan and aimed at the tactical level down to TACP/FAC. 

Gladiator hitherto has been focused on Combat Air but, in the margins of ATHENA DRAGON, staff from the Joint Air-Land Organisation (JALO) and the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), and ALOs from around the UK have been exploring how Gladiator might be used to train at Command, Operational and Tactical levels; the current thinking appears to be that Land only needs to exercise command and decision functions in this environment, and that elements such as TACP/FAC, Armour and AH can train in isolation. 

The Joint Fires Synthetic Training (JFST) system is up and running at Larkhill and elsewhere, and connectivity to Gladiator is proven. A couple of issues - operating system and security - require resolution. JFST works at Official Sensitive level, whereas Gladiator is mostly Secret; this will require enhanced security at JFST facilities. In order to provide the required visual fidelity, JFST uses VBS software, whereas Gladiator, not requiring such detail, uses VR Forces. 

These two operating systems (OS) would need to be reconciled, such that each can use whichever best suits its needs; this is surely not beyond the wit of man. All OSs must be JSP939-compliant in order to compete for funding.

Multi-Domain Operations

One of Gladiator’s key capabilities, and a driver behind NATO DST, is Multi-Domain Operations. In the UK, Air has been leading the field, with Land some lengths behind but in hot pursuit; JFST is but an element of the Army’s Collective Training Transformation Programme (CTTP). 

The Maritime domain equivalent is the Maritime Operational Training Environment (MOTE), subdivided into Project Apollo (live) and Project Spartan (synthetic). Curiously, the RN’s Maritime Composite Training System (MCTS) is not part of Spartan, and is not planned to connect more widely; I have no doubt that there is a cogent reason. 

Tranche 1 of Spartan embraces Maritime Command & Staff Training (MCAST); Tranche 2 is developing a synthetic hub to deliver collective training, which parallels Gladiator, with the addition of Undersea Warfare and Maritime-Specific functions. Outwith the UK, Gladiator has already demonstrated its capacity by running the night phases of a massive US DST exercise.

In sum, then, Gladiator represents both a significant, not to say essential, potential capability and excellent value for money, but has to compete for funding with other capabilities in the defence budget, all of which are deemed essential to train for and deliver operational effect.