How is Mabway expanding Calian’s UK footprint?

Mabway was recently acquired by Calian, as part of Calian’s strategic expansion in the UK. The acquisition has been designed to expand Calian’s existing presence in the UK and Europe, and to bring new capabilities to the Calian training suite. Mabway brings technical solutions and role-playing expertise that adds significant value to live training. 

What is Mabway’s reach across Great Britain?

Mabway is a family-owned business based in the southwest of England, with several offices across the UK, a 500+ workforce, and services reaching into Europe and the Middle East. I joined the company in 2015 and became Operations Director in 2017. Our headquarters are in Havant with supporting offices near MoD sites. We also have a large footprint within UK military establishments including the Land Warfare Centre in Warminster and the Infantry Battle School in Warminster.

What are Mabway’s capabilities in large-scale defence role-playing environments for military training?

Mabway is involved in the design and delivery of large-scale military training events that simulate real-world operational environments and create the challenge and complexity that characterize today’s conflicts. We support training in live, virtual and constructive environments with scenario development and preparation operating environment products and operational staff work. We also provide role players, staff advisors and mentors in support of the higher headquarters, and role players to represent the human terrain that interacts directly with the training audience. This includes  casualty simulation, cultural sensitivity training and battlefield effects. Role players bring an unmatched level of realism to live training.

Is the Mabway team formed by ex-service personnel?

We employ predominantly ex-UK military and some serving UK reservists. A third of our employed weapon-handling role players are serving reservists, which brings a fantastic level of currency to the exercises we support. Our pool of consultants are almost exclusively ex-service personnel. Many of our casualty simulation role players are amputees, some who have lost limbs as a result of operational service. They, along with our able-bodied casualty simulation role players, provide high fidelity and unparalleled realism and immersive training that has both value in terms of inoculation and exposure to traumatic injury, but also provides the medium for military personnel to conduct lifesaving battlefield procedures. We are proud to be recognized by the UK Defence Employer Recognition Scheme as a Gold Award winner, and as we grow, we will continue to find new ways to support the veteran community and those with parallel careers in the Reserve Forces.

How does Mabway bring dramatic realism to military exercises?

Mabway has developed a range of role player capabilities representing over 60 specific roles within 13 generic groups, providing a flexible and highly effective training support capability. Role player capabilities include; representative indigenous populations, security forces (police and military), opposing factions, civil society representatives, casualty simulation and other specialist capabilities.

Mabway role players contribute to the delivery of dynamic training scenarios by enhancing realism and creating the conditions to develop the mental agility and competencies to prevail in managing complex and challenging operating situations. These can include; emergency and disaster response, mass casualty situations, negotiations and key leader engagement, conflict management and resolution, training,and capacity building. Mabway has an extensive inventory of costumes, props, vehicles and access to special effects to add authenticity to each training scenario. Success is assured through integrated planning by our team of event managers to ensure training objectives are realized. We will provide realism, complexity and friction to prepare individuals for a multiplicity of situations they are likely to confront. We can provide large numbers of role players to represent the human and organizational challenges people will face in dealing with a humanitarian crisis, natural disaster, civil disorder or emergency response. We can provide small numbers of role players in situations that will enable military personnel to develop emotional intelligence and empathy when interacting with individuals in a stressful and challenging situation.

How is Mabway supporting the British Army?

In June last year, Mabway was awarded the UK MoD’s Interim Actors, Audiences, Adversaries, Enemies and Specialists (IA3ES) – Project Numidian contract. The contract will run for three years with options to extend for a further two years. To enable delivery of this contract we work very closely with the Land Warfare Centre and its subordinate training delivery organizations.

How does Mabway adapt and react to an ever-changing military environment?

We realize that subtle changes to a project’s goal can impact the delivery of training in the classroom or on the ground. Since 2004 we have partnered with customers across the defence and maritime sectors, extending services from first aid courses to technical naval engineering training and the management of large-scale specialist role-playing environments, which simulate real-world training.

Our vision is to deliver outsourced services as a trusted partner with agility, imagination and flexibility. At Mabway we are constantly expanding our services to complement the ever-changing complex military environment. A recent innovation in terms of simulation is our battlefield noise effects. With the gas-operated equipment, we can simulate battlefield noises safely and flexibly with no environmental impact as a valuable replacement for explosive simulation, which has many restrictions.

What is next for Mabway’s alignment under Calian’s footprint?

Both teams complement each other well across capabilities, technologies, activities and cultures. Military training for the British Army and NATO is constantly evolving and expanding due to growing military requirements and so there are many opportunities to exploit the complementary experiences and capabilities of Mabway and Calian—definitely stronger together!