A UK company called Skyral, part of a consortium that recently won a £2bn Ministry of Defence contract, has developed advanced virtual training environments designed to help British soldiers rehearse complex military decisions. Unlike traditional combat simulators or shooter-style games, the technology aims to model the layered, second-order consequences of military actions, such as how civilian populations might react differently to an attack depending on circumstances like weather or infrastructure damage. The UK will be among the first militaries to integrate this kind of deeply detailed simulation technology into its training programmes.

Skyral's platform can recreate real cities and even entire countries, drawing on demonstrations such as a simulated Nato convoy incident on real Riga streets, complete with modelled local populations of varying ages and attitudes towards Nato forces. Co-chief executive Naomi Hulme described the experience as "Fortnite on steroids," while co-founder Jason Kennedy previously worked at military tech firm Raydon. Although research on flight simulators suggests virtual training can improve real-world performance, evidence for these more complex scenario-based systems remains limited; nonetheless, simulations are cheaper and easier to run than live combat drills, and the contract arrives amid ongoing debate over UK defence spending levels.