Canada’s Calian wins $33M deal to script NATO war games

Canadian defense contractor Calian Group has won a five-year contract worth about CA$47 million ($33.2 million) to keep writing the scenarios behind NATO’s major command exercises at the alliance’s Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger, Norway.

The Ottawa-based company said it won the contract after a competitive procurement and will continue an existing role as a prime contractor supporting the center. Under the deal, Calian will design, build and maintain the training scenarios used in NATO’s strategic and operational-level exercises.

Those scenarios are the fictional but detailed worlds in which NATO headquarters staff train. Calian’s teams build in political, military, economic, civil and information factors that shift as an exercise runs, so commanders and staff have to make decisions, coordinate across land, sea, air, cyber and space and respond as the situation changes, much as they would in a real crisis.

“The security environment is changing quickly and NATO forces need training that reflects the complexity, uncertainty and pace of modern operations,” said Roch Pelletier, Calian’s regional vice president of defence.

The Joint Warfare Centre, which reports to NATO’s Allied Command Transformation, runs the alliance’s large computer-assisted command post exercises, in which headquarters staffs work through a simulated campaign without moving troops in the field. It prepares NATO commands and forces for current and future operations through exercises and experimentation, and Calian also provides subject matter experts for those events.

“The award reflects NATO’s continued confidence in our people and our expertise. We are proud to continue working alongside the Joint Warfare Centre to deliver the realistic, demanding training environments that help commanders and staff prepare to operate and succeed together,” said Pelletier.

Calian, which has more than 6,000 employees worldwide and works across defense, space, health care and critical infrastructure, runs a training and simulation business serving Canada, Europe and allied militaries, and the new award keeps it working with the Joint Warfare Centre for the next five years.