26 Feb 04. EDS Defence Ltd has been selected, along with partners QinetiQ, Raytheon and Mars Omega, to deliver the Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) Testbed for the U.K. MoD.

The £3.65m contract is an extension of the Project Definition (PD) programme originally set up to examine the MoD’s ISTAR Testbed requirements.

The project will build and deliver an ISTAR Testbed service that will
provide strategic direction to the integration of the ISTAR System of
Systems. The service will allow the MoD to experiment with a variety of ISTAR systems that will inform the development of an effective Concept of Operations (CONOPS) and supporting architectures.

The ISTAR Testbed will also support the development of Network Enabled
Capability (NEC) and will provide the ISTAR component of NITEworks as a core component.

The EDS Team members bring the following critical skills and knowledge to the ISTAR Testbed:

• Systems Integration. EDS brings the Information Capability Centre of
Excellence (ICCE), housing Operational Command Information Systems,
including JOCS, RN CSS, TAMPA and ATacCS, together with ISTAR models such as CISME-G2, which have been used by DGD&D to support future ISTAR doctrine.

• Experimental Experience and Software Tools. QinetiQ is MoD’s primary
partner in delivering the Applied Research Programme (ARP) and offers a
wealth of ARP pull-through, from ISTAR CONOPS studies, software tools
(including ECHOS, a leading collaborative planning tool) and Synthetic
Environment (SE) technology, drawn from a wealth of experience across major areas such as FOAS, CATT and ASTOR.

• US Insights and ISTAR Systems Capability. Raytheon is a leading ISTAR
asset provider and brings valuable ISTAR modelling components, such as the Extended Air Defence Testbed (EADTB) and ISR Warrior, together with
excellent insight into US ISTAR ground station development and C4ISR
interoperability issues.

• Customer Insights and ISTAR experience. Mars Omega will act as SME across the Team. In particular, their Principal, Brig (Retd) Chris Holtom will use his influence to hold and engage the Customer 2 community interest through his links in the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) and at the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre (DISC) based at Chicksands.