Babcock unveils deployable immersive naval training

Babcock International used the opening day of DSEI 2025 to launch the maritime variant of its Babcock Immersive Training Experience (BITE), a deployable simulator designed to bring the chaos of naval combat ashore.

Inside the module, styled as a minehunter’s control room, the atmosphere was strikingly realistic. The deck vibrated underfoot, alarms rang out, and a wall of ambient noise recreated the pressure of action stations.

Over the comms, urgent calls came thick and fast: “Hands to action stations… missiles away, aircraft inbound.” It felt, for a moment, like being aboard a ship under threat. Or at least, how I would imagine it to be.

The exercise built rapidly in intensity. Participants had to balance information flow between bridge, control room and engineering teams while reacting to simulated missile strikes and multiple casualties. Reports of fires and flooding created the sense of an internal battle running alongside the external one. One Babcock instructor reminded the audience: “If you lose the ship internally, it doesn’t matter what happens in the fight outside. Both have to be managed together.”

All of it is recorded, allowing trainers to review in near-real time how teams perform under stress. According to the company, this feedback loop means poor decisions can be corrected instantly and training can be repeated until performance improves.

I asked about deployability, and the answer was clear: it has already been proven. Built into an ISO container, BITE can be craned onto a ship, loaded onto a flatbed, or shipped overseas. “We’ve taken one to America and back without issue,” a Babcock representative said. The idea is that a unit could sit on a jetty beside an operational warship, letting crews step off the gangway and straight into a training environment without the need to take the ship to sea.

Babcock officials also highlighted versatility. The system can be reconfigured to match a specific navy’s control room, used across land, sea or air domains, and even leased instead of bought outright. There is interest beyond the military too, with emergency services considering BITE for command post or leadership training.

For any navy, the attraction is obvious.