Early in 2005, Advantage teamed with SCS and Sula to bid for the Network Enabled Airspace Defence and Surveillance (NEADS) Industrial Concept Study. Advantage primed the team and, on 1st November 2006, following a competitive tender, they were pleased to be awarded a £2.35m, 27 month contract to carry out the Study.
NEADS is the MoD’s future-looking programme that will provide the following capabilities for the 2020 timeframe:
- A Battlefield Management Command, Control, Communication and Intelligence (BMC3I) system that is also a subsystem of a wider-battlespace management system.
- An advanced sensor suite for area surveillance and tracking.
- Weapon systems that are capable of defeating future stressing threats and low cost prolific threats at an affordable cost.
The Study is being carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Defence’s Joint Sensor and Engagement Networks Integrated Project Team. It will define and evaluate potential solution options for NEADS, support the Initial Gate business case and inform the future procurement strategy. Team Assure is uniquely well-qualified to carry out this important study. Each member company is completely independent and impartial and offers exceptional capabilities in its areas of expertise:
Advantage (the prime contractor) brings a 30-year track record of excellence in systems engineering, including future C4I architectures, procurement support and the delivery of Initial Gate and Main Gate Business Case products. Advantage is a recognised impartial expert in cost analysis and operational analysis within the defence domain.
SCS provides independent consultancy support that combines technical expertise with operational experience and domain knowledge. Its consultants cover an extensive range of land, sea and air activities, particularly in the areas of Battlespace Management Applications.
Sula is an independent and impartial provider of systems engineering and engineering science to the Defence and Aerospace markets. The company has particular expertise in Guided Weapon and Sensor systems and the development and assessment of concepts for system-of-system architectures.
