A one-year contract, with an additional option year, was awarded to QinetiQ by the Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF) Air Warfare Centre. Through this contract, QinetiQ, a leading science and engineering company operating primarily in the defence, security, and critical infrastructure markets, will develop a roadmap for the modernization of RCAF Air Weapons ranges to enable live and virtual environments for collaborative team training.

According to a news release from the company, the modernized air ranges will accommodate Canada’s next generation of 4.5 or 5th Generation fighter aircraft and allow for the creation of Live Synthetic Blended (LSB) training and experimental environments, including simulated training assets.

Training ranges in the roadmap include Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR), Bagotville, Gagetown, Wainwright, Valcartier, Nanoose, and Suffield training ranges. The study will delve into “how the RCAF ranges need to be modernized for all future RCAF platforms – fighter and cargo aircraft, helicopters, search & rescue, and remotely piloted air systems.” All of this will be done within the context of the RCAF Modelling and Simulation Environment (RMSE) with Virtual Proving Grounds (which will enable a pilot to engage with a virtual vehicle and environment, in a way that can influence the development of an asset) and will also consider air traffic control, air weapons, and air and space control simulators.

“We are delighted to have secured this project to scope the upgrade of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s ranges to a standard required for future Training, Test and Evaluation (TT&E) programs,” said Duane Barry, Vice President Business Development of QinetiQ in Canada. “We were selected as part of the competitive bidding process, due to our extensive experience managing, operating, and modernizing the UK Ministry of Defence’s ranges. We look forward to combining our unrivalled Test and Evaluation and range experience from the UK with our Canadian team’s local knowledge for the benefit of the Royal Canadian Air Force.”

To fulfill this contract, QinetiQ will build a team comprising of systems engineers, simulation experts, range experts, and experienced ex-military personnel from QinetiQ offices in Canada and the UK. 

 The initial scoping phase will run through to December 2020.