Sponsored By Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
26 Feb 26. Varjo, a global technology leader in mission-ready virtual and mixed reality, today expanded its 2026 product offering with the launch of Integrated XR Systems – complete, ready-to-run XR hardware solutions designed to simplify deployment and deliver assured performance from day one in air-gapped environments.
With Integrated XR Systems, Varjo expands its product portfolio beyond industry-leading headsets to deliver fully validated XR solutions, combining Varjo XR-4 Series headsets (2026 edition) with premium workstations, pre-installed software, bundled licenses, and expert support. The new offering is designed for defense programs, system integrators, and professional XR users who require reliability and fast deployment.
“As defense training requirements evolve, immersive simulation has become a core capability rather than an add-on,” said Bartek Panasewicz, VP Training Systems Land at Rheinmetall Electronics. “Varjo’s Integrated XR Systems allow us to deliver scalable, secure solutions that meet the growing demand for operational readiness across NATO and allied forces. Our military customers need fully equipped systems they can trust, not just devices,” said Valentin Storz, Chief Revenue Officer at Varjo. “At a time when parts of the XR market are recalibrating, Varjo continues to invest with discipline and purpose and evolve our portfolio based on the real-world needs of our customers, doubling down on mission-critical use cases where XR delivers measurable impact. Our Integrated XR Systems represent the next step in that evolution, delivering complete, secure platforms designed to close the training readiness gap.”
Deploying high-end virtual and mixed reality has traditionally required sourcing hardware from multiple vendors, validating compatibility, installing software, and managing support across different suppliers. This integration phase often slows down real-world deployment and increases operational risk.
Integrated XR Systems remove that complexity by delivering a single, fully configured XR platform that is validated, tested, and ready for use in secure settings on arrival. Each system includes:
- a Varjo XR-4, XR-4 Focal Edition, or XR-4 Secure Edition headset,
- a Varjo-certified workstation (XR Station) manufactured by Varjo’s long-term partners SCHENKER or RAVE Computer,
- pre-installed core XR software and tools,
- bundled licenses including offline support,
- extended warranty coverage, and
- expert support from Varjo’s professional services team (in Europe).
The systems are built around a tested and validated hardware and software configuration optimized for demanding virtual and mixed reality training with the XR-4 Series. Core supporting software comes pre-installed, enabling deployment without internet connectivity or additional downloads, making the systems optimal for secure or restricted environments.
Integrated XR Systems are delivered as a complete package with an extended warranty, providing a single point of accountability across hardware, software, and support. This approach supports long-term planning and scalable XR deployment across organizations. The bundled XR software suite includes Microsoft Windows 11 Pro, Varjo Base Pro, Varjo Lab Tools, NVIDIA™ App, Steam™, and SteamVR™, as well as Varjo sample demos and setup tools.
Integrated XR Systems are part of Varjo’s broader professional XR portfolio, which also includes professional services. These expert services help organizations design, deploy, and scale XR solutions from system integration and customization to training, optimization, and ongoing operational support, enabling customers to move faster from deployment to real-world use.
Integrated XR Systems are now available as part of Varjo’s updated 2026 product offering, with pricing starting at:
- Integrated XR System (XR-4): €24,990
- Integrated XR System (XR-4 Focal Edition): €29,990
23 Feb 26. BMT today announced the opening of its Digital Innovation & Simulation Centre (DISC) at the organisation’s Fareham site – a world‑class facility created to transform how teams and customers innovate, collaborate and de‑risk decisions across complex maritime and multi‑domain programmes. The centre strengthens BMT’s digital‑first ambition and turns its UK–Europe regional strategy into a tangible customer experience, providing a premium environment for high‑value simulation, immersive engineering and commercially focused engagement.
Building on more than 40 years of leadership in maritime simulation and digital consultancy, and a heritage that traces back to the British Ship Research Association and National Maritime Institute, DISC brings together BMT’s flagship innovations in one integrated space. The facility is powered by the award‑winning BMT REMBRANDT navigation simulator – a DNV‑accredited system used globally for port feasibility, pilotage training and quantitative navigation studies – alongside new digital visualisation and synthetic environments that support autonomy assurance, cyber resilience and advanced incident analysis.
Located within the Spectrum building at Fareham, DISC offers a customer‑focused, self‑contained collaboration space that includes a reconfigurable Full Mission Bridge (FMB) for defence and commercial vessels, two 360‑degree pod simulators, two small‑vessel simulators, a Remote Operations Centre (ROC), a Scenario Control Room, an Instructor/Briefing Room and multiple meeting and breakout spaces. One of the UK’s largest specialised LED video walls provides a fully immersive canvas for multi‑vessel operations, port and coastal studies, complex tow‑outs, incident reconstructions and investor‑ready digital storyboards.
