Customer
Industry
Defense
Category
Simulated Training
Headset
Varjo XR-4
Patria is Finland’s leading provider of defense, security, and aerospace solutions, with a legacy that spans over a century. Established as a trusted partner to both domestic and international defense forces, Patria delivers cutting-edge technologies and comprehensive training systems that support critical operations across land, sea, and air domains.
Military vehicle crew operations involve navigating and controlling a range of specialized land vehicles designed for combat, transport, reconnaissance, and support roles in demanding environments. Each vehicle type has distinct operational capabilities which require tailored handling skills and coordination procedures.
A typical military vehicle crew consists of a driver, responsible for maneuvering the vehicle; a commander, who oversees navigation, communication, and tactical decision-making; and a gunner, who operates the vehicle’s weapon systems. Crew members must function as a cohesive unit under pressure and make real-time decisions while reacting to changing battlefield conditions.
Traditionally, training for vehicle crews involves a combination of classroom instruction, physical mock-ups, full-scale simulators, and live field exercises. These methods often require large-scale infrastructure, substantial logistical resources, and real vehicles or replicas with operational weapon systems. While highly effective for hands-on experience, traditional training setups can be rigid, costly to scale, and limited in scenario variety. This makes it challenging to replicate diverse tactical environments or rapidly shift between vehicle configurations.
Recognizing the need for a more adaptive, cost-efficient, and space-conscious training platform, Patria set out to reimagine how military vehicle crews could be trained. The goal was to maintain simulation realism while minimizing logistical complexity.
“We wanted to create a product that fits into a classroom environment and can easily adapt into various configurations while keeping the costs low,” says Ilkka Ruuskanen, Product Manager at Patria.
This resulted in the development of Patria SHIFTR: a mixed reality-based simulator tailored to modern crew training needs. The solution includes training stations for each crew member: driver, commander and gunner, with a central focus on perfecting tactical cooperation within the team.
What sets SHIFTR apart is its intelligent use of mixed reality across every crew position. The training setup strikes a balance between physical and virtual elements: all components requiring interaction, such as steering wheels, control panels, or weapon interfaces, are physically present, while the surrounding operational context is fully virtualized. This hybrid approach ensures immersion without compromising realism or tactile feedback.
The driver sees a fully physical dashboard, complete with screens, buttons, steering wheel, and gear lever. The commander interacts with a real-world C4i interface and battle management system (BMS), with the configuration customizable based on each customer’s specific operational tools.
The gunner, meanwhile, operates real weapon system controllers embedded into the virtual landscape – for instance, the Kongsberg CORE™ simulator, which is precisely masked within the XR environment for authenticity.
SHIFTR’s instructor station combines Patria’s custom IOS GUI with native VBS4 features to provide an intuitive training management interface. Instructors have access to real-time video streams from each station, can trigger malfunction simulations, and review historical performance data through automated charts.
This includes actionable insights such as ammunition and fuel savings, which can be valuable metrics for customers tracking environmental compliance or calculating return on investment.
With the Varjo XR-4 headset’s eye tracking, instructors can monitor exactly where each trainee is focusing during exercises. For example, they can simulate a malfunction and observe whether the trainee notices a warning indicator, then use a pointer to direct attention if something is missed.
For organizations seeking to further gamify training and engagement, SHIFTR offers optional integration with VRAI’s HEAT analytics platform. HEAT assigns each trainee a profile to track progress over time and tailor training parameters. It can capture performance metrics of the customer’s choosing, such as attention focus, weapon hit percentage, and length of radio communication, turning raw scenario data into actionable insights. The result is a more engaging and accelerated learning process, complete with personal scorecards to encourage healthy competition in the classroom.
Ruuskanen emphasizes that while SHIFTR is positioned as an entry-level simulator, Patria was not willing to compromise on quality where it truly matters. “We aimed for targeted fidelity,” he explains. The decision to use Varjo XR-4 headsets was driven by their exceptional performance in high-fidelity mixed reality applications and Varjo’s strong presence in the military sector.
“Varjo is the best headset for high fidelity mixed reality applications with a large customer base in military. The headsets have a solid set of features for our needs out-of-the-box,” Ruuskanen says, highlighting built-in capabilities like the integrated speaker, microphone, and eye tracker. “With the XR-4 having a built-in microphone and speakers, we don’t need to worry about fitting any additional headphones on top of the XR headset.” He also notes the outstanding customer support from Varjo, with response times “sometimes within minutes.”
Beyond technical features, Ruuskanen sees XR technology as increasingly vital to the future of military training particularly in environments with limited physical space where traditional visual setups aren’t feasible. “XR will take more role in the training solutions as the technology and applications evolve.“
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