QinetiQ Marine Survivability Services Supports the Ministry of Defence in Building Comprehensive Explosive Safety Case for HMS Illustrious

QinetiQ, a leading provider of marine survivability services, has supported the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in the development of a comprehensive safety case for HMS Illustrious in its permanent conversion to a helicopter carrier.

Every ship in the Royal Navy requires an explosives safety case report. The stowage plans are derived from a Threat Hazard Assessment (THA), where all credible threats to the magazines and stowages are considered. In addition as part of the THA a Ship Explosive Safety Case Report is produced. A key part of this document is the requirement to produce a Consequence Analysis Model (CAM) which details the damage severity and casualties from an explosion or explosions.

QinetiQ Marine Survivability Services were tasked with the creation, development and support in the interpretation of a Consequence Analysis Model for HMS Illustrious. This work was placed with QinetiQ via the Maritime Strategic Capability Agreement (MSCA), a contract between MOD and QinetiQ, which secures the MOD’s access to a range of maritime engineering and scientific expertise and facilities

Andy Boulton, Naval Architect (Ordnance Munitions & Explosives), Maritime Platform Systems, MoD said

“QinetiQ were the natural choice for this work given the extensive understanding they have of all the aspects of survivability. By using QinetiQ’s fully integrated survivability software (Survive®) along with the interpretive skills of the QinetiQ consultants they were able to run multiple scenarios to allow the prediction of damage to the ship and personnel from an explosion and support us in producing a comprehensive and fit purpose safety report.”

QinetiQ has delivered marine survivability services to a wide range of customers in both the commercial and defence markets including the MOD, Dstl, BAE Systems, Babcock, Thales, BMT, UK MOD Naval Design Partnership and the Royal Australian Navy.

Services have been provided for a broad range of vessels including tankers, frigates, destroyers, aircraft carriers and submarines and are delivered by technical consultants who are highly qualified and experienced in defining survivability requirements in ship and submarine design. Services include design and development, marine platform survivability assessments, incident mitigation support, maritime security assessments and marine safety and guidance. QinetiQ’s Marine Survivability Services are based on the unique fully integrated QinetiQ Survive® software toolset which has been validated against over 50 years of full scale trials and experimental data.

Rupert Pugh, Head of QinetiQ Marine Survivability Services said

“The work we have undertaken on HMS Illustrious is an excellent example of our capabilities. Combining the experience and knowledge of our survivability consultants with the extensive functionality of Survive software allows us to deliver high quality results.”

Notes for Editors:

-A FTSE250 company, QinetiQ uses its domain knowledge to provide technical support and know-how to customers in the global aerospace, defence and security markets. QinetiQ’s unique position enables it to be a trusted partner to government organisations, predominantly in the UK and the US, including defence departments, intelligence services and security agencies.
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