Virtual Worlds technologies and applications for the Defence & Security sector

Picture credits - The intgrated CBRN XR mask

Context

Co-created by a group of 29 European Defense industry leaders, universities, research organisations and Virtual Worlds technological companies, this first document produced under the Virtual Worlds Partnership synthesises the outcome of a series of workshops organised by the Virtual Worlds Association in March 2026, under the umbrella of the Virtual Worlds Partnership.

We've impulsed this effort together with the European Commission, in order to support our European leaders by facilitating their identification of the main research and innovation priorities where research, innovation, standardisation and skills development are needed to ensure the EU defence organisations fully benefit from the strategic potential of virtual worlds.

In this process, the Association's lead editors Dr Olivier Balet (CTO of CS Group Defense unit) and his colleague Dr Eric Menou, maded sure that the structure of the document with key and state of the art topics of VW technologis and applications in the Defence & Security sectors, more specifically:

- Dual uses

- Digital Twin Battlefield optimised for interactive and immersive applications

- Human-centred Immersive XR Interfaces

- AI and Simulation

- Resilient network & computing infrastructures

The document has been officially presented in the European Commission premises in Brussels on March 12th for a roundtable organizedd for the occasion. More about it here.

Thanks and recognitions

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The Virtual Worlds Association is grateful to its member organizations and the non-members for their for their valuable contributions during these workshops: Aditerna, AIT, Altheria, Brainstorm 3D, CEA, CERTH, CS Group, EssilorLuxottica, Fondazione SAFE,  Fraunhofer, Guardiaris, HOLOGATE, ICCS, Immersion, INESC TEC, KNDS, Leonardo, MBDA, Naval Group, Navantia, NCSR Demokritos, RE-liON, Sopra Steria, Stam, THALES, TNO, Universitat Politécnica de Valencia, Varjo Technologies and Voxel Sensors.

An impressive roster of heavy hitters in the European defense, aerospace, and high-tech sectors, this particular group of companies and research institutes is frequently seen collaborating on European Defence Fund (EDF) projects or major PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation) initiatives.

This list covers the entire "sensor-to-shooter" and "simulation-to-reality" spectrum:

• The "Big Three" Defense Primes: You have Leonardo (Italy), Thales (France), and KNDS (the Franco-German venture between Nexter and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann). Representing a backbone of European land and air power.
• Maritime Giants: Naval Group and Navantia represent the peak of European naval engineering and shipbuilding.
• Tactical Systems: MBDA is the European leader in missile systems.
• Simulation & XR (Extended Reality): This is a very strong theme in your list. Varjo, HOLOGATE, Guardiaris, RE-liON, and Altheria specialize in high-end VR/AR and combat simulation training.
• Research & Technology (RTOs): TNO (Netherlands), CEA (France), ICCS (Greece), and NCSR Demokritos (Greece) provide the foundational R&D for these advanced systems.
• Optical Expertise: EssilorLuxottica (while famous for Ray-Ban) provides critical advanced lens and vision technology used in head-mounted displays.
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And we warmly thanks the European Commission – DG CONNECT, Communications Networks, Content and Technology– Unit G.2 for their support in the orchestration of the effort.

The Virtual Worlds Association is deeply grateful to Dr. Eric Menou and Dr. Olivier Balet from CSGroup for leading the content part of this Position Paper and its Vice-President Laszlo Arnould for his leadership on the project.

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