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Australian Defence Force leadership and current and former personnel have attended a celebration marking 20 years of partnership between the ADF’s Joint Collective Training Branch and defence training, simulation company Calytrix Technologies.
Chief of joint operations Vice Admiral Justin Jones and Joint Collective Training Branch (JCTB) director general Brigadier Damian Hill attended the celebration in Canberra on 14 August. BRIG Hill recently acted as the exercise director overseeing more than 30,000 personnel from 19 nations taking part in Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 in July.
The Australian Defence Simulation Office originally established the Joint and Combined Training Capability (JCTC) as part of an Australian-US initiative in 2005 under Joint Project 2098.
The program was designed to create a mature systems centre delivering realistic, repeatable, and complex synthetic training environments for the ADF and its allies.
Calytrix chief executive Shawn Parr praised the company’s role in technical systems integration, operational planning, governance, exercise control, and specialist subject matter expertise across intelligence, targeting, maritime, air and special operations domains.
“This isn’t just about technology; it’s about trust, teamwork, and the shared vision that has driven two decades of success,” he said.
“We’re proud of our history with Joint and Combined Training Capability and excited about where the next 20 years will take us.”
The partnership has enabled the ADF to link live and simulated training in Australia and with US counterparts, establishing persistent Defence Training and Experimentation Network connectivity, and pioneering deployable exercise control solutions.
The event also discussed early successes of simulation to support Exercise Talisman Sabre 2007, which proved the concept, with Calytrix at the forefront as the technical lead, assembling a team of specialists from Australia and abroad to deliver live, virtual and constructive simulation effects.
From those formative years, the organisation evolved through several iterations from the Combined Management Office to the JCTC, the Australian Defence Simulation and Training Centre, and today’s J7–Joint Collective Training Branch within Headquarters Joint Operations Command, according to Calytrix program lead Matt Moncrieff, who spoke at the event.
“(These joint achievements are) a testament to innovation, persistence, and a unique example of a truly blended Defence, APS and industry workforce,” he said.
“(The) importance of long-term Defence partnerships for Australian industry that, in this case, has allowed Calytrix to grow and invest in related Australian intellectual property and capability, which is now exported worldwide.”
Each transformation has brought expanded responsibilities, improved infrastructure and a broader capability set, according to Moncrieff, and Calytrix and the JCTB remain focused on delivering cutting-edge training to meet the demands of the future force.
