Qinetiq wins vehicle protection contract

A

-led team has won a £9.48m

research contract to deliver the Vehicle Technology Integration Demonstrator (VTID) programme, a three-year programme to investigate and implement a layered protection approach to survivability for armoured vehicles to reduce their vulnerability to attack.

The competition and contract was managed by the UK MOD Research Acquisition Organisation (RAO) working with customer Director Equipment Capability (DEC) Ground Manoeuvre. Other organisations in the Qinetiq led VTID team comprise Thales UK, Ultra Electronics’ Electrics division, SciSys, SVGC, BAE Systems, WilliamsF1 and teams from York and Sussex Universities.

Qinetiq intends to adopt a ‘plug-&-play’ approach to implementing solutions that can operate independently to existing systems and improve overall levels of vehicle survivability. The programme will also identify solutions that could be integrated onto new and legacy vehicles, so delivering operational benefits.

The VTID programme will investigate existing architectures and use underpinning research, along with previous trials, to ‘fast-track’ systems that will deliver short-term benefits. The team will use a wide variety of technologies and concepts from visual awareness and sensor suites, disrupters and interceptors and ‘soft’ solutions like smoke, through to active camouflage and electric armour.

The team will use an FV432 as the demonstration platform, commencing in 2009.