Babcock and Elbit Systems Ltd have entered into a partnering agreement to pursue the Ministry of Defence’s ‘aggressor air’ capability under the Air Support to Defence Operational Training (ASDOT) programme.

The ASDOT programme aims to meet the training component of UK air support across the Air Force, Navy, Army and Joint Forces Commands from 2020, progressively replacing existing contracted and military service provision as these programmes expire or reach their planned end of service date. In June 2016 the Ministry of Defence released information on what the UK Military Flight Training Systems Project Team would be seeking from the multi-phased programme. These requirements – still subject to refinement – currently cover the provision of live flying assets to meet training requirements for air to air combat; air to surface combat; joint terminal attack controller / forward air controller (airborne); electronic warfare; air traffic control, ground based air defence and aerospace battle management; and live gunnery.

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Roger Hardy, Chief Executive of Babcock’s Aviation sector, said:

“With an ever dynamic threat environment and the introduction of new MOD capabilities, there is a clear need for a step-change in operational training capability.

Our customers need industry partners who can adapt to a changing world by integrating technological advances which maximise synthetic training on live aircraft. Elbit Systems, with its leadership position in providing technologies that deliver representative training effects at reduced cost, is the perfect partner for us.”

Martin Fausset, CEO of Elbit Systems UK said:

“ASDOT is a long-term service delivery project, requiring broad and well established aviation capabilities, delivery to multiple UK MOD users and the ability to manage the customer’s most sensitive information. Babcock is the leader in through-life engineering, support and training, trusted to deliver by its customers and together we will provide a step change from what is available in the operational training market today.

This will enable the UK’s Armed Forces to train against representative live airborne threats with innovation and flexibility, responding to the changing environment and changing defence requirements.”