QinetiQ wins UV C2 contract

24th November 2015 - 14:30 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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QinetiQ has been awarded a contract by the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) to deliver a command and control demonstration system for the co-ordination of multiple unmanned vehicles, the company announced on 19 November.

The contract is valued at £4.2 million. BAE Systems, Thales and Seebyte are also involved in the work, lead by QinetiQ.

Under the contract, the company will develop a transportable solution capable of integrating unmanned systems from multiple suppliers. The aim of the contract is to minimise the number of screens and controls required to conduct missions, to improve efficiency and reduce the risk of human error.

The deployment of the system is planned during the Royal Navy’s Unmanned Warrior showcase in October 2016, where the system will support a series of demonstrations, including a comparison of mine countermeasures carried out by manned and unmanned craft.

Philip Smith, ship systems and integrated survivability programme manager, Dstl, said: ‘The control of multiple vehicles from different vendors and across the land, sea and air environments will be a major achievement. This project is an important component in helping to shape the navy’s exploitation of unmanned vehicles and will make significant progress in their integration into the combat system.’

Commander Peter Pipkin of the Royal Navy, said: ‘This is an important part of showing the true potential of unmanned systems. Being able to demonstrate the end-to-end flow of information to enable better decision making is key and an important enabler for our demonstrations next year.’