QinetiQ has today brought into service two important elements of the Combined Aerial Target Service (CATS) for the UK’s armed forces, having completed a series of complex verification and evaluation trials on-time and within all the operational constraints. This contract, worth up to £308m over 20 years, was awarded to QinetiQ by the MOD on 14th December 2006.

Through the contract, QinetiQ will provide a service that meets the UK MOD’s unmanned sub-sonic aerial target requirements worldwide, including ground-based air defence training, aerial target services for the Royal Navy, and an air-to-air service for the RAF.

Both the Banshee basic aerial target and the Pop-up ground-based helicopter target, manufactured and supplied by Meggitt Defence Systems, are available via CATS with immediate effect. Validation work continues as planned so that the intermediate Voodoo aerial target will enter into service at the start of 2009. The Mirach advanced aerial target, which QinetiQ currently operates at Aberporth in South Wales as part of the 25-year Long Term Partnering Agreement (LTPA) for Test and Evaluation and Training Support services, is also on-track to come into service under the global CATS provision contract in June 2009.

In order to meet the designated operational date of 01 April 2008 for Banshee and Pop-up, QinetiQ had to work with its suppliers to develop the service and complete a complex safety case to satisfy all the necessary MOD agencies. Critical programme milestones have included delivery of the environmental impact assessments, proving airworthiness for the targets and ensuring compliance with flying regulations. QinetiQ has also had to develop the required operational infrastructure and processes to deliver a global service, plus complete a full end to-end demonstration of the capability.

Each of the proposed aerial target technologies has met a strict selection process. A key feature of CATS is that QinetiQ’s independence from manufacturers allows it to make use of the best proven targets on the market both today and in the future.

The QinetiQ team will deliver the first operational deployment under CATS in April, with targets shipped to the Falkland Islands where they will be used to train Army ground based air defence units stationed there. This will then be followed by deployments to Manorbier in Wales later in the month and at BATUS in Canada in May.