Army Training Modernization to Elevate VirTra to Prime Contractor Status
A review of federal procurement databases and military program developments shows VirTra, Inc. (VTSI) is likely months away from securing its first prime military award. As the military shifts to commercial off-the-shelf synthetic training environments, the company is competing for a pipeline of defense contracts, including within a $22 billion Army initiative that has just started its prime contractor selection process.
Disclaimer: I am long $VTSI at the time of publication and may change my position at any time. Paid subscribers received early access to this report and were notified in advance via email. See full disclosures below.
Until 2018, VirTra focused almost exclusively on training simulators for police departments.
That strategy shifted when founder Bob Ferris started adapting the company’s technology stack for the military, mirroring his post-9/11 pivot from the entertainment industry to law enforcement.1
To execute the expansion, VirTra brought on John Givens, a military simulation expert who sold his previous company, Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim), to BAE Systems for $200 million in 2022.2 3 4 Appointed sole CEO the following year, Givens inherited a company that couldn't even fulfill its own orders.5
"It was horrible,” Givens said. “I came in and we had customers that hadn't received their orders for two years. The average was 12 to 14 months. [Now it's] four to seven days.”
“Backlog to bookings used to be 95% backlog and 5% bookings,” he added. Now, “the ratio should be... 80% bookings and 20% backlog.”6
Instead, VirTra exited 2025 with a record $25.6 million backlog, just shy of its $26.7 million in total bookings. Severe federal funding delays trapped those orders in the backlog, temporarily freezing the company’s revenue cycle.
Those budgetary pressures are now easing as fiscal 2025 funding, approved in prior periods, is finally released. Just last month, several grant programs reopened, including the Justice Assistance Grant (JAG), the Justice Department’s largest funding source for police equipment and training.7
THE $22 BILLION FLAGSHIP SIMULATION PROGRAM
Instead of relying on lower dollar awards from a fragmented market of tens of thousands of law enforcement agencies, VirTra is now competing for multimillion-dollar defense contracts in a single military hub in Orlando, Florida.
The military’s flagship simulation program is the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), an initiative developed to improve the combat readiness of soldiers in a synthetic training environment.
The Army launched a two-year prototyping effort in September 2018, signing an agreement the following month for Microsoft to adapt its commercial HoloLens 2 augmented-reality goggles for military combat and training use.8
After nearly two years of development, the Army awarded Microsoft a base five-year contract to produce a militarized version of the headset, including a five-year extension option and a potential agreement ceiling of $21.88 billion.9
Early prototypes, however, failed in the rain, forcing the Army to push the timeline into fiscal 2022.10
By late 2022, operational tests exposed several hardware and software deficiencies. Soldiers reported “mission-affecting physical impairments,” including headaches, eyestrain, and nausea, prompting the Army to renegotiate the contract.11 12 “The devices would have gotten us killed,” one tester said.13
During follow-on efforts to redesign the prototypes, Anduril Industries took over the stalled project in February 2025, assuming oversight of production, future development of hardware and software, and delivery timelines, while retaining Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud infrastructure.14
Around that time, the Army issued a new solicitation for the Soldier Borne Mission Command (SBMC), explicitly seeking technologies that mitigate problems like visual discomfort and nausea. That program effectively supersedes IVAS.15
In September 2025, the Army awarded Anduril and Rivet Industries more than $350 million in contracts for a phase-one prototyping period.16 17 The agreement requires prime contractors to supply sample hardware for testing roughly seven months post-award, placing the delivery window this month.18 Anduril founder Palmer Luckey said the first “scaled delivery” under the new agreement is expected in 2027.19
Unlike the Microsoft-led IVAS, SBMC is a multi-vendor, multi-service initiative. “We told the government... we actually think you should have multiple vendors, and you should have multiple different types of hardware systems,” Luckey said.
Fourteen industry partners are already part of Anduril’s software architecture, and the Army continues to add prime contractors to the roster. Last month, Elbit Systems secured a $120.5 million contract to develop a helmet-mounted SBMC system,20 followed three days later by a 10-year, $20 billion award to Anduril to consolidate current and future commercial solutions.21
Among Anduril’s defense contracts, IVAS accounts for the vast majority of its total potential awards.22
Long story short, the multi-year wait through delays and funding freezes is finally over.
