Sula Systems has been awarded a contract, through the Complex Weapons Centre for Defence Technology, to provide a Technical Assurance Team to Thales Air Defence Ltd. in support of the Lightweight Missile Family Definition Study. The aim of the Thales study is to propose a family of lightweight missile systems, capable of engaging challenging targets in the land, sea and air domains.

Sula will provide an independent perspective on the proposed Lightweight Missile Family concept, in order to help ensure the technical quality of the study. We will lead on the high level requirements definition and will conduct an initial Technology Survey.

Sula is one of the few truly-independent providers of Complex Weapons expertise in the UK, and brings with it extensive experience of independent technical assurance, requirements capture and stakeholder engagement.

Since June 2008, Sula has been supporting MBDA in the development of the system requirements for the Fire Shadow Loitering Munition programme.

Fire Shadow will be a low-cost, high-precision weapon ideally suited for prosecuting time-sensitive targets, with the ability to loiter over a specific area for several hours before being commanded to engage a target.

Sula has a wealth of experience in Systems Engineering and, over the last year, we have developed the requirements for the system in areas such as guidance and control, and munition management software.

Loitering Munition is being conducted as part of Team CW to deliver world class Complex Weapons for the UK's Armed Forces while achieving Value for Money for the MoD and sustaining UK sovereign capabilities and technologies.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence has announced it will upgrade the British military’s tactical Communication System following the successful completion of trials with the 1st Armoured Division Signals Regiment.

Sula have provided subject matter expertise to the recent field trials that took place in Czech Republic. Sula have been providing technical support the MOD’s BATCIS (Bowman and Tactical Communications & Information Systems) team since 2007, primarily for the Communications Management elements of the system.

During the recent trials, Sula supported the communications planning for the exercise and assisted in establishing the required HF radio links. Sula will continue to support the BATCIS Team into 2010.

MOD news about the upgrade of BCIP5 can be found at:

Sula has joined the advisory board of the UK's International Council of Systems Engineers (INCOSE). Sula is the 26th member of the UKAB, and joins other key players from industry, government and academia in steering the activities of INCOSE UK, and hence the practice and professionalisation of systems engineering in the UK.

Pictured left to right are: Ian Gibson (Communications Director of INCOSE UK and also a Sula employee), Doug Cowper (President of INCOSE UK) and Chris Lamb (Sula representative to the UKAB).

Sula Systems have been providing the Engineering Management Office and Chief Engineer for a new, highly protected, load carrying vehicle being procured for British Army use in Afghanistan. The vehicle, called Wolfhound, will be manufactured by Force Protection Industries (FPI) in Charleston, South Carolina and is based on their Cougar 6 x 6 wheeled vehicle.

Approximately 100 Wolfhound vehicles will be supplied to MOD. They will feature a four crew cab and a loadbed capable of carrying at least 4.5 tonnes, to be designed and manufactured by Ricardo. The Wolfhound vehicles will have extreme resilience to land mines and Improvised Explosive Devices, making them, like their Mastiff and Ridgback sister vehicles, the safest vehicles for use in the high risk Afghanistan operations. Ballistic protection will be added by NP Aerospace in Coventry, along with communications, other mission systems and a self defence weapon.

FPI have recently established a joint venture company with NP Aerospace, Integrated Survivability Technologies (IST). IST will not only act as the prime contractor for Wolfhound but will also become the through life support organisation for all Cougar-based vehicles in the UK fleet.

Sula will continue to support IST, with a particular focus on delivering the entire Wolfhound capability before the end of 2009.

Sula sponsors Airbus to victory in the World Team Challenge 2008 - the World Series Final 2008 saw the culmination of efforts from 31 top teams who had proudly won their places from across the year’s Intelligent Sport® World Series events.

The final, held in Cyprus, was the climax of a year-long series of challenges with the top performing teams from businesses around the world competing against each other for the ultimate title. In three different stages, the teams had to complete sporting challenges including mountain biking and running as well as problem solving, code breaking and building tasks.

Since 2006, Sula have project managed the Electrically Actuated Braking Systems (EABS) program on behalf of the Airbus Landing Gear Research & Technology Team.

The program culminated in a successful trial in February 2008 of an electrically activated braking system (EABS) on Airbus’ A340-600 development aircraft.

This trial will go down in the history of modern aviation as the first time that a commercial aircraft has braked using entirely electrically actuated brakes.

These tests mark an important stage for Airbus and Messier-Bugatti in the preparation of future generations of aircraft. The aircraft manufacturer and the SAFRAN Group have been working jointly on this since 2003 as part of the EABS (Electrically Actuated Braking System) demonstration program.

