Formidable Shield 2017

Executive summaryThe MOD Hebrides Range, operated by QinetiQ through the Long Term Partnering Agreement (LTPA), was critical for the success of Formidable Shield 2017 (FS17). During FS17, eight NATO countries came together to test integrated air and missile defence capabilities through a series of live missile firings and demonstrations.

The briefThe US 6th Fleet wanted to build on the engineering-led At Sea Demonstration 2015 (ASD15) success to conduct a STRIKFORNATO-led Fleet exercise. The aim was to build interoperability and demonstrate Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) command and control with the deployment of Commander Task Group IAMD.

IAMD Task Group exercises require considerable support; for Formidable Shield this included:

Case Study

— Voice and data communications capability to provide the required single picture understanding within a widely dispersed Task Group

— The delivery of live fire against air-breathing target attacks in a condensed task group with simultaneous live fire against Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) targets within single events in a coordinated and safe manner

— Co-ordination of the threat environment; essential providing the complex scenarios in the way that they were designed

— A large and technically capable Range that allowed participants to concentrate on their training objectives by supplying the essential situational awareness, Command and Control (C2), and target facilities.

“ The UK MOD’s Hebrides Range, managed by QinetiQ, is one of the most advanced of its kind for test and evaluation, and essential for these complex and important exercises. MOD and QinetiQ investment of £60 million will ensure that it remains one of the most up-to-date facilities in the world, not just for test and evaluation, but for training and rehearsal as well. ” Rt Hon Earl Howe, UK Minister of State for Defence

The most complex exercise of its type ever conducted in the UK

Our solution QinetiQ, operating Ministry of Defence (MOD) Hebrides Range as part of the LTPA, managed the C2, as well as the logistics and safety for what was the most complex exercise of its type ever conducted in the UK.

The MOD Hebrides Range air danger area complex is, at 112,000km2, the largest in Europe. QinetiQ managed negotiations with the various authorities from the Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) and Airline Operators, through to the UK Airspace Management Cell, UK CAA, and Eurocontrol; as a result, the air danger area was expanded for FS17 to over 1,000,000km2.

In addition to the MOD Hebrides Range and extended air space, QinetiQ was also able to provide: — Use of staff, instrumentation and subject matter experts from across QinetiQ operated Ranges and beyond using experts in IT, System Engineering, aerial target operations and other areas— Utilisation of fixed instrumentation at a second Range – MOD Aberporth also run by QinetiQ - to gather data on the BMD targets — Effective liaison with the UK Explosive Safety and Transportation Committee (ESTC), Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to ensure that all the required approvals and licences were in place for the BMD targets used in this trial— Real-time common picture and understanding requiring integration of new

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voice and data communications systems into those of the Range. This included using the Range as a primary data forwarding node— Collation and approval of the safety traces for all firing units and integrating these with the target safety traces onto the Range’s Trials Control System to define the permissible locations for both firing and non-firing participating units, and for non-participating ships and aircraft — Live-fire events with the Range monitoring the positions of both participating and non-participating ships and aircraft within the expanded Range area, using both Range sensors and real-time links from specialist air and sea surveillance platforms.

Outcomes and benefits Formidable Shield successfully brought together eight NATO countries in the Outer Hebrides to test integrated air and missile defence capabilities through a series of live missile firings and demonstrations.

The exercise culminated with the launch of a Terrier Oriole ballistic missile target to simulate a medium-range ballistic missile, marking the largest and highest object launched into space from UK soil, and reaching an altitude of 320km. In another first, QinetiQ launched two Firejet and two Mirach aerial targets simultaneously, flying them in formation to be engaged by participating navies.

Formidable Shield provided two key benefits:— Lessons learned while conducting

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previously theoretical activities directly improved the effectiveness of multinational Task Forces bring together different nations’ assets— Showing that ‘state-of-the-art’ is always improving, and complex environments provide technical lessons for the development of weapons systems.

Using our FS17 experience QinetiQ has been asked to present to the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) in order to help create a unified approach with the aim of reducing the size of additional airspace buffers applied by the ANSPs to the notified Danger Area.

Both ASD15 and FS17 have shown that as a location, the MOD Hebrides Range, is not only convenient for many of the MTMD nations (critical for minimising ship deployment times), but also enables the complex live fire Task Group level events that have, to this point, been largely theoretical.

To enable this firing to be conducted safely, QinetiQ put in place an air exclusion zone of over 1,000,000km2 – approximately twice the size of Spain