The Military Metaverse: A New Frontier for Communications and Conflict

by David Burden and Andy Fawkes

The metaverse, defined as a persistent, social, immersive, 3D digital environment, is rapidly

emerging as a domain with direct implications for defence. In military terms the metaverse can

be broadly thought of as having two major implications. First, as a transformative platform for

collaboration and information sharing in support of the full range of military activities from

procurement and training to operational command and control, and analysis.

Lessons from the war in Ukraine, including the widespread use of virtual-reality headsets to pilot First Person View (FPV) drones in combat roles, demonstrate how immersive technologies are not merely enablers of support activity but are becoming integral to frontline warfare and could provide an interface for the Digital Targeting Web. The second implication is as a future domain for competition and conflict. There is a long history of both our allies and our adversaries using the metaverse for recruitment and intelligence.

With the rise of deep-fakes and digital twins the metaverse – particularly through public virtual

worlds - is presenting new opportunities for grey-zone conflict. But those same public virtual

worlds are also creating technologies and platforms which can democratise our use of the

metaverse, enabling ground-up innovation and standards based enterprise platforms. For the

Royal Corps of Signals, the metaverse offers new opportunities for communication, collaboration and information advantage, while demanding new approaches to doctrine, security, and capability development.

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