Underpinning the Full Mission Bridge is BMT REMBRANDT’s high‑fidelity hydrodynamic engine, which enables everything from tug and pilot training through to litigation‑grade reconstruction and ship‑to‑ship transfer analysis. DISC also hosts the MASS SEAS (Marine Autonomous Surface Ship Synthetic Environment Assurance System) synthetic environment, allowing customers and regulators to run DNV‑grade, simulator‑based trials of autonomous navigation systems and demonstrate compliance with emerging MASS and COLREGs requirements in a modern, DNV “Class A” accredited simulator facility.
Beyond navigation, BMT ENGAGE – powered by Unreal Engine – allows users to create photorealistic digital twins, virtual ship walk‑throughs and cyber and wargaming scenarios, as well as immersive VR/AR training programmes and human–machine interface evaluations. These capabilities directly support BMT’s autonomy campaign, digital ports work, ship design assurance and global marine incident analysis, making DISC a transversal enabler for high-value programmes such as MRSS (Multi-Role Support Ship) design, ports growth and maritime autonomous systems.
“DISC is a bold step forward in our digital‑first journey,” said Sarah Kenny, Chief Executive, OBE, BMT. “By combining immersive simulation, autonomous systems assurance and advanced visualisation in a single, secure environment, we’re giving our customers a digital canvas where they can explore options, test complex scenarios and make faster, better‑informed decisions – all while reducing risk and time to market.”
Jake Rigby, Global Head of Innovation and Research at BMT, added:
“For us, DISC isn’t just a simulator suite, it is a launchpad for innovation. It brings together our proprietary REMBRANDT and ENGAGE technologies and our synthetic assurance environments in one place, so defence and commercial partners can build trusted autonomous and digital solutions.”
The investment aligns directly with BMT’s regional strategy for UK–Europe and its wider growth ambitions, enhancing how the business develops and applies its product portfolio, supporting its maritime autonomous systems and digital innovation campaigns and creating a dedicated innovation hub in a key maritime cluster. The DISC will support a growing pipeline of defence and commercial opportunities and is expected to play a central role in international programmes, including simulation‑based assurance for autonomous vessels, digital ports, complex operations training and ship design de‑risking.
To showcase the new facility, BMT is planning a press day at its Fareham office on 13 March. During the event, invited media will hear from BMT’s innovation and simulation experts on the vision behind DISC, the latest advances in REMBRANDT, ENGAGE and MASS SEAS, and how these capabilities are supporting customers in autonomy, digital ports and naval programmes. Journalists will be able to experience the expanded simulation suite first‑hand, “drive” scenarios on the Full Mission Bridge, experiment with BMT’s latest digital visualisation tools, capture photography and access fresh video footage for broadcast and online use.
DISC supports secure in‑person and remote engagements, enabling globally distributed teams to participate in joint design reviews, assurance campaigns and training events, with integrated booking and session management to streamline workshops and programme delivery. By anchoring this capability in Fareham – alongside BMT’s long‑standing maritime expertise – the organisation is reinforcing its commitment to the Solent region while delivering a scalable, exportable model for digital innovation that can be replicated across its APAC and North American businesses over time.
19 Feb 26. Today, Defense Unicorns, the leader in airgap software delivery for national security mission systems, announced UDS Army, a new approach cooperatively developed with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) C5ISR Center, will accelerate the continuous delivery of secure, mission-ready software to soldiers.
“The Authorization to Operate (ATO) process takes too long and costs too much, locking out innovative companies and delaying capabilities our soldiers need now,” said Rob Slaughter, CEO of Defense Unicorns. “By collaborating with DEVCOM C5ISR, we’re enabling a faster, safer, and more sustainable way to get secure software into soldiers’ hands.”
UDS Army gives commercial software vendors a fast and simple path to bring their capabilities to Army missions at Impact Level (IL) 4 and 5, by combining secure DevSecOps pipelines with pre-authorized Microsoft Azure Government cloud environments.
Proving that applications are compliant for national security systems is often prohibitively costly and time-consuming, especially for small, independent software vendors. Earning an ATO through the traditional self-managed authorization process can take 12 to 18 months and require hundreds of engineering hours, leaving warfighters waiting for critical software capabilities.
“For the Department of War, the ability to securely deploy software at speed is a strategic imperative, one that directly underpins operational advantage and long-term modernization. Defense Unicorns is accelerating this shift, and Microsoft is excited to be part of an ecosystem that brings secure, cloud-enabled capabilities to the heart of mission execution,” said Leigh Madden, Microsoft’s Vice President for National Security.
