A global leader in creating and delivering military-grade shooting ranges and imparting live fire training, REMAYA offers a variety of complete turnkey solutions and complex systems. Manuel Wipf, CEO of REMAYA, speaks about designing and developing bespoke, custom-built live fire training centres using the latest virtual reality technologies, cutting-edge live fire target systems, robotics and simulation systems. Excerpts from the interview:
REMAYA Training Centre in Al Ain is a purpose-built live fire training facility where a realistic environment is provided to train and certify defence and security forces from around the world
Manuel Wipf, CEO of REMAYA
Manuel is a defence specialist and former member of the Swiss Army, with nearly three decades of international experience across the USA, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. His capabilities have played a key role in establishing REMAYA as a leading entity in the local shooting and defence training industry and have led to the successful foundation of multiple defence organisations across the world. In his role as the CEO, Manuel oversees several critical functions and departments across the company and is committed to developing its core competencies while maximising avenues for commercial success.
A key player in the Missiles & Weapons Cluster at EDGE since its inception in 2009, REMAYA has been creating and delivering military-grade shooting ranges and imparting live fire training for defence forces, corporations, NGOs, and nations worldwide. How challenging has been the road to success?
Our belief in offering the best facilities available has been a positive guiding proposition. REMAYA’s core capabilities comprise providing military training facility design and development, project management, shaping policy, building live-fire target systems, video simulation, range operations and maintenance. The company’s programmes focus on providing facilities where armed personnel can train for the future battlefield given evolving threat profile.
Could you give a detailed picture of REMAYA’s products and services like range and training area design and construction and live fire target systems supply and installation?
We create and deliver world-class military grade shooting ranges from the initial design and development stages right through to operations and managementand impart live-fire training to organisations serving and enhancing the skills of defence forces.
Our REMAYA Training Centre (RTC) provides training in a realistic location and under appropriate climatic conditions, using the latest customisable targetry systems and range management software.
We provide a realistic environment for our clients to train and certify their defence and security forces from around the world at our purpose-built live fire training facility, the REMAYA Training Centre in Al Ain. We alsohostnumerous local and international certificationprogrammesfrom the UAE’s Military Qualification Authority, the US state department certified WPS (World Protection Services) program,US DOD SSS (Security Support services), Mission Support, Defensive Driving, Close Protection and Close Quarters Combat (CQC) training, and HEAT (Hostile Environment Awareness Training) and official certification for range personnel.
We also operate an unrivalled 3,000 square metre R&D workshop in the Tawazun Industrial Park in Abu Dhabi, from where we develop innovative solutions to continue improving the training experience at our facilities.
How important is firearms training and live fire facilities in a volatile world? Could you shed some light on the latest advanced technologies that REMAYA has harnessed to provide security forces the training and facilities required to be more flexible and responsive?
With the constantly changing spectrum of threats around the world, defence forces today need to be more flexible and responsive than ever. They must be ready for any challenge an operation might throw at them.
In addition to industry-leading facilities, at the heart of REMAYA’s approach to facilitating training are more than 120 trained engineers and technicians working to create custom live-fire range environments. These experts collaborate with clients to analyse training methods and understand missions and goals before implementing 21st century technologies that incorporate cutting-edge approaches to support modern training within a safe environment.
Strongly into building 21st century shooting ranges, who all are REMAYA’s major clients? What are the business prospects in the South Asian and African markets for the business?
REMAYA provides services and support to defence forces, corporations, NGOs, and nations worldwide with military-grade shooting ranges. Clients from South Asia and Africa remain important to us, and we are active in our desire to collaborate with vetted organisations from around the world.
Could you share with us REMAYA’s in-house capabilities and other strengths in providing solutions and complex systems for live fire ranges, besides the custom-designed procedures to manage, operate and maintain shooting ranges?
We are a global leader in creating and delivering military-grade shooting ranges and imparting live fire training. Our success is based on the variety of complete turnkey solutions and complex systems for live fire ranges we offer, designed, and built specifically to meet the precise demands of our clients. Today, we design and develop bespoke, custom-built live fire training centres using the latest virtual reality (VR) technologies, alongside cutting-edge live fire target systems, robotics and simulation systems. We also manage, operate, and maintain shooting ranges using state-of-the-art range management software, based on our custom-designed procedures.
Our significant differentiators include our provision of complete turnkey solutions for military-grade shooting ranges; our integrated range VR imaging with customisable range management software for designing, operating and maintaining shooting ranges; as well as our smart robotics to simulate soft targets. We also provide a fully customisable training centre, adaptable to meet our customers’ needs, and an international network of certified, accredited instructors and partners.
Did the Covid-19 pandemic affect REMAYA’s business? How did you overcome the challenges?
The ongoing pandemic has created a challenging operating environment for most commercial companies around the world, and REMAYA and its parent company, EDGE Group, are no different. However, we utilised this situation to develop new and important add-ons to our proposition, including the construction of residential facilitiesin our own training camp in Al Ain.
What is the roadmap ahead for REMAYA? What are the goals and objective you have set for the company?
We are focused on strengthening our capabilities and maintaining innovation, placing customer satisfaction at the heart of all our efforts to enhance our facilities, services, and products.
