Experts Deliver Synthetic Training Capability to Royal Navy

• QinetiQ and Inzpire established an Exercise Control facility that included a dynamically controlled synthetic training environment, threat modelling and secure communications
• Exercise scenarios included asymmetric threats, escorting of high value units, and more complex surface and air warfare situations

A team of experts from QinetiQ and Inzpire concluded the delivery of a Platform Enabled Training Capability (PETC) concept demonstration to the Royal Navy. The demonstration, which ran in February, 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 their 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.

To ensure the training met the Navy’s requirements, the team worked in conjunction with members of the Fleet Operational Sea Training organisation 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 - a crucial component to any training event.

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.

The Navy’s Head of Future Training, Captain Dan Vincent, said: “This demonstration represents an important milestone for the future of naval collective training and the Defence Operational Training Capability (Maritime).  It shows the technology is feasible and emphasises the importance of synthetics in getting the right training capability directly to front-line warships.”