Airbus Group Pavilion at the 2014 Farnborough International Airshow. Photo: Airbus Group / S. Marquardt

Airbus agreed to a five-year contract with the U.K. Ministry of Defense (MOD) to manage test and reference services to support the delivery and assured release of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capability for deployed operations around the globe. The contract is valued at approximately $24.7 dollars (22 million euros).

Airbus offers the U.K. MOD a transition and delivery service model for the Land Systems Reference Centre (LSRC), delivering test and reference capability to support development, integration, approval and de-risking of C4ISR systems and services. Airbus aims to make the LSRC the UK MOD’s centre of excellence for advice and test, ensuring that MOD networks can accommodate new applications, hardware and services. Major programs such as Morpheus, which is the next generation tactical communications system for the British Armed Forces, will be tested in the LSRC.

Located at Blandford Camp in Dorset, the Royal Corps of Signals’ headquarters, the LSRC provides the MOD with a through life ‘Systems of Systems’ Test and Reference service. It provides an appropriate test, integration and transition capability that assures release packages for introduction onto the Defence Network and in support of operations and exercises. The LSRC can provide support and specialist advice for deployed and base ICT capabilities throughout their lifecycle. The LSRC has the capability to test applications and application upgrades on reference systems to assess their impact on other applications and the network as well as the network’s impact on the application.