German unified armed forces, Bundeswehr, has contracted Rheinmetall to provide training simulators known as Distributed Naval Training Architecture / Verteilte Trainingsarchitektur der Marine (VTAM).
Being procured for the German Navy, VTAM is a networked simulation-based operational training solution.
Th contract is valued at a mid-double-digit million Euro sum and was signed in December 2024 and recorded in the same month.
The project commenced in January 2025 and is set to span four years.
Rheinmetall Electronic Solutions is tasked with delivering and operationalising hardware and software modules across six naval bases in Germany.
VTAM simulation for the German Navy, will replicate the interaction between a warship’s external and internal combat mechanisms, including weapons deployment and damage control.
This technology is intended to offer training and exercise options, allowing for the collective training of vessel, boat, and aviation unit crews within virtual scenarios, according to Rheinmetall.
The forthcoming systems will facilitate networking across ‘simulation’, ‘tactical data links’, ‘voice communication’, and ‘web services’, enabling simulation-based exercises that will connect the six German Naval bases and NATO partners.
The VTAM systems, to be installed in Wilhelmshaven, Rostock-Warnemünde, Bremerhaven, Eckernförde, Kiel, and Nordholz, will allow the integration of current and future simulation systems.
It will also allow on-shore facilities into the training architecture for collaborative exercise scenarios.
In addition, the system will enable the integration of corvettes and frigates at the bases in Rostock-Warnemünde and Wilhelmshaven, permitting on-board crews to join in joint exercises.
The Distributed Training Centre, located at the Naval Support Command in Wilhelmshaven, will oversee the technical networking and training operations.
At the bases in Rostock-Warnemünde and Wilhelmshaven, moored corvettes and frigates participating in exercises will be monitored through radio and tactical data link components.
This ‘total ship training’ solution builds upon the Naval Mission Training Center that Rheinmetall delivered to an export customer in 2023.
The system includes the integration of corvettes and frigates through radio systems for voice communication and tactical data links for situational data exchange, allowing crews to engage in networked virtual exercises using their on-board systems.
VTAM equips the training facilities as well as the operational training centres at the bases, noted the company.