Sula will have a stand at the WEAF Annual Conference on 4th Feb 2009, at the Winter Gardens, Weston-super-Mare. Members of the Sula Team will be available to discuss any systems engineering challenges that you might have.

The WEAF Annual Conference 2009 explores the world of the Environment and Sustainable Aviation and showcases Advanced Technology.

Key speakers are:

Sula has been awarded a service provision contract by the newly founded Trials and Evaluation Services and Targets (TEST) IPT. A Core Team of 4 staff will be embedded in the IPT populating, developing and administering the MOD's T&E Master Schedule and Catalogue of T&E facilities. Sula had previously worked closely with the IPT from its inception to help develop its business processes.

The Team will provide a service known as the TECC (the Test and Evaluation Coordination Cell) which, through close interaction across the T&E community, will develop a picture of the forecast and actual usage of T&E facilities. There is a perception that close to £1 billion is spent every year on T&E by the MOD; Sula's services will help understand how to optimise this investment.

Sula have completed a Safety Case in response to an Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) to fit the Enforcer Remote Weapons Station (RWS) to the new "Super Sanger".

The new 'Super Sangar' was unveiled at the recent UOR Day on Salisbury Plain; it plans to eradicate many of the security risks that can leave a base open to attack, creating a multi-layered surveillance and integrated strike capability.

Five Sangars around the perimeter of the Contingency Operating Base (COB) in Basra have already been fitted with RWS's, which allow the operator to control not only return fire without physically putting themselves at risk, but also by being able to see a small screen inside the Sangar, the operator can monitor the area from a position of much greater safety.

Sula's experience, judgement and pragmatic approach to safety engineering ensured that the Safety Case and associated Safety Management Plan were completed in accordance with POSMS and JSP 454 in only four weeks.

The 'Super Sangar' was trialled, tested and legally approved within four months and became operational at the COB Basra in July 2008.

The Armoured Super Sanger with the Enforcer Remote Weapons System being displayed at the UOR demonstration day held at Salisbury Plain.

Sula will be showing off their Safety and Environmental engineering knowledge at ESAS 08, running from the 30th September to 2nd October 2008.

ESAS 08 is the MOD's conference for everyone interested in the Safety and Environmental through-life management of Defence Systems.

ESAS aim is to share best practice across MOD, Industry and Academia. ESAS are encouraging even greater attendance from those planning requirements, procuring, supplying, supporting and using equipment across MoD and in industry. This is about making ESAS 08 as relevant as it can be to everyone in the MOD involved in and connected with the safety and environmental management of Defence Systems equipment.

Please come along and find out what we can do for you!

NITEworks has delivered substantial value to the MoD, NITEworks activities have proved to have a significant effect on the capabilities of frontline forces and the logistics that support the warfighting effort.

Nigel Vaughan, Managing Director of Sula said ‘ I am sure that the combination of our programme involvement and understanding combined with our analysis skills will put us in a great position to become a major contributor to NITEworks experimentation. We look forward to becoming fully engaged.’

Sula is delighted to be providing support to the Denel Dynamics1 A-Darter Air-to-Air Missile programme, which is a bi-national development for the Air Force of Brazil and the South African Department of Defence. A-Darter is Denel’s fifth-generation, air-to-air missile system designed to meet the challenges of future air combat against next-generation fighters in a hostile ECM environment. Sula have conducted an independent review of the guidance and control solution for A-Darter in advance of upcoming flight tests to be conducted within the development programme.

Denel Dynamics www.deneldynamics.co.za is a division of Denel Pty LTD. specialising in the development of Missiles, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Stand-Off Weapons.

Sula has teamed with Frazer Nash Consultancy (FNC) to provide support to the DEC GM in creating a holistic process for the development of User Requirements Documents (URD), a key controlling aspect of defence acquisition programmes. The process aims to improve on common shortfalls in current practice and to ensure that this area keeps up to date with evolving initiatives on Through Life Capability Management and Acquisition Operating Framework requirements guidance.

The process itself will ensure that URDs are aligned with Defence Strategic Guidance (DSG) through logical progression to Military Tasks, Operational Analysis and Doctrine. Sula will be particularly focussing on aspects associated with Defence Lines of Development (DLoDs) and Interfacing Programmes & Systems (IP&S) to ensure that the process considers capability at an aggregated level across Defence as a whole.

Sula will draw upon experience gained and lessons learnt from applying DLoD guidance and its in house IP&S process on a number of programmes including: Future Rapid Effect System (FRES), Defence Information Infrastructure (DII), Land Environment Air Picture Provision (LEAPP), Network Enabled Air Defence System (NEADS) and the Bowman CIP Programme.

