A team from QinetiQ Target Systems (QTS) has supported a bi-national tactical firing training exercise at the Nato Missile Firing Installation (NAMFI) in Crete.
The exercise took place between the Royal Netherlands Army units and German air defence systems.
During the training and system proving exercise, QTS supplied the Banshee Jet 40 and Whirlwind products that served as airborne targets.
Royal Netherlands Army exercise director major Alexander Mac Lennan said: “The use of the QinetiQ team enabled us to train our combined bi-national air defence task force in a live environment, with multiple targets simultaneously airborne, and provided realistic threats that really tested end-to-end processes, including the actual launch of weapons. Their skill and excellent services allowed us to complete our objectives.”
The Dutch Army deployed its Ground-Based Air Defence (GBAD) and STINGER Systems for the exercise.
Along with German GBAD systems, these air defence systems practised firing against a wide variety of threats.
QTS’s products, which serve as surface and airborne threat representations, are used by several customers across the globe for various military applications, among others.
The range of QTS targets are used for training, testing, and evaluation purposes.
QTS field services director Rik Sellwood said: “This was a complex set of airborne target missions to put together and be delivered in a demanding technical and operational environment. The team is really pleased with the services that it delivered, and we are proud to have played a part in this highly important exercise.”
