GengisKhant
21st Mar 2006, 10:20
The following article has just hit the wires....., so future range practice should be booked well in advance......, that is of course, if the budget can stand up against the prices that the US will pay...! Wonder who will get priority now...!!!!
"QinetiQ has secured a contract worth up to £2.5m with the United States Air Forces Europe (USAFE) for air combat training of US aircrews. The contract is similar to QinetiQs Long Term Partnering Agreement (LTPA) with the UK MOD to operate its test and evaluation ranges over a 25-year period as, like the LTPA, it includes options to provide range services over a multi-year period.
USAFE is responsible for combat weapons training of US aircrew assigned to its units based in Europe. The training focuses on precision guided munitions and air to air and air to ground missiles and the contract with QinetiQ will allow a large portion of the training to be completed within Europe.
QinetiQs range services and aerial target systems will provide USAFE aircrews with a significant level of tactical training not available on any other European Range. The Air Range danger areas at Aberporth in Wales and the Hebrides and West Freugh in Scotland will provide designated large practice areas for air to air missile engagements as well as defensive countermeasures and combat search and rescue missions. USAFE will also be able to use the Air Ranges to develop complex training scenarios to include the weapons and battlefield elements that aircrews would expect to encounter in real combat conditions.
Mirach, QinetiQs new aerial target system, operated from the MOD range at Aberporth will be used as the target of choice for air to air missiles - Mirach can also be deployed to the Scottish range sites. QinetiQs sophisticated mobile instrumentation will assist in exercise planning and will monitor and track the munitions fired by the US aircrew. To facilitate the increased scope of USAFE training activity on the UK MOD ranges, QinetiQ has purchased a number of surface targets along with an instrumented barge for data capture.
Discussions are currently ongoing between USAFE, the RAF and QinetiQ for joint NATO forces training on UK ranges. Such training would further enhance operational capability and create more realistic scenarios.
GengisK :ok:
"QinetiQ has secured a contract worth up to £2.5m with the United States Air Forces Europe (USAFE) for air combat training of US aircrews. The contract is similar to QinetiQs Long Term Partnering Agreement (LTPA) with the UK MOD to operate its test and evaluation ranges over a 25-year period as, like the LTPA, it includes options to provide range services over a multi-year period.
USAFE is responsible for combat weapons training of US aircrew assigned to its units based in Europe. The training focuses on precision guided munitions and air to air and air to ground missiles and the contract with QinetiQ will allow a large portion of the training to be completed within Europe.
QinetiQs range services and aerial target systems will provide USAFE aircrews with a significant level of tactical training not available on any other European Range. The Air Range danger areas at Aberporth in Wales and the Hebrides and West Freugh in Scotland will provide designated large practice areas for air to air missile engagements as well as defensive countermeasures and combat search and rescue missions. USAFE will also be able to use the Air Ranges to develop complex training scenarios to include the weapons and battlefield elements that aircrews would expect to encounter in real combat conditions.
Mirach, QinetiQs new aerial target system, operated from the MOD range at Aberporth will be used as the target of choice for air to air missiles - Mirach can also be deployed to the Scottish range sites. QinetiQs sophisticated mobile instrumentation will assist in exercise planning and will monitor and track the munitions fired by the US aircrew. To facilitate the increased scope of USAFE training activity on the UK MOD ranges, QinetiQ has purchased a number of surface targets along with an instrumented barge for data capture.
Discussions are currently ongoing between USAFE, the RAF and QinetiQ for joint NATO forces training on UK ranges. Such training would further enhance operational capability and create more realistic scenarios.
GengisK :ok: