At this year’s ITEC and UDT conference defence leaders and industry experts will gather to examine emerging technologies shaping the future of military and underseas training
The ITEC 2026 Conference and UDT, scheduled from 14 to 16 April 2026 at Excel London, will open against a backdrop of rapid technological change in defence training and simulation.
Over three days, delegates will explore the strategic integration of artificial intelligence, immersive simulation, human performance science and data-driven approaches into defence training delivery and workforce development. The overarching theme for 2026 is Training Technologically Empowered Forces, encompassing issues from multi-domain readiness to trust and ethics in autonomous systems.
Day 1: Technological Change
On the morning of Day One, the conference opens with formal remarks that set the tone for the programme. The opening address comes from Air Vice-Marshal (Retd.) Gary Waterfall CBE DL, Senior Defence Advisor at Clarion Defence & Security, establishing a framework for discussions around technological change and defence training imperatives. This is followed by a keynote delivered by Air Vice-Marshal Ian Sharrocks CBE MA RAF, Air Officer Commanding No.22 Group, Royal Air Force, who examines broad strategic priorities and the need for agility in training frameworks.
The first panel of the conference, chaired by Air Vice-Marshal Waterfall, brings together Commodore Andrew Ingham of the Royal Navy and Major General the Rt Hon the Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton Mark Lancaster TD PC of the British Army to discuss how the UK services are developing training ecosystems that leverage emerging technologies. This session will highlight the institutional challenges and opportunities in creating training programmes that are both technologically grounded and operationally relevant.
As the morning progresses, the conference transitions into specialised sessions across three thematic theatres. In the Adaptive Edge Keynote Theatre, speakers including Jean-Yves Donnart, Advanced Studies Project Manager at Thales AVS France, and Alex Smith, Chief Technology Officer for Training Transformation at Raytheon UK, exploring how artificial intelligence can materially reduce the time and cost of producing military courseware, emphasising the need for rigorous human oversight over automated tools.
At the Human Performance Theatre, Mike Merritt from the Naval Air Warfare Center will frame “lessons learned” as an active process for improving individual and collective performance, with Dr Leon Jablow IV of Lukos illustrating how elite reflection and expert knowledge are integral to high-performance outcomes.
In parallel, the New Horizons Theatre considers longer-term force development, with Benjamin Bell from the Potawatomi Business Development Corporation and Adrian Snook, Director at Learning Accelerators, arguing that through-life training must be embedded into future combat air capabilities to align human performance with platform advancements.
Late morning sessions will reinforce the theme of technology enabling readiness. Taja Hillier, Chief Data and AI Officer at Mission Decisions, addresses how multi-domain digital wargames can be exploited through natural language interfaces to lower barriers to operational intelligence for non-technical staff.
At the same time, Dr Christina Parker, Chief Learning Officer at Air Force Special Operations Command, will present on defining and measuring the mindset required for special operations forces, emphasising the importance of observable competencies and intentional training design.
Across the New Horizons Theatre, Amit Kapadia from the U.S. Army’s Capability Program Executive discusses integrating cloud-based infrastructure into constructive simulation platforms to accelerate training evolution.
Day One continues with sessions that interrogate artificial intelligence architectures and practical applications in command and control. Bartek Panasewicz and colleagues from MASA and Rheinmetall Electronics will explore hybrid AI systems that reduce operator workload in simulation environments, while in the Human Performance Theatre, Dr Terence Andre of Andre Research addresses how modelling and simulation enhance STEM education within the U.S. Air Force Academy.
The New Horizons stream then shifts to advanced applications of AI-driven wargaming, where Hunter Miller from Booz Allen and Major Ryan Wallich of SOCOM showcase operational case studies demonstrating AI’s role in training readiness for special operations.
The afternoon also features discussions on integrating large language models with simulation architectures and using virtual reality to assess non-technical competencies. Speakers such as Thomas Stegemann and Petra ten Hove MSc highlight the value of immersive technologies in providing variable and realistic training scenarios that safely stretch trainees beyond conventional frameworks.
Additional sessions on cloud-scale experimentation environments emphasise rapid force development and the orchestration required to support thousands of simultaneous simulated interactions. Later presentations examine adaptive mission training through AI and augmented reality, the integration of human performance systems for autonomy-era forces, and the use of synthetic forces and role players, with Rebecca Wright of BAE Systems articulating the challenges of automating role player behaviour within realistic operational simulations.
As Day One draws to a close, the conference explores advanced topics including neuroadaptive training technologies, delivered by industry practitioners such as Dr Laurens R. Krol of Zander Labs, and sessions addressing operational training in the era of AI, led by Debbie Berry of Zephyr Blue and Stephen Townsend of Mass Consultants. The final presentations of the day consider efficient multi-agent AI competitions as a mechanism for evaluating dynamic training solutions and propose next-generation assisted after action review systems that leverage data immersion to drive performance improvement.
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