Research on military education under the rapid development and growth of armaments and equipment is booming. The field is continually gaining more key insights about this important and complex pedagogical problem. Academic interest on the systemic approach in the development of military education has consistently been a multidisciplinary effort. Based on critical assessments of the gaps in the literature, the paper cites the need to combine all elements of the educational process into a single system to achieve a focused result in the training of military personnel in educational institutions. Our list is not exhaustive, nor do we suggest that areas we do not cover are not important. Rather, we make these observations with the goal of spurring a conversation about the future of military education research, but especially a systemic approach in the development of military education.

The article presents the results of the analysis of scientific works, characterizing research activities in modern conditions of rapid scientific and technological progress, continuity of theoretical scientific thought, as well as the reflection of practical results of research of the range of issues concerning the core components of professional competence of a researcher of a higher military educational institution. The comparative characteristic of the new type of an employee defines its main components, namely mobility and professional integrated knowledge of the specialty. The conducted comparative analysis of scientific definitions of «professional competence» and «researcher’s competence» gives grounds to formulate the authors’ definition of professional competence of a researcherof  a military research institution. The professional competence of a researcher is a holistic ability that is acquired through training and consists of knowledge, experience, values, and attitudes that can be fully put into practice; consists of three core components – competence of the military research organization itself, competence of the researcher, and competence of the head of the military research organization. In addition, the competence of a researcher of the research department of a higher military educational institution and scientific institution is the level of qualification that allows to successfully solve the outlined tasks taking into account the specifics of military service for an officer and the specifics of the military organization for an employee of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The content of the professional profile of the head of a military science department is revealed as a competency consisting of the following components: decision-making culture, language culture, culture of business communication, physical culture, psychological and pedagogical culture, moral culture and the moral foundations of an officer. As for the AFU officers themselves, special attention is paid to personal physical training.