During its earnings call three weeks ago, Kopin Corporation (KOPN) said: “SBMC, formerly known as IVAS, the $22 billion Army program now under Anduril, continues to progress prime contractor selections and critical technology acquisition areas and wins are expected.”23
VirTra is already embedded in the ecosystem. In April 2024, the company secured a $5.9 million order to integrate its recoil hardware into Microsoft’s original IVAS prototypes, a deal management described as a “continuation in VirTra’s engagement with the IVAS program.”24
To secure this win, VirTra acquired the patent portfolio from Tiberius Technology in February 2019, noting the target’s drop-in recoil patents “could perfectly match” future military needs.25 26 That intellectual property has since grown with specialized patent awards up to last month.27 28
After completing its final IVAS development phase 42 days ahead of schedule, the Army skipped further soldier assessments due to the system’s “outstanding performance.” Management called the program’s shift to Anduril “a significant positive development,” noting the company is now testing recoil kits for the final prototypes to secure “future production-stage opportunities.”29
VirTra has previously noted the military is “looking at buying thousands and thousands of recoil kits.”30 Yet because of Microsoft-related delays, the IVAS program burned through just 6% of its massive contract ceiling.31
Now, the math resets.
If the SBMC program reaches its predecessor’s funding ceilings and VirTra continues as the recoil hardware provider, the company’s potential pipeline from SBMC alone exceeds $90 million.
THE $50 MILLION PRIME CATALYST
After entering the military market as a subcontractor, VirTra is now targeting federal awards as a prime contractor. Management recently confirmed they are bidding as the prime on “larger contracts,” noting “there’s quite a few of them in all different branches of the service.”32
One such initiative is the Soldier Virtual Trainer (SVT) system.
The Army Contracting Command in Orlando (ACC-Orlando) is currently conducting market research to find capabilities that meet the SVT requirements. According to military documents, the SVT will replace legacy training systems by combining Weapons Skills Development, Joint Fires Training, and Use of Force capabilities in one single system.33
ACC-Orlando hosts monthly briefings to update industry partners on procurement timelines. During a January 2026 session, the agency valued the SVT program at an estimated $50 million, with funding secured through 2028. Officials initially projected a formal solicitation for the second quarter of fiscal 2026, followed by a contract award in the third quarter.34
A month later, the Army adjusted the expected award date to the second half of the fiscal year and defined the period of performance as a one-year base with four-year options. Because the federal government calendar ends on September 30, that places the target window for the $50 million contract between April and September of this year.35
The Army is already soliciting early SVT-related contracts. In February, ACC-Orlando issued a solicitation to develop a virtual marksmanship simulator compatible with Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) to accelerate component development. Responses are due in just two days, on April 15.36
VirTra has already proven it can answer the call. Last fall, the company gave an invited demonstration of its portable V-100 simulator to an Army acquisition office that works directly with ACC-Orlando, claiming the technology “exceeded requirements.” The demo was configured to address the three SVT target capabilities: Weapons Skills Development, Joint Fires Training, and Use of Force.37
The V-100 simulator runs on Virtual Battlespace 4 (VBS4), the Army’s chosen virtual environment since July 2025. That software is provided by BISim, the company Givens founded.38 39
VirTra hosted the demonstration at its new facility in Orlando, the capital of military simulation training.40 The building includes simulation demonstration rooms for visiting military clients and sits just a three-minute drive from ACC-Orlando headquarters.41
Givens has said he was brought into VirTra to help scale the military division and secure an Orlando footprint, restructuring operations so he would be “comfortable and proud bringing [his] customers to the company.”42
Management has explicitly quantified the upside of those prospective customers. During a recent earnings call, Givens stated that securing just one or two of these military contracts “could be one-third of VirTra’s earnings in a year. And that’s what we’re targeting.”43
That target extends far beyond a single branch.
Management confirmed “active programs and evaluations are underway across the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps.”44 All these branches house their simulation and training program offices in the same modeling, simulation, and training (MS&T) community, known as Team Orlando. BISim is headquartered right next door.45
Givens has made his ambitions clear: ”In the next couple years, my goal is a $200 million company.”46
He achieved that exact valuation with BISim.
As federal funding unfreezes, the Army pipeline advances, and other military branches deploy their simulation budgets, the catalysts are in place for him to do it again.
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