A Qinetiq-led consortium has secured a delayed UK Ministry of Defence deal to supply a Combined Aerial Target Service (CATS) to the UK armed forces for the next 20 years.
The MoD last week confirmed its selection of the Qinetiq, Meggitt Defence Systems and Meteor team as preferred bidder for the estimated £450 million ($775 million) requirement, having rejected a rival proposal from the EADS/Serco Team Firecats consortium.
The Qinetiq team will provide subsonic ground-based air defence aerial target and air-to-air services to the British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy under the deal. The industry consortium will provide systems including Meggitt’s Banshee and Voodoo drones, a pop-up helicopter target and Galileo Avionica’s Mirach 100/5, the latter of which is already in operational use in the UK.
Progression to the preferred bidder stage represents a long-delayed advance for the CATS system, which had originally been intended to deliver target services from December 2004. The MoD hopes to advance the project to contract signature “as soon as possible”, following the conclusion of negotiations with the Qinetiq-led team, which is to “provide this key service while taking into account our future plans for target usage”.
Source: Flight International
