BAE Systems introduces AI role player into Mimesis simulation

The BAE Systems Mimesis AI role player demonstration at ITEC 26. (Giles Ebbutt)

BAE Systems has developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven role-player capability for its Mimesis maritime battle simulator and showcased it for the first time at the 2026 International Training Technology Exhibition and Conference (ITEC 26) held in London in April.

Richard Goldstone, BAE Systems business development lead for maritime simulation and training, told Janes that Mimesis is a synthetic representation of the maritime warfare environment. It can model the movement and behaviour of ships, submarines and other platforms, and digitally replicate their capabilities including combat management systems, sensors and effectors. It can also replicate threats and stimulate operational software, he added.

Goldstone said that currently to train a warfare team requires a costly set of experienced role players to generate and play the scenario. Recently a distributed architecture has helped the training audience provide some fo the role players, for example by supplying a pilot for a flight simulator within the wider scenario.

However, Goldstone said this might not always be possible, and since the beginning of 2026 an AI capability to replace the role player had been developed by training a large language model. “To get the correct responses we told it: this is the role you're playing, this is your call sign, this is what you respond to, these are the actions that you're allowed to take in response to this input.”