Leonardo announces new CTTP training partner

CESI is joining Leonardo's Team Aurelian to bid for the British Army's CTTP programme. Pictured are chief technology officer for CESI Stu Armstrong (left) and CTTP campaign director at Leonardo UK John Wells. (Leonardo UK)

US-company Cole Engineering Services Inc (CESI) is joining Leonardo's Team Aurelian for the upcoming British Army's Collective Training Transformation Programme (CTTP) contract.

Announced by Leonardo at the International Training Technology Exhibition & Conference (IT²EC) 2024 held from 9 to 11 April in London, the new partner will offer its expertise in synthetic training, having provided the US Army's Synthetic Training Environment (STE) software and the immersive Reconfigurable Virtual Collective Trainer.

STE brings together live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) training environments into a single, blended-training platform, Leonardo detailed in a press release.

US-company Valiant, which specialises in training, simulation, and readiness, is also part of Team Aurelian, having joined in September 2023. The company has experience in delivering training to US forces and has played a major role in supporting training and exercises at the US Army's Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson and other facilities.

CTTP aims to develop a comprehensive collective training system for the British Army, blended with new LVC systems. The single-sourced contract is expected to be awarded in 2025 and is valued at more than GBP600 million (USD757 million) over a 10-year period.

Other companies have also formed their own individual consortiums to bid for the CTTP programme, also referred to as the Army Collective Training Service (ACTS). These companies include Raytheon, which announced its team in 2022, as well as Babcock, QinetiQ, Elbit Systems, and Lockheed Martin.

When asked why Leonardo has incorporated a new partner at this stage, John Wells, the CTTP campaign director for Leonardo UK, told