STAVANGER, Norway – During a training event on January 13, the NATO Joint Warfare Centre’s (JWC) exercise teams participated in a Maven Smart System (MSS) demonstration. The MSS training focused on artificial intelligence (AI) tools and applications specialized for warfare development.
The integration of MSS into JWC’s exercise planning and delivery is a key element of the JWC’s ongoing digital transformation.
As NATO’s first AI-enabled command and control platform, MSS will bolster the efficiency and effectiveness of JWC-directed multi-domain exercises, which are NATO’s largest and the most complex at the operational and strategic levels.
“Maven Smart System provides a new way of delivering multi-domain deterrence,” wrote Colonel Kevin Rafferty, the JWC’s Deputy Chief of Staff Exercises, Training and Innovation, in an article for the JWC’s warfare journal, The Three Swords.
“It is an exciting time to experiment with and exploit cutting-edge technology as part of the digitalization of the Alliance, which is the backbone of delivering integrated multi-domain deterrence.”
Data-centric mindset for readiness and long-term focus
Lieutenant Colonel Jered, a member of the JWC’s MSS Integrated Project Team, explained that the aim of showcasing the JWC’s newly developed MSS tools was to ensure collaboration amongst staff. The event also served to explore how digitalization can accelerate the generation of high-quality warfare development-related content for exercises.
With AI and machine learning technologies available through MSS, the JWC can digitize the exercise process, ensuring faster and better-quality outputs for the warfighter.
Asked about the shift from achieving training objectives to a broader focus on warfare development, Lieutenant Colonel Jered noted that the training objectives were, though vital, “reactive in nature, designed to prepare forces to address known scenarios.”
He went on to contrast warfare development objectives as focusing on “building a strategic advantage by developing new concepts, approaches, and capabilities that anticipate future threats, whether traditional or unconventional.”
Lieutenant Colonel Jered underlined that advanced technologies such as Maven Smart System would help the JWC to more capably integrate warfare development into the NATO exercises it directs.
“Warfare development objectives consider geopolitical shifts, the strategic interests of NATO members, and the future direction of conflict, ensuring exercises remain relevant at all levels of interoperability and decision-making across echelons. To achieve this level of innovation in our exercises, we need to establish a data-centric mindset within the JWC, focusing on experimentation for ‘fight tonight’ and ‘fight tomorrow’ concepts and challenges,” he added.
The JWC’s 2030 Setting Data Manager Lead, Mr Thomas, underlined that MSS boasts the data transformation capability necessary to build interconnected datasets that can support complex scenarios on multi-domain deterrence and defence.
This new level of data fusion demonstrates massive transformation in JWC’s exercise production and support.
“The Maven Smart System has provided the JWC with an exciting new toolset for data transformation, fusion, organization and display. Our task force has been hard at work developing tools that we believe will make us more efficient, adaptable, and capable. We can put a working example in front of end users within days, allowing for regular feedback and refinement of the tools. The close relationship between developer and user helps us determine where we can leverage AI to turbocharge production, and where we need a human touch to produce the best results. Our goal is to put the right information at the fingertips of our expert staff, and I believe we are already making strides towards that end,” Mr Thomas said.
JWC to lead HQ SACT’s Project for AI in NATO Training
In January 2026, Admiral Pierre Vandier, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT), transferred responsibility for the implementation of AI in NATO training activity to the JWC.
The project falls under the umbrella of the Audacious Training Initiative jointly led by NATO’s two Strategic Commands, Allied Command Operations (ACO) and ACT.
Audacious Training leverages AI and digital automation to transform NATO exercise planning and execution.
Implementation of this beacon project aligns the JWC’s exercise delivery with Allied Command Operations’ exercise requirements and supports the ongoing development of the MSS.
“By automating main events list/main incidents list scripting and integrating adaptive, data-driven training methodologies, we can enhance exercise realism, responsiveness, and operational efficiency. It also substantially reduces the workforce burden,” Lieutenant Colonel Jered added.
Headquarters Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT) will retain oversight of the beacon project to ensure coherence, scalability, and sustained benefit for the Alliance, while establishing detailed governance, reporting, and financial coordination mechanisms with the JWC to guide the project’s way forward.
Through data-centric and AI-enabled technology, the JWC strives to transform NATO’s exercise process, enabling SACT’s vision to be bold in thinking, fast in delivery and unified in purpose.
By establishing scalable and interoperable digital standards the JWC will help ensure NATO-wide value and long-term transformation.
Further Reading:
The Joint Warfare Centre Trains to Integrate Maven Smart System
NATO Allied Command Transformation Launches First Adoption Board to Accelerate Innovation
