QinetiQ delivers counter drone training to Royal Navy

Image courtesy QinetiQ

The aim of the seven-day long exercise, which took place off the East coast of Sicily, was to prepare the Carrier Strike Group in air defence and for carrier integration between NATO allies.

QinetiQ designed and delivered scenario-based threat representation serials that included the launch of 16 uncrewed Banshee Whirlwind aerial targets (above) from support ship, SD Northern River. Teams from Inzpire, a QinetiQ company, also injected hundreds of synthetic threats into the Carrier Strike Group Command and Control picture, to add further complexity to the training events.

Simon Galt, Managing Director Air of QinetiQ’s UK Defence Sector said: “As nations look to increase their readiness to defend against escalating drone threats, we’re able to draw upon our expertise in threat representation, to prepare crews for complex missions. 

"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. 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, Royal Navy said: “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. 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 took place at the same time as QinetiQ was supporting Formidable Shield off the coast of Scotland and follows the recent Sharpshooter exercise held in April.

The training delivered as part of Med Strike was in collaboration with the Joint Training Exercise and Planning Staff (JTEPS), part of the Navy’s Fleet Operational Standards & Training (FOST) team. The Carrier Strike Group was made up of a number of Royal Navy ships, including HMS Prince of Wales, HMS Dauntless and HMS Richmond, as well as the Italian aircraft carrier Cavour and surface and aerial platforms from Denmark, France, Norway, Spain and the US.