Sula is working on 2 research programmes concerned with enhancing the radar capabilities in fast jets.

RE418 - Combat Aircraft Radar Research

Supporting QinetiQ, Sula has been working to quantify the benefits, in terms of efficiency, of using an active electronically-scanned antenna to replace the current mechanically-scanned system on the Typhoon aircraft.

Sula's role was to examine in detail some of the potential techniques to maximise Ground Moving Target Indication (GMTI) performance whilst minimising the radar resource (and in particular the radar time) needed.

The potential for deliberately broadening the transmit beam was examined as was using multiple simultaneous receive beams to improve instantaneous coverage without giving excessive degradation in detection performance or Minimum Detectable velocity. We also investigated the level of fidelity needed in clutter measurements to give the required probability of detection and false alarm, and the potential benefits given by co-operation between multiple aircraft.

Sula used the results and conclusions of this study to develop a structured set of guidelines for the Radar Resource Management algorithm design.

Non-linear Synthetic Aperture Radar (NSAR)

The Electromagnetic Remote Sensing Defence Technology Centre (EMRS DTC) have continued to support the Sula development of NSAR (Non-Linear Synthetic Aperture Radar), a new technique invented by Sula to address two major short-comings of conventional radar imaging techniques. NSAR enables the true velocities and positions of moving targets to be measured accurately, and allows imaging to continue during high speed manoeuvres, thus increasing platform survivability in hostile conditions.

In previous years we have conducted successful flight trials using a sideways looking radar supplied by Selex in a BAE Systems aircraft. This years work has concentrated on the application of NSAR techniques to a modern combat radar mounted on a highly manoeuvrable jet aircraft and the investigation into the military benefits that are expected to be achieved, including freedom to manoeuvre during the acquisition of SAR imagery and significant improvement of the GMTI performance.

Sula are now looking at industrial partnering opportunities to introduce NSAR into relevant radar programmes.

Framework Agreement for Technical Services (FATS/2) was developed by the MoD in order to make the contracting process faster, easier and more cost-efficient while eradicating the need to go through a lengthy bidding process.

Under FATS/2, a Market Knowledge Matrix (MKM) has been compiled. The MKM consists of a detailed list of all the successful contractors and their capabilities over the Land, Sea, Air and Nuclear domains.

IPTs then search the MKM to select a number of companies with the right expertise for their requirement.

Over the past 18 months, Sula has received an increasing number of sole-source and competitive MoD contracts via this method of contracting. This has opened doors for us in both existing and new customer IPTs.

Sula continues to expand its systems engineering support to Airbus particularly in strategic systems engineering advice and programme Performance Integrity (safety, V&V. requirements, operational reliability and maintenance economics) Working in the Landing Gear and Fuel Systems domains, Sula provides support to all current aircraft development programmes (A380, A400M & A350) and future aircraft research and technology projects.

Sula's successes in these areas include:

BLESMA provides support for both current and retired members of the Armed Forces who have lost limbs, for whatever reason. In March supported by Sula, they held a rehabilitation camp teaching those who have lost limbs to overcome their injuries through teaching them to ski on "ski-bobs".

Sula has won a competitive tender to support the newly-formed DE&S Helicopter Strategy Team in planning the acquistion of Future Lift Capability for UK Armed Forces. The work involves key systems engineering activities in preparation for Initial Gate and Main Gate decision points, including the formation of an overall acquisition strategy, generation of User and System Requirements Documents for the medium lift requirement and analysis of solution options. Sula's coherent approach to these activities was deemed important in providing a service that adds significant value.

Sula is delighted to announce the award of a contract to undertake a Technical Assurance review of the Harrier GR9/9a Capability Package E (CAP E) and the Tornado Capability Upgrade Strategy (Pilot) II (CUS(P)II) for DE&S. Both the Tornado and Harrier aircraft are scheduled to undergo upgrades to their capabilities and replace obsolete systems. The improvements are primarily in the areas of tactical datalinks and secure communications designed to increase the situational awareness of the aircrew.

The work will be carried out in conjunction with the Harrier and Tornado IPTs at RAF Wyton and the Prime Contractor, BAES. In conducting both reviews, Sula will: conduct System and Technology Readiness Level (SRL and TRL) assessments; examine the proposed schedules for realism; assess the credibility of risk mitigation plans; produce a Capability and Technology Road Map; and make recommendations for improved technology management.

Sula is exhibiting at the worlds most prestigious defence exhibition, DSEI 2007

It’s the world’s largest and fastest growing fully integrated defence exhibition, bringing together senior international visitors and military influencers in an optimal business environment. DSEi is a four day event (11 - 14 September 07) held at ExCeL, London Docklands. Please come and visit us at Stand 653.