UK MoD teams up with British Esports to boost troops’ drone skills

PARIS — The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence is teaming up with the British Esports Federation to set up a military esports tournament and boost the digital and cyber skills of its armed forces personnel.

The new esports collaboration will include a focus on artificial intelligence and drone operation, the MoD said in a statement on Tuesday. Improving the digital skills of military personnel will help boost U.K. war-fighting readiness, according to the ministry.

The MoD cited the example of Ukraine, which produces its own drone-simulator games to improve hand-eye coordination. Ukraine has become a crucible of military drone innovation, with unmanned aerial vehicles omnipresent on the battlefield, and first-person view drones now seen as responsible for most of the Russian and Ukrainian casualties .

“We’ve learned from our Ukrainian partners about how esports can train drone operators and cyber security specialists,” Lt. Gen. Tom Copinger-Symes, deputy commander of UK Strategic Command, said in the statement.

“As competition and conflict increasingly play out in cyberspace and the digital arena, these games equip our people to think, operate and innovate across both the physical and virtual worlds, developing team coordination and rapid decision-making under pressure,” Copinger-Symes said.

As well as offering entertainment during down time, gaming has seen use to train troops for decades, with the U.S. Marines playing a modified version of the game Doom as early as the 1990s. The U.S. has been leading in military use of video games, collaborating with publishers including Ubisoft and organizing its inaugural first Armed Forces Esports Championship in 2022.

The U.K. recognized esports as an official military sport just over a year ago, according to the MoD. Copinger-Symes said esports “perfectly complement” the century-old use of ballgames such as rugby and football to develop teamwork, fitness and resilience.

The British Esports Federation, the country’s national body for competitive video gaming, will be tasked with setting up a defense and industry esports tournament, with the first finals of the future International Defence Esports Games to be held in the U.K. in late 2026.

The games will help members of the armed forces develop cyber, digital and more general military skills, according to the MoD, which said the event will initially be open to service personnel including reservists, before expanding to include cadets, veterans, civil servants and anyone working in the defense industry.

The event is being supported by suppliers including BAE Systems as well as several smaller military technology companies, according to the ministry.

Esports will help the armed forces attract, develop and retain cyber and digital talent, according to Al Carns, the U.K. Minister for Veterans and People.

“From drone operations to data analysis, modern defense and deterrence needs agile minds that can navigate both physical and digital battlegrounds,” Carns said. The planned games are “an exciting initiative that will help foster exactly these skills in a fun, collaborative way, and overcome many traditional boundaries between our international partners.”

The Royal Navy previously teamed up with British Esports to create an esports facility aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, the MoD said.

To address additional needs for cyber-security specialists, the MoD announced a bespoke route for would-be cyber professionals and those with existing digital skills to join the force, with new-recruit basic training cut to around one month from 10 weeks, followed by three months of specialist training in the field.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——英国国防部正与英国电子竞技联合会合作，筹办一项军事电子竞技锦标赛，以提升其武装部队人员的数字和网络技能。

英国国防部周二在一份声明中表示，新的电子竞技合作项目将重点关注人工智能和无人机操作。国防部还表示，提升军人的数字技能将有助于增强英国的作战准备能力。

英国国防部以乌克兰为例，该国自行研发无人机模拟游戏以提高手眼协调能力。乌克兰已成为军事无人机创新的摇篮，无人机在战场上随处可见，而第一人称视角无人机被认为是造成俄罗斯和乌克兰大部分伤亡的罪魁祸首。

“我们从乌克兰合作伙伴那里了解到，电子竞技可以如何培训无人机操作员和网络安全专家，”英国战略司令部副司令汤姆·科平格-赛姆斯中将在声明中说。

“随着竞争和冲突越来越多地在网络空间和数字领域上演，这些游戏能够让我们的人员在物理世界和虚拟世界中思考、行动和创新，培养团队协作能力和在压力下快速决策的能力，”科平格-西姆斯说。

除了在闲暇时间提供娱乐之外，电子游戏几十年来也一直被用于训练军队。早在20世纪90年代，美国海军陆战队就开始玩《毁灭战士》（Doom）的修改版。美国在电子游戏的军事应用方面一直处于领先地位，与育碧（Ubisoft）等发行商合作，并在2022年举办了首届武装部队电子竞技锦标赛。

据英国国防部称，英国在一年多前正式承认电子竞技为军事体育项目。科平格-西姆斯表示，电子竞技与橄榄球和足球等已有百年历史的球类运动“完美互补”，有助于培养团队合作精神、体能和韧性。

英国电子竞技联合会（英国电子竞技协会）是该国竞技电子游戏的国家机构，将负责筹办国防和工业电子竞技锦标赛，未来的国际国防电子竞技大赛的首届决赛将于 2026 年底在英国举行。

据英国国防部称，这些比赛将帮助武装部队成员发展网络、数字和更广泛的军事技能。国防部表示，该活动最初将向包括预备役人员在内的现役军人开放，之后将扩大到包括学员、退伍军人、公务员和任何在国防工业工作的人员。

据国防部称，此次活动得到了包括 BAE 系统公司在内的供应商以及几家规模较小的军事技术公司的支持。

英国退伍军人及人民事务大臣阿尔·卡恩斯表示，电子竞技将帮助武装部队吸引、培养和留住网络和数字人才。

卡恩斯表示：“从无人机操作到数据分析，现代国防和威慑需要能够灵活应对实体和数字战场的敏捷人才。” 他还说，计划中的这些演习“是一项令人兴奋的举措，它将以一种有趣、协作的方式帮助培养这些技能，并打破我们国际合作伙伴之间的许多传统壁垒。”

英国国防部表示，皇家海军此前曾与英国电子竞技协会合作，在威尔士亲王号航空母舰上建立了一个电子竞技设施。

为了满足对网络安全专家的额外需求，英国国防部宣布了一项针对有志成为网络安全专业人员和拥有现有数字技能的人员的定制途径，以加入该部队。新兵的基础训练从 10 周缩短到大约 1 个月，然后进行 3 个月的专业领域培训。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。