Delivering IT Solutions
The Royal Air Force (RAF) operates the only low level land-based Electronic Warfare (EW) Tactics Range in Europe. The Range is located at RAF Spadeadam and straddles the border between England and Scotland. The role of the Range is to provide an environment which enables aircrews from all NATO countries to develop, evaluate and practice the EW tactics necessary to defeat ground based anti-aircraft systems.
The RAF needed a system to support operations at RAF Spadeadam and one which would help maximise the training value of missions flown at the range. The need was for a system which would :-
The system would also have to be flexible enough to cope with the ever changing threat scenarios that aircrew were likely to come up against when they were deployed in hostile territories.
CAS worked closely with the RAF to understand their objectives and develop a Command, Control and Communications (C3) system. The system, which has been in use since 1982, is a key element in the provision of the EW training environment necessary to allow aircrew to develop, and refine, the tactics which are essential to mission success and survival in a hostile electromagnetic environment. A range of ground based threat simulators and instrumented weapon systems simulate every possible threat to aircraft. These threat systems feed back data, in real-time, to a co-ordination centre, where it is fused with positional information from the various tracking radars and displayed and recorded. Within 20 minutes of the mission ending this processed data is waiting at the aircrew's home base for immediate replay and analysis. This timely distribution of post mission information, coupled with the ability to replay the mission whilst it is still fresh in the pilots mind, maximises the value of the training sortie.
CAS have created a powerful, ultra-realistic and cost-effective training environment which, through timeous feedback to participating aircrew, helps maximise the benefit of each flying hour.
John Gilbert, Squadron Leader - Officer Commanding Operations at RAF Spadeadam 1989 to 1999, comments, "During my ten years working closely with CAS, I have nothing but praise for their professionalism and work ethic. The company was always flexible and responsive to the fluid, and at times rapid changes, that our operational needs dictated. Given the "moving goal-post syndrome" that such fluid situations result in, it was most refreshing to work with a company that worked within the spirit of a contract and not to the letter. Their innovative and professional attitude to the Service's requests have always resulted in robust, flexible and cost-effective solutions."