UDS Army combines multiple technical capabilities into a unified platform:
- Authorized DevSecOps Pipeline: Automated security scanning, vulnerability checks, and compliance validation generate the body of evidence needed for AO approval.
- Pre-Authorized Environments (IL4/IL5): Approved applications inherit the compliance posture of authorized Army cloud infrastructure, eliminating the need to pursue a separate ATO.
- Army App Marketplace: A secure catalog where approved applications can be discovered, demoed, and acquired by Army program managers.
- Sandbox Trial Environments: Vendors can demo applications in IL2, IL4, and IL5 sandboxes hosted on a uds.army.mil domain, allowing Army customers to “try before they buy.”
- Portable UDS Packages: A single integration supports SaaS, cloud, on-prem, and tactical edge environments — no rebuilds or re-architecting.
- Continuous Compliance Automation: Ongoing generation and maintenance of compliance artifacts (e.g., SBOMs) streamlines updates and control inheritance.
- SaaS Hosting in cARMY Cloud: Enables SaaS-native vendors to deliver applications directly within the Army’s secure cloud environments.
UDS Army is built to help small and mid-sized software companies succeed in the national security ecosystem:
- Reduce Time-to-Market: Shrink the ATO timeline from 18 months to as little as 2 weeks.
- Lower Compliance Costs: Reduce documentation expenses by more than 70%.
- Increase Discoverability: Approved applications are published in the Army App Marketplace
- Simplify SaaS Hosting: Deploy applications to pre-authorized IL4 and IL5 environments
Software vendors have already begun onboarding to UDS Army, with the first cohort including: HERE, Kana Systems, Lastwall, Petra Data, Sandtable, and Selas Defense. You can view the growing list of companies onboarding to UDS Army at uds.army.mil.
UDS Army gives program managers the “easy button” to acquire, test, and deploy secure commercial applications. By leveraging a marketplace of pre-approved software, the Army can modernize mission systems faster, reduce acquisition costs, and deliver critical digital capabilities directly to soldiers.
Defense Unicorns is onboarding software vendors today. To fast-track your applications to the Army, visit https://defenseunicorns.com/uds-army.
About Defense Unicorns
Defense Unicorns is a service-disabled, veteran-owned defense technology company founded in 2021 to make software a strategic deterrent for the U.S. Department of War. The company builds open-source, airgap-native technologies that enable the secure development, delivery, and sustainment of mission software across cloud, on-premises, and tactical edge environments. Defense Unicorns’ technology is trusted by the operators of some of the most critical systems in the world, including the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force. Learn more at https://defenseunicorns.com. (Source: PR Newswire)
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Oxley Group Ltd
Oxley offer a range of Military Marine NVG friendly LED lighting that includes navigation lights and controls, flight deck landing lights and interior compartment lighting. Our lighting products are used by Navies around the world including our own Royal Navy on UK Aircraft Carriers, Canadian Frigates, Swedish Submarines, Australian Surface vessels and Submarines, on board French Naval Carriers and in Naval Gun Turrets.
https://oxleydevelopments.cmail20.com/t/t-l-cdhkulk-yujhutkljd-r/
The technology is extremely energy efficient and built robustly, with proven long life. The lighting is NVG friendly, dimmable and programmable to allow for operations with aircraft pilots using military night vision goggles. They offer superior design giving high reliability for the most demanding environments with high sealing and the ability to meet the most stringent EMC standards.
https://oxleydevelopments.cmail20.com/t/t-l-cdhkulk-yujhutkljd-y/
Oxley are proud to say that we are working in partnership with SeaKing to enable a control panel to be offered with our LED Navigation Lighting. All of Oxley navigation lights have been specifically developed for vessels over 50 metres.
Contact Marcus Goad on 07850 917 263 for more information or to arrange samples.
Oxley specialises in the design and manufacture of advanced electronic and electro-optic components and systems for air, land and sea applications within the military sector. Established in 1942, Oxley has manufacturing facilities in the UK and USA and enjoys representation worldwide. The company’s products include night vision and LED lighting, data capture systems and electronic components. Oxley has pioneered the development of night vision compatible lighting. It offers a total package incorporating optical filters, equipment modification, cockpit and external lighting along with fleet wide upgrade services including engineering, installation, support, maintenance and training. The company’s long experience of manufacturing night vision lighting and LED indicators, coupled with advances in LED technology, has enabled it to develop LED solutions to replace incandescent and fluorescent lighting in existing applications as well as becoming the lighting option of choice in new applications such as portable military hospitals, UAV control stations and communication shelters.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-