QinetiQ and Inzpire Limited have concluded the delivery of a Platform Enabled Training Capability (PETC) concept demonstration to the Royal Navy. PETC is part of the wider Defense Operational Training Capability (Maritime) (DOTC(M)) program which will enable ship crews to train together from their own operations rooms.
The demonstration, which ran from 21 Feb – 24 Feb, delivered synthetic training to HMS KENT’s warfare team directly into the ship’s operations room.
Using secure communications links from Portsdown Technology Park, QinetiQ generated a synthetic training environment that, through its advanced sensor emulators, was fed directly into the ship’s combat system. The exercise was then coordinated and directed by experts from Inzpire’s Maritime and Collective Training divisions to generate an operational scenario which the ship’s team could interact with using their own on-board systems.
The team worked in conjunction with members of the Fleet Operational Sea Training organization to ensure the training met the Navy’s requirements and to ensure the ship’s team were immersed in a realistic training mission in a representative environment, with accurate geography and relevant threats.
QinetiQ and Inzpire established an Exercise Control facility that included a dynamically controlled synthetic training environment, threat modelling and secure communications for voice, satellite and tactical datalinks, leveraging extensive infrastructure and capability already present at Portsdown Technology Park. A suite of sensor emulations interfaced with the ship’s combat system to safely present the complex, immersive and interactive training scenario to the audience in their own operating environment.
Inzpire personnel designed the exercise scenarios that included asymmetric threats, escorting of high value units, as well as more complex surface and air warfare situations; the preparation phase included research into real-world threats and geographic considerations to ensure the training was as realistic as possible. Inzpire also provided operational staff during the training delivery phase and data from the event was captured for replay, objective analysis and after-action review.
The demonstration was attended by a cross-section of Royal Navy personnel including Director Force Generation, Rear Admiral Moorhouse; Director Force Development, Rear Admiral Parkin; and the Deputy Director Future Training, Commodore Andy Cree.
“This demonstration marks a critical achievement towards the Navy’s future synthetic training capability and showcased the power of collaboration between the Royal Navy, QinetiQ and Inzpire in ensuring successful delivery,” said Christina Balis, Global Campaign Director, Training and Mission Rehearsal at QinetiQ.
“Use of synthetics is ever more critical to training efficiency and operational effectiveness,” said Nick Borbone, Head of Maritime Division at Inzpire. “This demonstration is an important step on the path to delivering realistic training to ships and task groups wherever and whenever they need it.”
“This demonstration represents an important milestone for the future of naval collective training and the Defence Operational Training Capability (Maritime),” said the Navy’s Head of Future Training, Captain Dan Vincent. “It shows the technology is feasible and emphasizes the importance of synthetics in getting the right training capability directly to front-line warships.”
