The US Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded Electronic Warfare Associates (EWA) a $248.2m contract for naval simulation training.
The California-based deep-tech small business is tasked with researching, designing, developing and providing associated engineering in support of battlespace simulation and distributed simulation requirements for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division’s Integrated Battlespace Simulation and Test Department.
These efforts include research, development, and maintenance of battlespace simulation tools and their application to specific customer requirements, research and development of warfare scenarios, development and integration of battlespace entity models and behaviours, and support for delivered battlespace products.
Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in May 2028.
Private sector solutions
The US defence sector has placed enormous value on its industrial partners within the US, where technology start-ups are stepping up to deliver innovative solutions for the US military. In fact, the President’s 2024 fiscal year budget, published in March 2023, asstered its intention of “investing in American innovation and industries that will define the future.”
Recently, a report found that the DoD needs to create a level playing field for subcontractors and small businesses when they compete for defence contracts. We can expect this to be increasingly easy over the next decade as technology start-ups are providing the US military with a solutions-focus, rather than a product-focus. EWA is one of these emerging small, albeit tech-savvy, businesses.
British Army simulation success
The British Army has recently achieved success in this area of simulated training as its contract with the British start-up Hadean has just concluded.
Since September 2022 the British military partnered with Hadean, a company that creates, curates, and delivers connected immersive experiences, much like EWA.
Hadean powered the British Army’s collective training transformation programme by applying wargaming tools and emerging technologies to offer a multi-domain cloud platform that simulates real-world and land-based training scenarios.
Using a solutions-focus, and commercial-off-the-shelf tools and products, tech start-ups such as Hadean and EWA will begin to drive the US military’s competitive advantage on the world stage, compared to its autocratic adversaries, such as Russia and China.
