QinetiQ to help Royal Navy make ships and submarines invisible QinetiQ has won a £18.7m (US$23m) contract, Operational Assessment of Signatures Informing Susceptibility (OASIS), that will help reduce the acoustic and electromagnetic signatures of the Royal Navy’s submarines and ships and protect the men and women who serve on them from adversaries.

QinetiQ press release

Each ship or submarine has a unique acoustic and electromagnetic signature – the bigger this signature the easier it is to detect, identify and potentially attack. Measuring and understanding this signature over the lifetime of a vessel gives Navy Command and Commanding Officers the confidence that they are ready to fight and win in combat at sea.

Over a dozen services will be made available through the existing Long Term Partnering Agreement (LTPA) – using the new event types and the output based approach to deliver a more cost effective service to the Royal Navy. The outputs are provided from a range of signature detection capabilities including underwater radiated noise; radar cross section; target echo strength; and electromagnetics supported by an extensive range of facilities, equipment and software delivered by highly skilled and knowledgeable engineers.

As part of the new contract all signature information collected will be stored within the Navy’s Maritime Knowledge Management (MKM) system, enabling stakeholders to access and use the repository of information as an aid to decision making on the management of individual platform signatures.

Commodore Martyn Williams, Royal Navy said: “The ability to maintain an in-depth knowledge of a ship or submarines acoustic and electromagnetic signature is an essential part of maintaining a battle winning edge – we can see them before they see us. But it is more than that. The data we collect today will inform the fleet of tomorrow and give us the information we need to respond to new threats at pace.”

Steve Fitz-Gerald, QinetiQ’s Managing Director of Maritime, Land and Weapons, said: “In a world where the pace of technological change is increasing and those that would wish the UK harm have access to ever more sophisticated equipment, it is vital that the Royal Navy is able to protect its fleet of warships and the women and men who serve on them.

“We are making a massive investment to create a modernised LTPA and the OASIS contract will be able to turn this investment into real value for our customers. Teams across QinetiQ continue to play a significant role in the modernisation of UK test and evaluation and development of capability for our forces.”