Supporting the Swedish Armed Forces for two decades

Bringing new intelligence to military training

When development began on Exonaut over 20 years ago, exercises were run and monitored using a pen and paper. Exercise data was severely lacking. It was difficult to re-run large-scale exercises without constantly `reinventing the wheel´ or to tailor exercises to meet the exact requirements of units. When launched in 2001, Exonaut brought new intelligence to military training management for the Swedish Armed Forces and they have been utilising the software ever since.

A modern tool for today’s military

“When it comes to capability development in my forces, a tool like Exonaut is crucial,” says General Micael Bydén, Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, when explaining how it used to take months to evaluate and change exercises. With Exonaut exercises can now be altered or restarted, mid-exercise in real-time, based on what is happening and predicted outcomes.

Exonaut in action: Viking – the world’s largest international staff exercises of its kind

Viking is a multinational and multidimensional Command Post Exercise (CPX) held by the Swedish Armed Forces. Thousands of participants from civilian, military, police and humanitarian organisations in 60 countries (2018) take part in the distributed, computer assisted command post exercise over a 10-day period.

4C Staff are working closely with the Swedish Armed Forces to plan the 2022 exercise using Exonaut. 4C’s Evelina Persson who is a member of Viking’s core planning team explains more. “We are currently mapping the different training objectives and scheduling the events. It’s a large undertaking that is quite unique as it brings so many different organisations together from around the world and proves the value of multi-national training as a platform for future collaboration and policy-development. During the exercise we will be monitoring performance to ensure opportunities to train objectives and attain achievement are maximised. By following performance, we can see if an exercise needs to be run faster, if more complexity should be introduced, or who, if anybody, needs more attention. Exonaut essentially enables us to alter an exercise to achieve the planned objectives. Daily reporting will keep command up to date with performance and progress.”

This is the sixth time that Exonaut has been used in the Viking Exercise, and the lessons learnt from previous years will be incorporated into Viking22. At the end of the exercise, automated reports will be delivered to team leads from each organisation.

Global military customer base

“As our first military customer, the Swedish Armed Forces have played a key role in developing the roadmap of Exonaut,” says Mikael Grape MD, 4C Strategies Nordic. “As more Armed forces have adopted the software, including the British Army, NATO, and most recently the US Army and the US Marine Corps we receive more stakeholder input which leads to new innovations. This approach is a key factor in Exonaut becoming the de facto standard for military training management software.”

General Bydén believes that Exonaut is being used by many other countries’ military forces because it’s the best tool for the job. Speaking about how Exonaut can help them as uncertainties grow, he says “We are now planning for being able to conduct operations beyond peace time, pending political decisions. If we use the same tool for planning, conducting and evaluating exercises it’s a very positive situation.”

Long-term strategic partnership

The Swedish Armed Forces cemented its long-term strategic partnership with 4C in 2017, when an agreement was signed for the provision of appropriately qualified and available personnel to each organisation. Former military 4C employees are now able to serve in the Swedish Armed Forces again while on sabbatical from the company – taking up an operational role or conducting training and exercises. Simultaneously, the Swedish Armed Forces facilitate recruitment of personnel with a military background to 4C.

Having 4C personnel available in this way enables the Swedish Armed Forces to utilise the full capabilities of Exonaut and take full advantage of 4C’s military training and exercise expertise. A typical example is that they get access to experts who have been involved in the training and development of other allied nation’s militaries. 4C, on the other hand, gain more exposure to military planning and decision-making skills and with it a greater knowledge of military thinking.

Building military capabilities

At the end of 2020, the Swedish Armed Force once again signed a three-year contract with 4C that will see the continued use of Exonaut and maintain the talent provision program.

“Since our partnership began Exonaut has been used to support the Army, Navy, Air Force and other areas within the Swedish Armed Forces,” continues Grape. “It feels good to know that we are contributing to the protection of Sweden by developing the capabilities where needed, and ultimately ensuring the armed forces are better prepared against threats.”

The most necessary tool for an armed force

Talking about the partnership and the importance of military training and exercise software General Bydén says “When I look at the last 20 years of working together with 4C Strategies, I see a very positive example of how you can develop a tool. The most necessary tool for an armed force is training and exercises – to be able to take the next step. Exonaut is the perfect tool for us, not only for planning but also for conducting and evaluating our exercises.”