It is always good to see collaborations formed between a mix of large and small companies engaged in supporting defence and this morning’s announcement from Raytheon UK in relation to Omnia Training, a partnership it has now formed with Capita, Cervus, Improbable Defence and Rheinmetall in order to bid to become the ‘Strategic Training Partner’ for the British Army’s ‘Collective Training Transformation Programme (CTTP) is certainly no exception.
Anticipated to start in 2025 and valued at £1.2 billion over 15 years, utilising technologies that include synthetic training environments, state-of-the-art data and connectivity systems, the Collective Training Transformation Programme is designed to enable the British Army to better prepare soldiers and commanders for operations to ensure the security of the United Kingdom.
The CTTP will deliver what is termed as the ‘Future Collective Training System’ – a technology-enabled training system that will serve as a surrogate for warfare. This is intended to provide the British Army with capability designed to better replicate the complexity of the modern battlefield in training and as a result, giving the Army the ability to train globally whenever and wherever it needs it.
Omnia Training’s partners all have expertise that span complex programme management, enterprise transformation, collective synthetic training, digital platforms and data exploitation. It will work in collaboration with the Army to transform collective training and prepare soldiers for future challenging operational scenarios by creating realistic multi-domain environments.
The Raytheon UK-led team includes world class training transformation companies that will provide unrivalled expertise to deliver the Strategic Training Partner role for CTTP.
Jeff Lewis, chief executive of Raytheon UK said: “.
“At the heart of our collaborative approach will be the exploitation of data and connectivity across multiple training technologies” adding that “This combination will enable us to deliver a truly flexible and cutting-edge training environment and will help prepare the British Army for a range of scenarios that have traditionally been difficult to create on a training ground.”
The CTTP’s Strategic Training Partner will assume responsibility for the existing Army collective training system and infrastructure to deliver collective training, then work collaboratively with the Army to transform this into a fully integrated, flexible training solution and be responsible for continuously improving new army training capabilities.
Raytheon UK has facilities across the United Kingdom including at Broughton in North Wales, Livingston and Glenrothes in Scotland and in England, at Harlow, Gloucester and Manchester. Producing Complex Weapons, Air Traffic Management systems, power systems and Integrated power solutions along with resilient power subsystems, components and bespoke designs for land, naval and air applications, for the UK military such as AMRAAM and Paveway 1V precision guided weapons for the RAF, Phalanx close-in-missile defence systems for the Royal Navy and the Javelin portable anti-tank guided weapon system for the Army. The company is highly invested in the UK, in its workforce and in the development of UK technology. As a major supplier to the UK government, Raytheon UK employs 2,000 highly skilled people supporting the aerospace, defence, space sectors. Raytheon UK is a vital part of Raytheon Technologies and as such manufactures key components of complex weapons solutions to the worldwide market.
Richard Holroyd, MD of Capita Defence, Fire and Security, said:
“We are incredibly proud of our track record in delivering technology-enabled, transformational training services for our Defence customers, which is already helping the UK’s Armed Forces to get better trained people to the frontline, faster.
“Omnia Training brings together an unparalleled team of expert partners with well-established relationships. We’re excited to be part of this collaboration and stand ready to deliver transformed collective training for the British Army.”
Alan Roan, managing director of Cervus, said:
“It is refreshing that a small, medium enterprise like Cervus has been asked to be part of this exceptional team and we think that this is exactly what the CTTP customer has been asking for. We have watched the potential STP partners for several years, through the market engagement process, and have been gently testing their behaviours.
“Raytheon UK stood out as an organisation that always listened and treated us with a level of professional respect so, when they asked us to join the team, we leapt at this opportunity. A truly collaborative environment has been created within Omnia Training, where each team member can excel on what they do best and, for Cervus, this means providing soldiers with the game-changing exploitation of their training data”.
Joe Robinson, CEO at Improbable Defence, said:
Improbable Defence is delighted to be Omnia Training’s strategic synthetic integrator and proud to be among team members with deep experience in transforming defence capability and superb reputations for collaboration. With a mindset for innovation, we are renowned for our agile responses to user needs and delivering world-leading synthetics. Our track record is one of embracing new technologies and accelerating their provision into the hands of front-line users.
As a member of Omnia Training we will bring our expertise in rapid, flexible, low-risk development of a new class of synthetics, that embraces the best of industry, in order to deliver to the British Army, the adaptive and ground-breaking collective training system they need to win on the battlefields of the future.
Richard Streeter, Managing Director, Rheinmetall Electronics UK Ltd. said:
“The Omnia Training team brings together a group of companies with significant depth of expertise and credibility as the Strategic Training Partner for the UK Army to deliver the CTTP programme successfully. This programme represents a huge shift and modernisation to the approach of training the British Army. With Rheinmetall’s global footprint and decades of managing complex synthetics design, integration and training capability delivery, we are delighted to be contributing to this fantastic Transformational Programme and addressing the challenges in the CTTP for the future British Army”
CHW (London – 24th November 2022)
Howard Wheeldon FRAeS
Wheeldon Strategic Advisory Ltd,
M: +44 7710 779785
Skype: chwheeldon
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