Qinetiq to carry out vessel signature collection for Royal Navy

30th August 2019 - 09:30 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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Qinetiq has won a £18.7 million Operational Assessment of Signatures Informing Susceptibility (OASIS) contract to provide data collection services to help reduce the acoustic and electromagnetic signatures of the Royal Navy’s submarines and ships.

Through the existing Long Term Partnering Agreement (LTPA) that the company has in place with the UK government, Qinetiq will use data outputs from signature detection systems to provide information to the RN.

These outputs will vary, and will include the collection of underwater radiated noise, radar cross sections, target echo strength and electromagnetics, and will be supported through a range of facilities, equipment and software.

Under the new contract all signature information collected will be stored within the navy’s Maritime Knowledge Management system, enabling users to access it to aid decision making on the management of individual platform signatures.

‘The ability to maintain an in-depth knowledge of a ship or submarines acoustic and electromagnetic signature is an essential part of maintaining a battle winning edge - we can see them before they see us,’ Cdr Martyn Williams from the Royal Navy, said.

‘But it is more than that. The data we collect today will inform the fleet of tomorrow and give us the information we need to respond to new threats at pace.’

‘We are making a massive investment to create a modernised LTPA and the OASIS contract will be able to turn this investment into real value for our customers,’ Steve Fitz-Gerald, Qinetiq’s managing director of maritime, land and weapons, added.