Submarines operate in an unforgiving, complex and highly pressurised environment where the need for absolute stealth is paramount.
Threats and technology are rapidly evolving, driving the need for new tactics, new systems and system upgrades to be developed, tested and implemented at pace.
Why do Underwater Test & Evaluation?
Test & Evaluation (T&E) is at the heart of QinetiQ’s offering to our defence customers, but why is it so important in the underwater domain and how must it evolve to meet the future requirements of our customers?
At the highest level, T&E aims to provide customers with an evidence base that allows them to make well-informed, objective decisions in relation to an underwater capability. Broadly speaking, there are three reasons to do underwater T&E in Defence:
- To assure a capability is safe – during design, manufacture, acceptance and through-life
- To assure a capability is contractually compliant (i.e. the buyer gets what they want, and what they paid for)
- To measure elements of a capability, in order to quantify operational risk
