BAE Systems Mimesis AI Role Player Demonstration at ITEC 26. (Giles Ebbutt)
BAE Systems has developed artificial intelligence (AI)-driven role-player functionality for its maritime combat simulator Mimesis, which was first unveiled at the 2026 International Training Technology Exhibition and Conference (ITEC 26) in London in April.
Richard Goldstone, Business Development Director for Maritime Simulation and Training at BAE Systems, said: jane’s Mimesis is a comprehensive expression of the environment of naval warfare. The movement and behavior of ships, submarines, and other platforms can be modeled, and features such as battle management systems, sensors, and effectors can be digitally replicated. It also has the potential to replicate threats and irritate operational software, he added.
Goldstone said training war teams currently requires an expensive set of experienced role players to create and play scenarios. Recently, distributed architectures have made it possible for trainees to provide role players. For example, providing a flight simulator pilot within a broader scenario.
However, Goldstone said this was not always possible and since the beginning of 2026, AI capabilities have been developed to replace role players by training large language models. “To get the correct response, we told it: This is the role you’re playing, this is your call sign, this is what you’ll respond to, and these are the actions you can take in response to this input.”
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