QinetiQ has expanded the underwater testing capacity at the UK Ministry of Defence’s Portland Bill facility.
QinetiQ has expanded the underwater testing capacity at the UK Ministry of Defence’s Portland Bill facility with a new water tank designed to evaluate larger uncrewed minehunting vessels.
Installed in Dorset, southern England, the system measures 6 meters long (19.7 feet), 2 meters wide (6.6 feet), and 1.5 meters deep (4.9 feet).
It will be used to measure the magnetic signature of uncrewed underwater systems, including platforms linked to the Royal Navy’s mine countermeasures programs.
A vessel’s magnetic signature is the disturbance it creates in the Earth’s magnetic field while moving underwater.
Since some naval mines use magnetic sensors as triggers, reducing that signature can lower the risk of detonation.
The Portland Bill site, operated by QinetiQ for the UK Ministry of Defence, already supports certification of uncrewed systems for mine warfare and explosive ordnance disposal missions.
Testing takes place in a controlled magnetic environment, where engineers can simulate magnetic field conditions from different regions or eliminate magnetic interference entirely to measure vessel behavior more accurately.
Latest Initiatives
The Portland Bill upgrade follows a series of recent defense projects across QinetiQ’s land, maritime, and electronic warfare portfolio.
Earlier this month, the company secured an 18-million-pound ($24 million) contract to test the British Army’s new RCH155 remote-controlled 155mm artillery system, including ammunition safety, barrel wear, and performance under harsh environmental conditions.
QinetiQ is also supporting Belgium’s effort to establish a sovereign electronic warfare data center under a five-year agreement focused on mission data management and threat analysis.
In the Indo-Pacific, QinetiQ’s Canadian unit recently supplied Hammerhead uncrewed surface targets for the multinational Cobra Gold exercise in Thailand.
Forces from Thailand, the US, South Korea, and Singapore took part in drills focused on detecting and countering simulated maritime drone threats.
