Vanguard Magazine

S Y N T H E T I C E N V I R O N M E N T www.vanguardcanada.com DECEMBER 2025/JANUARY 2026 17 notably through its RCAF Simulation Strategy, published in 2015. The strategy emphasized the importance of simulation and set an ambitious goal: that by 2025, the RCAF would have a "simulation- focused training system which skillfully leverages live, virtual, and constructive domains within a networked common syn- thetic environment." However, this strategy—like the most recent RCAF Modernization Strategy re- leased in April 2024—focuses mainly on explaining why the SE is critical but falls short in clearly explaining how this vision will be realized. The 2024 Modernization Strategy, for instance, proposes that the SE can be leveraged in three areas: Tech- nology-Enabled Learning (TEL), Opera- tional Training Infrastructure, and Capa- bility Development and Sustainment, yet it offers no concrete examples. Instead, it broadly suggests that the SE will support networked training, enhance realism for trainees, and become a key consideration in balancing live and synthetic training during future procurement efforts. The push & pull of a Canadian SE Applying synthetic environments towards defence purposes is still a relatively novel idea. In a 2022 article we published with International Journal, Canada's leading academic journal in international affairs, we found that almost no theoretical discus- sion and very little scholarly attention had been given to the topic of the SE despite significant investments in the technology. Moreover, when it came to practical im- plications, we further observed that among the FVEY, Canada's implementation of SE was lagging significantly behind American, British, and Australian efforts. Nonethe- less, our article highlighted the short and long-term opportunities (and challenges) that would arise from Canada's integration of an SE in national defence. Most notably, we argued that for Canada to effectively le- verage the technology, it would need both top-down and long-term commitment for a sustainable program, as well as invest- ments in skillsets, and propriety engage- ment stemming from new government- industry-academic partnerships. In the years since we made those prelimi- nary observations and arguments, geopo- litical instability has grown, armed aggres- sion and economic coercion have spilled beyond Europe, and defence budgets have ballooned globally. Here in Canada, na- tional defence, national sovereignty and civil preparedness have taken centre stage, politically and economically. Upgrading Canada's defence training environment has never been more relevant, feasible, and necessary. As decision-makers consider the impli- cations of where and how the newly an- nounced spending commitments should be allocated, Canada needs to think long- term about both its domestic priorities and its role among international coalitions. For one, building a sustainable SE ecosystem will reduce long-term costs. While the state-of the art technology costs remain high, they improve the ability for opera- tors to train in disparate locations, as part of different teams, possibly with different allied forces, and with unparalleled levels

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