To the average eye, extended reality is starting to look bleak. The metaverse has bombed, the Apple Vision Pro has flopped, and Sony has all but abandoned the PSVR.

Sadly for Mark Zuckerberg, consumers rarely want to strap computers to their faces. But there is one place where business is booming: the military.

XR has diffused across the armed forces since 2021, when Microsoft signed a contract with the US Army worth up to $21.9bn (€19.6bn). Under the deal, the tech giant would develop training programmes for HoloLens-based headsets.

Despite a shaky start — literally, for the nauseated soldiers — the partnership continues to this day. But it might not last much longer: around 80 firms are now vying for the contract. 

As the market has expanded, new use cases have emerged. You can now find XR in endless military applications, from combat training and battlefield tactics to vehicle exercises and helmet systems. And that’s just on the ground.

Arguably the fastest-growing military application for XR is pilot training. In this segment, there’s an undisputed European champion: Varjo.

From its headquarters in Finland, Varjo (pronounced “var-yo”) is building a thriving business in synthetic flight training. The company’s CEO, Timo Toikkanen, says a “paradigm shift” has begun. 

The trigger was evolving needs for aircraft simulators. Advances in XR paved a path towards compelling new systems.

One was recently delivered to Ukraine. It will support the country’s latest aerial weapons: F-16 fighter jets.

Flight preparations

After years of lobbying western allies, Ukraine finally received its first F-16 fighter jets in August. The shipment marked a milestone for the country’s air forces, which have hitherto relied on Soviet-era jets.

F-16s add a powerful upgrade to the fleet. But there’s a problem with the order: Ukraine doesn’t have enough pilots who can fly the planes. 

Traditional solutions to this problem come with their own issues. Aircraft training is extremely expensive, seats are limited, and courses often require long-distance travel. The conventional alternative is dome simulators, but these have hefty price tags too. They’re also vast machines that require their own dedicated buildings.

XR can hurdle these barriers. The simulators are cheaper than domes and can operate in offices. They can also integrate systems from across the armed forces. But their biggest strength today is their speed.

“The training time of a fighter pilot is compressed by 30 to 50%,” Toikkanen says. “When every year costs millions, that’s a very significant change.”

Ukraine has an urgent need for this fast and affordable training. The new F-16s could intercept enemy jets and establish areas of air superiority — but only with enough pilots to fly them. To train them, the country recently acquired its first fully-functional XR F-16 system. 

Czech firm Dogfight Boss built the simulator, while Varjo supplied the XR tech.