UK virtual ship - the way forward?

The UK is about to embark on the development of a virtual ship to support both current and future ships and submarines during their lifetimes. This paper describes the background as to why the UK is considering this option, and to highlight the potential users and benefits of a virtual ship. The paper goes on to discuss some of the technical issues that will need to be addressed in the development of a UK virtual ship; for example, whether the definition of a standard, which will support an open systems philosophy to enable the maximum reuse of software components and interoperability, is appropriate. A description of a demonstrator built using the Distributed Interactive Simulation protocol is given, based on some of the components needed in an Anti-Submarine Warfare scenario. This work represented the first foray for the Sea Systems Sector into the world of synthetic environments and has provided pointers to how the virtual ship should be developed. The paper concludes with some thoughts on how we intend to make the UK virtual ship a `reality'.