Why is it that we provide the world’s best athletes with every possible tool to gain a cognitive edge, yet often leave our people at the frontline stuck with training methods from the last century?
In high-performance sport, the necessity of visualization and simulation is no longer up for debate. Max Verstappen trains on the track but mostly spends countless hours a simulator. Not as a replacement for reality, but as a way to live through critical situations until his decisions become instinct.
That same shift is critical in defense. When people ask what we build at RE-liON, I don’t start with the technology. I start with questioning and tell them we build the interface between an operator’s cognitive and physical worlds, ensuring they learn faster today than they did yesterday.
What does that mean for operator readiness?
Exploiting the margins of time
What sits underneath this shift is time, or more precisely the lack of it. Operators don’t lack training methods; they lack hours. Live training is heavy by nature, requiring ranges, travel, ammunition, and complex coordination, so it happens in blocks, while operations don’t; they are continuous.
This creates a strange gap where people train episodically but have to perform continuously. If someone has ten minutes between tasks, they’re not going to drive to a range, but they can step into a scenario immediately to get a couple of reps and sets in. That’s where our system changes things; it lets training slip into the margins of time instead of waiting for designated training slots.
“If I have ten minutes and nothing scheduled, I can put on the headset and immediately be inside a scenario.” — BNR Podcast
Mastery through repetition
Many high-stakes tasks simply cannot be repeated often in the physical world. Drone threats are a perfect example; weather, airspace restrictions, and safety requirements limit live practice. In a digital environment, an operator can run the same “corner” until the response is automatic.
Also, our system provides a level of visibility that live drills lack. We can measure exactly how people moved, where they looked, and how they reacted. That data allows for targeted cognitive training, ensuring every minute spent in the headset translates to mission success.
Lessons from the frontline
Our philosophy was shaped by elite sport, where you prepare for a peak moment. In defense, however, performance must be sustained under extreme fatigue and uncertainty. Working directly with Ukrainian units has made it clear that doctrine is no longer static. Development cannot sit on theoretical requirement sheets; it must move at the speed of the people doing the work.
We focus on sensory familiarity—ensuring operators recognize the sights and sounds of threats like drones before they encounter them for real. Exposure settles the perception faster, allowing decisions to follow sooner.
Decentralizing readiness
The mantra is simple: distance kills frequency. Every kilometer to a training center and every minute of setup time quietly reduces how often an operator trains.
Therefore, training must move closer to the operator. By creating solutions that are smaller and simpler, we ensure they are usable wherever the unit actually is. When these tools stay with the unit, they transcend “training” and begin supporting real-world rehearsal and preparation.
Ultimately, it isn’t about the VR; it’s about human readiness.
Want to hear it back?
“In het defensief” on BNR Radio (Dutch)