QinetiQ Training and Simulation Designs Trainer for Royal Navy

QinetiQ Training and Simulation has been awarded a contract by the UK Ministry of Defence to design and supply a shore-based trainer that simulates the Platform Management System found aboard Britain’s fleet of six Type 45 Destroyers.

Due to be installed at HMS Sultan, home of the Defence School of Marine Engineering, in Gosport, England, the simulator will provide much needed improvement to the training, by accurately replicating the functionality and behaviour of the sophisticated on-ship system, to supply operators with a real-time picture of critical power and propulsion technologies.

The high-fidelity trainer is to include a control centre, six satellite outstations and an intuitive instructor operating station, designed using user-centred design methodologies. The simulator will contain a mix of physical controls and photo realistic touchscreen emulations. It will deliver training in line with the Type 45’s pre- and post-Propulsion Improvement Project configurations to enable the continual qualification and endorsement of marine watchkeepers.

Developed at the request of Defence Equipment and Support, the need for an updated trainer followed the completion of an extensive programme of upgrades to the aptly named Hunt-class, which uses high-definition sonar to ‘hunt’ the world’s seabeds for mines and lost explosives.

QinetiQ Training and Simulation has proven sea legs having previously developed a simulator which emulates the Machinery Control and Surveillance system found on the Royal Navy’s Hunt-class mine countermeasure vessels. The company is also on track to deliver HMS Boadicea, an immersive simulator which will support chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear training at HMS Sultan for the crews of the Royal Navy’s T23 and Hunt class vessels. The project has achieved its first important acceptance milestone.