A QinetiQ led team has competitively bid and won a pound 9.48m MOD research contract to deliver the Vehicle Technology Integration Demonstrator (VTID) programme.

This three-year programme will investigate and implement a layered protection approach to survivability for armoured vehicles to reduce their vulnerability to attack.

The competition and contract has been let and 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, SciSys, SVGC, BAE Systems, WilliamsF1 and teams from both York and Sussex Universities.

Current in-theatre operations continue to highlight that traditional armour alone does not necessarily provide sufficient protection to ensure the survivability of vehicles or crews against diverse and ever increasing types of threat. QinetiQ will be adopting 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 near term benefits. The team will embrace 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.

QinetiQ is proud to have won this important research work and envisage demonstration trials, using an FV432 as the demo platform, commencing in 2009. The team brings together a wealth of industry expertise, borne from many years of successfully developing and deploying quality defence technologies. By combining this with novel thinking from the universities, and WilliamsF1's experience of rapidly inserting technology on the world motor racing circuit, we have an excellent all round team that will answer one of MOD's key priorities.

Sergyi Way
18.01.2007

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