U.S., U.K. Forces Use Virtual Summer Exercises to Go the Distance

Exercising staff during Exercise Virtual Warrior 2026, which ran July 6-17, 2026. Royal Navy photo The U.S. military and U.K’s Royal Navy have conducted separate virtual exercises throughout the summer, simulating large scale operations with partner nations across the globe.

Valiant Shield 2026 saw live U.S. pilots, high-fidelity virtual simulators and constructive computer-generated forces operate together in realistic scenarios across air, land, sea, space and cyber domains, according to a news release last week from Andersen Air Base in Guam. The virtual exercise linked key command and control and operational nodes across the Pacific and beyond with the high-end integration enabled by the U.S. Pacific Command J7 Pacific Multi-Domain Training and Experimentation Capability.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Norman “Fuse” Hitosis, 36th Wing Weapons Officer, lead for the Guam defense line of effort during VS26, said the live, virtual, and constructive environment provided unparalleled training that overcame the tyranny of distance inherent in the US PACOM area of responsibility.

“Being out on the remote and forward edge, I simply don’t have the robust range infrastructure I had back in [continental U.S.] ranges. However, what I do have here are PMTEC-funded virtual and constructive capabilities, which serves to enhance joint training and rehearsals for the Joint Force in Guam,” said Hitosis.

During VS26, forces conducted an integrated air and missile defense scenario, which, for the first time, saw joint training audiences coordinating 360-degree Guam defense operations that integrated solutions from the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, Missile Defense Agency and industry partners, according to the release. In collaboration with the Guam Defense System Joint Program Office, PMTEC leveraged synthetic environments to present realistic threats, such as ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, allowing participants to rehearse and refine tactics, techniques and procedures in a cost-effective, adaptive setting, reads the release.

The live, virtual and constructive environment enabled linked U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, and U.S. Air Force personnel thousands of miles apart to be trained and briefed side by side in the Andersen Air Force Base Installation Control Center.

“You think about the defense of Guam, it’s a joint fight,” said Foust. “How do I get aircraft on and off the runway, flying through ground-based air defense? How do we coordinate engagements and adjust attrition and maintenance while maintaining combat effectiveness? Now everyone is in the same room working the problem together.”

The live, virtual and constructive architecture, joint environment and industry-forward capabilities in VS26 supported several other firsts during the exercise, such as the first virtual training contribution originating from Japan into VS26 through the use of the F-35 effects-based simulator. The exercise saw pilots from the 35th Fighter Wing at Misawa Air Base operating simulated fifth-generation aircraft, enabling complex mission rehearsal without leaving the hangar by utilizing the U.S. Air Force’s Simulator Common Architecture Requirements and Standards (SCARS).

Computer-generated, semi-autonomous loyal wingmen entities that extend the reach and lethality of crewed aircraft and replicate realistic crewed-uncrewed teaming was contributed by the Collaborative Combat Aircraft Program Office, enabling the first ever live and virtual collaborative combat aircraft live fly test and exercise integration, demonstrating how distributed fifth-generation aircrew can train against pacing threats with maximum realism west of the International Date Line.

“By combining the virtual F-35 effects-based simulator with constructive collaborative combat aircraft, they executed contested, all-domain scenarios that are otherwise difficult to replicate through live training alone,” reads the release.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. John “Butcher” Widmer, commander of the 13th Fighter Squadron, said that the ability to plug into the Guam fight from Japan carried immediate operational value, given that the fighter aircraft based at Misawa are part of the first line of defense against aggression in the region. Networking simulators at Misawa also allows pilots to train with off-station units and controllers at Guam without the cost and disruption of temporary duty travel, Widmer said.

AI was also used as part of the virtual simulation efforts, with the Joint All Domain Artificial Intelligence replacing reliance on extensive manual control of the simulated environment, which required numerous personnel to operate. JAD-AI generated intelligent agents that autonomously control entities across an all-domain, large-scale live, virtual and constructive simulation with each agent drawing on a library of tactical behaviors to express the most realistic activity possible, producing a far more complex adversarial and friendly force picture than traditional methods could achieve, reads the release.

VS26 marked the culmination of PMTEC’s initial four-year campaign to link ranges, resources, and warfighters across the U.S. Pacific Command area of responsibility through a virtual training architecture, stated the release.

The synthetic architecture means that complex, realistic training is no longer restricted by geographic limitations, constrained airspace, or the massive costs of deploying physical assets, said PMTEC Project Manager Dr. Andre Stridiron.

“Whether they [the warfighter] are a pilot coordinating with semi-autonomous wingmen, an air defender tracking simulated ballistic missiles, or a cyber operator defending critical networks, service members in the Pacific theater can rehearse high-end, all-domain operations from their home stations with the exact systems they would use in combat,” Stridiron said.

Exercising staff during Exercise Virtual Warrior 2026, which ran July 6-17, 2026. Royal Navy photo On the other side of the world, the Royal Navy validated the initial operating capability of its Maritime Command and Staff Trainer (MCAST) during the service’s Exercise Virtual Warrior 26 that ran from July 6-17 at Rollestone Camp, Salisbury Plain, United Kingdom.

According to a Royal Navy news release, MCAST reached IOC 11 months ahead of schedule and that the exercise, involving 240 Royal Navy staff, conducted a war scenario set in the High North. The exercise was delivered by defense company QinetiQ and its subsidiary Inzpire, whose team of veterans designed and refereed the scenarios in conjunction with the Royal Navy.

The MCAST system can simulate scenarios that would be impossible or unsafe to replicate in a live exercise, including casualties, logistical failures and breakdowns in command and control with NATO partners, according to the release. The system also compresses time, enabling scenarios that would take days to play out at sea to be reset overnight, allowing commanders to face the same situation with less fuel, fewer resources and greater complexity the following day. The synthetic battlespace operates at up to Secret classification across more than 100 user terminals, allowing those under training to use their real operational software.

MCAST sits at the heart of the First Sea Lord’s Royal Navy Ready Plan, reads the release. The service aims for a roughly even split between live and synthetic training by the end of the decade, with full operating capability for the system expected within approximately two years.

The focus on synthetic virtual training by the U.S. and U.K. are a result of the current limited force structure coupled with intensive ongoing operations, with its demands on personnel and assets preventing the large-scale congregation of units and assets for exercises.

The first Valiant Shield in 2006 saw participation of three U.S Navy Carrier Strike Groups while only the George Washington CSG participated in VS26. At the same time, increased operational engagement ranges for ships, aircraft and weapons platforms means simulating long range engagements in reality will require vast spaces for such training, making it virtually impossible in densely populated areas such as Western Europe. As such, synthetic training capable of simulating theater-level engagements and networking forces from widely spread home bases have become increasingly important for large scale operational training.