Capt. Betts, NAWCTSD leaders outline training priorities at TSIS 2026

By Cassidy Mills, Senior Staff Writer

July 21, 2026

Senior officials from the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) highlighted the U.S. Navy’s evolving training priorities, acquisition strategies and modernization efforts during the 2026 Training & Simulation Industry Symposium (TSIS) on June 18, through a keynote address and program updates.

Presented by the National Training & Simulation Association (NTSA), TSIS is one of the key gatherings for the modeling, simulation and training (MS&T) community. Within Florida, it is second in scale only to the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC).

The symposium serves as an annual forum for representatives from industry and the U.S. military to discuss training and simulation requirements. Officials from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force presented updates on current and future procurement needs. Topics included acquisition strategies, timelines and funding priorities.

Capt. Robert Betts, commanding officer of NAWCTSD and Naval Support Activity (NSA) Orlando, delivered the Navy keynote, emphasizing that the service’s highest priority is ensuring sailors and Marines are trained and ready to respond to today’s operational demands.

While the Navy continues planning for long-term strategic competition, Betts said the rapidly changing global security environment requires a force that is prepared to operate effectively now.

“Earlier this year, we talked about being ready by January 2027,” Betts explained. “That guidance has changed. We need a capable, well-trained force that’s ready to go right now.”

Betts also discussed organizational changes within the Navy’s acquisition enterprise designed to better align requirements, resources and decision-making. He said the restructuring is intended to bring program offices closer together, reduce layers of bureaucracy and improve communication throughout the acquisition process.

Despite those organizational changes, Betts added NAWCTSD has continued delivering results. He highlighted the command’s strong contract award performance and improving on-time delivery rates, noting that successfully fielding training systems is just as important as awarding contracts.

“An 80 percent training solution sitting on a shelf doesn’t help anybody,” Betts said. “We need to get those systems into the hands of sailors and Marines.”

He outlined three priorities that will shape NAWCTSD’s efforts over the coming years. The first is preparing the fleet to operate increasingly sophisticated unmanned and autonomous systems.

“As unmanned systems become a larger part of how the Navy operates, we have to be ready to train our sailors and operators to employ them,” Betts said. “That’s going to be a huge focus area for us over the coming years.”

As the Navy expands the role of uncrewed platforms across maritime operations, he said training systems must evolve alongside those capabilities to ensure operators, maintainers and support personnel are prepared to employ them effectively.

Betts explained the command’s second priority is integrating artificial intelligence into the training environment. He described AI as a tool that can support more personalized instruction, generate training scenarios more efficiently and accelerate the development of courseware and simulation content.

“We’re looking at integrating artificial intelligence into our training systems to provide more personalized training and to help generate scenarios and courseware more efficiently,” Betts said. “The goal is to improve delivery while getting better capability to the fleet faster.”

His third priority focused on accelerating the delivery of training systems to the fleet. Betts challenged industry partners to continue identifying opportunities to shorten acquisition timelines, improve performance and reduce costs.

Rather than simply responding to government requirements, he encouraged companies to provide candid feedback whenever they identify better approaches or more efficient solutions.

“If you see us doing something that’s not working, tell us,” Betts said. “If you think we can go faster, do it cheaper or deliver better performance, bring it to our attention.”

Following the keynote, NAWCTSD senior leaders Michael Merritt, acquisition director; Craig Dorrans, program director for aviation; and William Zeller, program director for surface and undersea programs, provided portfolio updates and discussed upcoming acquisition opportunities.

Throughout the presentations, the officials reinforced close collaboration between government and industry will remain critical as the Navy modernizes its training enterprise.

They each encouraged attendees to continue providing feedback, sharing innovative ideas and identifying opportunities to improve both acquisition processes and training effectiveness.

Looking ahead, Betts emphasized the command will remain focused on delivering modern, adaptable training systems that prepare sailors and Marines for an increasingly complex operational environment.

“By continuing to work together with our industry partners, we’ll deliver the training capabilities our sailors and Marines need to succeed in today’s operational environment,” Betts said.

By combining organizational improvements, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and continued collaboration with industry, NAWCTSD aims to deliver training capabilities to the fleet more rapidly while ensuring sailors and Marines remain ready to meet today’s missions and tomorrow’s challenges.