BAE Systems To Lead Software Systems Engineering Initiative For MoD

BAE Systems’ Military Air Solutions business has been selected by the UK Ministry of Defence to lead a pan-industry and academic consortium which will provide research and guidance to embed a more coherent approach to the procurement and development of what is known as High Integrity and Safety Critical Software (HI&SCS).

Such software has been identified, by MoD, as ‘the critical enabling technology’ for modern platforms used for defence purposes, network enabled capability (NEC) and complex infrastructure. Concern that it often takes too long, costs too much to produce and does not always meet the requirement, has led to calls for a more coherent and efficient approach to its development.

The MoD has selected BAE Systems to join with other industry partners and academia to lead a new programme called the Software Systems Engineering Initiative (SSEI) – with the official launch of the new programme taking place in February.

BAE Systems will be the ‘contract holder’ on behalf of the consortium’s members - the MoD will be actively involved in a partnership capacity acting as the customer interface for the programme.

Management and research work is expected to take place across the UK in a range of organisations, including the University of York; IBM; MBDA; QinetiQ; Aerosystems International; YorkMetrics; the Systems Engineering Innovation Centre; Newcastle University; EDS, Selex Galileo, Oxford University and dstl.

The SSEI will be a ‘virtual team’ but the initial research work will have a strong presence at the University of York. Jane Fenn of BAE Systems MAS, the Programme Manager for SSEI, said: “This is a significant journey, but we expect the SSEI will build on an initial programme of research, creating a body of experts able to provide consistent advice to the MoD – in particular into procurement and support projects.”

It is intended that the SSEI will grow over time to include a range of other UK participants.