VR/AR military tech projects take center stage at Kyiv’s Defence Vision Day

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry reports that Kyiv held Defence Vision Day, an event that gathered the best military projects developed using virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technologies. Recently, the ministry announced a competition on creating VR/AR complexes for training and simulations for the Ukrainian military. The goal of Defence Vision Day was to find the best solutions and present them to the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and potential investors. Out of 55 submitted projects, 24 were selected for presentation. These included air defense shooting simulators, first aid training, and drone operation management. Three projects—Lifesaver Lab: Lifesaver SIM, a joint project by SoftServe, UCU, and the 7th Carpathian Border Guard Detachment, and STRATA22—received grants from the co-founders of Uklon, the main partner of the event. The Ministry of Defense said it will continue working with the teams to implement their solutions in the Defense Forces.

"These projects demonstrate that training people can be done in various ways. VR simulators can do it more effectively and cheaper. We need to increase the number of such events for good ideas do not stay hidden but are realized and bring benefits," emphasized Deputy Defense Minister Kateryna Chernogorenko.

At the event, teams from the Defense Builder start-up accelerator also presented their solutions. Thirteen teams showcased their developments to the military, investors, and event guests. The solutions included heavy and river drones, mine detection and demining systems, turrets, robotic platforms, platforms for topography and tracking changes on maps, and a system for calculating firing parameters for hitting targets from covered positions.

"The number of participants in Defence Vision Day and the level of products demonstrate the growth of defense technologies and the potential of VR/AR for military training in Ukraine. The teams from the first cohort of Defense Builder show significant progress, and we are pleased to implement these projects together with the Ministry of Defense and partners Sigma Software Labs, Genesis, and KSE," noted Kateryna Bezsudna, co-founder and operations director of Defense Builder. Earlier, the Ukrainian combat system DELTA was highly praised by NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation General Philip Lavin and Deputy Chief of Staff for NATO Capabilities Vice Admiral Jeffrey W. Hughes during its presentation by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

NATO officials praise innovative Ukrainian DELTA combat system

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