UK AOC Newsletter - March 2008

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 6 FEBRUARY 2008

Some 40 members and prospective members attended the Annual General Meeting in the Royal Air Force Club when, somewhat unusually, the entire UK Chapter Board had managed to be present for the event. In addition to processing the routine and formal agenda items, we also had an opportunity to bid a fond farewell to Cdr Clive Murgatroyd RN and Wg Cdr John Clifford RAF, our two military representatives on the Board who are both retiring from their Services shortly. We are most grateful for their significant and extensive contribution to the UK Chapter over many years and look forward to their continued association as members.

We were also delighted to extend a warm welcome to Cdr Iain Breckenridge RN, a submariner late of HMS Tireless and now in MOD, who will be the new Royal Navy representative on the Board. Coincidentally, we are also very pleased to offer our congratulations to Iain upon the award of his OBE earlier this month.

Our guest speaker after the AGM was Sqn Ldr Andy Cooke RAF who presented his excellent and fascinating Shrivenham MESE course thesis on the use of data fusion in bistatic radar systems. To add flavour and technical focus to the discussion that followed, he discovered there were three guests in the audience who were conducting post graduate research on bistatic radars at University College London! Fortunately there was no need for the ground to open up and swallow him and Andy conducted the discussion most professionally.

The full Minutes of the AGM are available on the Organisation page of this web site.

RECOGNITION AND AWARDS

The UK Chapter encourages an increased understanding and awareness of the theory and practice of EW by sponsoring awards to various military organisations and the Defence Academy. We now sponsor seven different awards for both academic and operational achievement, each being accompanied by a framed AOC Commendation and a cash prize. Full details of these awards and the latest list of winners are available on a recently revised Education and Awards page on this web site.

The UK Chapter Board of Directors is also keen to receive special nominations on behalf of UK individuals or organisations that are considered most worthy to be recognised with an International AOC award presented by HQ AOC. An example could be a Lifetime Achievement Award. All such nominations must be supported by a comprehensive citation and any other relevant information which clearly explains why the nominee should be considered for an International AOC prestigious award. All nominations will be considered and should be submitted in the first instance to the UK Chapter Vice President.

RAF SMALLWOOD TROPHY

A ceremony for the presentation of the Sir Dennis Smallwood Trophy was held at HQ Air Command, High Wycombe, on 4 March 2008.

Our heartiest congratulations go to the Air Platform Protection Operational Evaluation Unit (APPOEU) of the Air Warfare Centre, the well-deserved winner of this biennial trophy for 2007. The APPOEU have significantly enhanced Air Command's electronic warfare effectiveness through their outstanding and tireless efforts to improve the effectiveness of the numerous defensive aids that protect all of the United Kingdom’s operational aircraft types.

Congratulations also to the runners up in a very closely fought competition. They were:

• No 51 Squadron and Supporting Elements of RAF Waddington for their introduction and employment on Nimrod R1 of cutting edge technology to improve Air Command’s Electronic Intelligence capabilities.
• Flight Sergeant Andrew Lloyd of No 47 Squadron for his innovative approach to developing both radar warning receiver training and counter-radar frequency tactics on the C-130K Hercules.
• Squadron Leader Gary Southcott of DSTL Farnborough and Squadron Leader Steve Gagen of RAF Spadeadam for their innovative approach to developing a counter-Man Portable Air Defence System (MANPADS) training device and identifying how existing trials systems could be developed to meet this need, to enhance aircrew proficiency in counter MANPADS tactics.

The Smallwood Trophy was presented by Air Vice Marshal Nigel Maddox CBE RAF, Chief of Staff Operations at HQ Air Command. Roger Hannaford, Secretary AOC UK Chapter, accompanied by AOC Board members Professor Peter Hill and David Peck, presented a cheque for £500, a framed Commendation and engraved AOC plaque to the winner and framed AOC Commendations were presented to the runners up.

FUTURE EVENTS

There have been some amendments since the last report and our current plans include:

• A classified visit to Roke Manor Research at Romsey, Hampshire, on 17 March.
• An EW Industry Open Day at Abacus EW Consultancy Ltd, near Lincoln, on 8 May.
• The EW 2008 Conference & Exhibition at Interlaken, Switzerland, on 15/16 May.
• A visit to HMS Collingwood, Portsmouth, the home of Navy EW, on 11 June.
• A classified visit to QinetiQ, Malvern.
• A visit to the new SELEX GALILEO EW support facility in Lincoln.
• A classified visit to the Defence Intelligence & Security Centre, Chicksands, Bedfordshire.
• A classified visit to BAE Systems at Warton to view the EW Test Facility and Typhoon.

DTC: EMRS ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The objectives of the Defence Technology Centre programme in Electromagnetic Remote Sensing (EMRS) are to research and demonstrate innovative and cost-effective sensor technologies in any parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that can improve substantially the capability to detect and/or identify and/or locate military targets, at longer range and in adverse weather. The research is potentially applicable to air, land, sea or space-based sensing systems.

The DTC Consortium has structured the research around four broad technical themes covering devices to systems and addressing a very wide region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

These themes are:

• RF Systems, covering active and passive sensors from HF to THz.
• EO Systems, covering active and passive systems in the EO and IR bands.
• Transduction devices and materials, covering critical enabling technologies for sensor systems, with a strong emphasis on cost-effectiveness.
• Transducer embedded processing, covering processing-intensive sensor improvements.

The EMRS DTC and the Systems Engineering for Autonomous Systems (SEAS) DTC will be holding a joint annual unclassified technical conference on 24/25 June 2008 at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre at which the work of both DTCs will be disseminated. Further details, the conference agenda and an application form to attend are available at: http://www.emrsdtc.com/index.htm.

AOC UK WEB SITE: www.ukaoc.org

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