Selborne Targets 30-Day Training Updates as Royal Navy Accelerates Warfighting

Project Selborne, the Royal Navy's £1.26 billion programme to modernise shore-based training, is preparing for its next phase with a renewed focus on warfighting readiness, networked simulation and rapidly updating training to reflect operational lessons.

Speaking during a media briefing at Portsdown Technology Park, prime contractor Capita and simulation specialist Metaverse VR outlined how Epoch 3 of the programme, due to begin in April 2027, is being shaped by the Royal Navy's evolving operational priorities and the UK's recently published Defence Investment Plan.

Launched in 2021, Selborne brings together what were previously 27 separate Royal Navy training contracts into a single enterprise supporting around 80% of shore-based individual training across 14 establishments. The programme combines instructors, digital learning and advanced simulation to train everyone from new recruits to senior officers.

A central objective for the next phase is to reduce the time taken to translate operational experience into updated training to just 30 days. Drawing on lessons from current conflicts, including Ukraine, the Royal Navy wants new tactics and procedures incorporated into training far more quickly than has traditionally been possible, ensuring personnel are prepared for rapidly evolving threats.

The programme is also adapting to the Royal Navy's vision of a "hybrid Navy", in which conventionally crewed ships operate alongside autonomous and uncrewed systems. This shift is expected to require new skills across the fleet and place greater emphasis on connected, digitally enabled training environments.

One of Selborne's key technology partners is Portsmouth-based SME Metaverse VR. The company has grown alongside the programme after Capita and the Royal Navy took the unusual step of funding dedicated test and reference simulators, allowing software to be continuously developed and validated without disrupting operational training systems. That approach has enabled rapid spiral development across eleven simulator installations.

The programme's bridge simulators demonstrate this philosophy. Rather than waiting for a bespoke solution, the Royal Navy adopted an off-the-shelf Kongsberg KSIM bridge simulator as an "80% solution", allowing training to begin immediately before capability was expanded through regular software updates. According to Capita, more than £10 million of equipment was procured within six months, with the simulators subsequently doubling navigation training capacity.

The 270-degree bridge trainers recreate operational environments ranging from UK coastal waters to strategic choke points including the Strait of Hormuz and the Strait of Gibraltar. They support training from initial officer instruction at Britannia Royal Naval College through to command qualification, while offering a level of repeatability impossible to achieve through live sea training alone.

Looking ahead, Selborne's developers are increasingly focused on connected simulation. Demonstrations showed bridge trainers networked with operations room and machinery simulators, with an ambition to link training across multiple Royal Navy sites. Longer term, the vision includes submarine crews training virtually from HMNB Clyde alongside surface forces, with individual simulation eventually integrating into the Royal Navy's collective training environment, Spartan.

The team is also exploring AI-assisted coaching to provide trainees with additional navigation feedback outside instructor-led sessions. The technology is intended to support instructors rather than replace them.

Although Selborne is contracted to run until 2033, planning for its successor has already begun. With no extension options built into the current agreement, work is under way to avoid a capability gap while ensuring the next generation of naval training retains the programme's emphasis on rapid software updates, connected simulation and the ability to respond quickly to emerging operational requirements.

Reference
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-10-10/59437