Understanding the Future

As a company, QinetiQ is at the heart of major initiatives within the UK MoD’s NEC Delivery Strategy and the evolving NEC Command and Information Systems (CIS) Integration Assurance Strategy. QinetiQ is at the forefront of providing NEC and Command, Control, Communications, Computing, Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (C4ISTAR) related independent advice, research and technology development to the UK and other governments.

The UK NEC Delivery Strategy has been supported by QinetiQ in two main areas: the provision of implementation teams to support MoD staff in defining the Military Capabilities to be enabled by Networking, and the development of a capability based NEC roadmap. In addition QinetiQ has been involved in the following NEC related programmes: Acquisition for NEC, Experimentation
programmes supporting Exercises, Network Enabled Training Capability (Land), Strategy Development and supporting the UK MoD’s Directors of Equipment Capability in their understanding of NEC.

The UK NEC CIS Assurance Strategy looks at such areas as interoperability rules, technical standards and processes in order to deliver CIS integration as part of NEC. In support of this, QinetiQ is leading in formulating architectural frameworks, developing readiness rules, providing guidance on integration and assurance issues and ensuring integration is considered as part of system throughlife
management.

In all of these areas, QinetiQ has played a key role in developing MoD’s understanding of the strategic goals and objectives of NEC. This close involvement with the military customer has given QinetiQ a unique insight into the NEC challenges of today and the likely needs of tomorrow. Building on this knowledge, they have been able to develop an understanding of the network tools and protocols necessary to ensure success in military operations by getting the right information to the right people at the right time.

In supporting evolving NEC needs and understanding, QinetiQ has a number of key strengths. A well informed appreciation of all military domains allows it to offer well informed and innovative approaches to the most challenging interoperability issues. This is linked to knowledge at the fundamental level of virtually all military systems, enabling them to offer novel integration solutions that bring together legacy and new equipment at all levels.
Building on this deep and wide ranging knowledge, QinetiQ is ideally placed to provide totally independent and impartial support to ensure through-life optimum performance for virtually all military systems.
All of this is founded on the Company’s biggest asset, which is its people's ability to take a truly innovative approach to delivering cost effective capability no matter how complex the technical challenge.

Finally, the Company’s success is built on its ability to work in close partnership with many manufacturers of defence equipment in gaining the best possible overall integration results for the customer.

View a large image of The Edge Organisation

QinetiQ has been commissioned by the US Department of Defence (DoD) to examine which C2 mechanisms are required for Edge Organisations to operate and what impact they have on the acquisition of military capability.

To support this work QinetiQ has utilised its High Level Operations using Command Agents (HiLOCA) model, which provides measures of operational outcome for a wide range of system capabilities and mixes of NEC assets. It models combat units with their sensors and weapons systems, and HQ processes.

This is a very sophisticated model which replicates land/air combat at the divisional level and enables experimentation in the effectiveness of different C2 structures.