Royal Navy signs £25m contract for virtual training

The five-year contract will see the Royal Navy get training that realistically simulates the missions that personnel can expect to undertake and the threats they could face on the front line.

Maritime Command and Staff Trainer (MCAST) can emulate a task force’s deployment and model the activities of opposing forces, so users can be trained to manage operations, preparing them to be ready for warfighting.

Commodore Andy Ingham, Commander Fleet Operational Standards and Training, Royal Navy, said: “QinetiQ and the Royal Navy have worked closely together over many years on a multitude of projects helping FOST deliver World Class Training. MCAST is the exciting next step on our training innovation journey, a dedicated synthetic training facility, designed to prepare us to face both known and developing threats.”

Will Blamey, Chief Executive, UK Defence, QinetiQ, said: “Our innovative, digital-led approach to training supports the requirements of the Strategic Defence Review to increase warfighting readiness. MCAST will ensure that Royal Navy personnel are put through their paces in an environment which reflects the complex, multi-domain and multi-national battlespace of future warfare.”

Inzpire, part of the QinetiQ Group, will design the training scenarios for MCAST using the latest simulation technology to create and deliver fully immersive and realistic exercises. QinetiQ will provide and manage a suite of tools to capture data from the planning, execution and evaluation of the exercises, which can be used to inform future training scenarios.

This contract builds upon QinetiQ’s existing role, providing synthetic operational training services to the Royal Navy as part of Platform Enabled Training Capability (PETC), and will, alongside PETC, be managed from a dedicated hub at QinetiQ’s Portsdown Technology Park in Portsmouth.