QinetiQ has contributed to the Royal Navy’s recent Med Strike exercise by delivering live and synthetic aerial threats intended to test the air defence capabilities of a multinational Carrier Strike Group operating in the Mediterranean.
QinetiQ launched 16 uncrewed Banshee Whirlwind aerial targets from the support ship SD Northern River and, through its subsidiary Inzpire, added hundreds of simulated threats to the exercise’s command and control environment.
The Med Strike training event was conducted in collaboration with the Royal Navy’s Joint Training and Exercise Planning Staff, part of the Fleet Operational Standards & Training team. The exercise aimed to replicate modern drone threats in order to assess how naval platforms detect, track and respond to them in a coordinated operational setting.
Participating units included HMS Prince of Wales, HMS Dauntless, HMS Richmond and the Italian aircraft carrier Cavour. Naval and aerial assets from Denmark, France, Norway, Spain and the United States were also involved.
Simon Galt, Managing Director Air of QinetiQ’s UK Defence Sector, said the activity was intended to prepare crews for contemporary threats:
“The successful execution of the Med Strike serials allowed the Strike Group to train against representative threats, putting its air defence capabilities to the test in an operational environment,” Galt said. “This important work builds on the support we provided to the Royal Navy at the Sharpshooter exercise in April, demonstrating our role as a trusted, long-term Test, Trials, Training and Evaluation partner for the UK and its allies.”
Captain Hugh Harris of the Royal Navy described the effort as a milestone:
“The role of the Royal Navy’s Joint Training and Exercise Planning Staff is to deliver complex and realistic maritime warfare training to UK and Allied forces. This collaboration with QinetiQ and Inzpire has proved our ability to deploy contemporary live threat simulations outside of UK waters for the first time,” Harris explained.
“This is a big step forward in terms of quality, relevant and flexible training delivery. It prepares our people and proves our equipment far more comprehensively than was previously possible.”
Med Strike ran concurrently with NATO’s Formidable Shield exercise off the coast of Scotland, during which QinetiQ was also involved in threat simulation and training support.
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Post Image Credit: QinetiQ press release
