Update: Raytheon UK wins extension to UK CAST contract

The exercise control floor at the Warminster CAST facility during Exercise ‘Cerberus 2020'. (Raytheon UK)

Raytheon UK, part of RTX's Raytheon business, has been awarded a two-year extension of its Command and Staff Training (CAST) contract with the British Army, the company announced in a press release on 14 November.

The contract extension will last until 2027. Its value was not disclosed.

Raytheon supports static CAST facilities at Warminster in the UK, and at the UK's NATO Forward Holding Base Sennelager in Germany, as well as a deployable capability based at Melsonby in Yorkshire. These provide a training capability for commanders and staff from company to brigade level using constructive simulation.

Gillian Dowds, head of training transformation services at Raytheon UK, told Janes that they are able to “support complex multilevel joint exercises, offering real-world scenarios in a controlled data-driven environment”. She said that under the contract, Raytheon will support up to 35 exercises per year, both at the static sites and using their deployable capability.

Reference upkeep

Their core constructive simulation software, the Advanced Battlespace Computer Simulation System (ABACUS), plays all activity and engagements to reflect terrain, equipment capabilities, relative strengths, and doctrine.

ABACUS, together with a middleware tool called the Virtual Command and Control Interface (VCCI), can be integrated with other simulation and command-and-control (C2) systems, notably the army's ComBAT battle management system, BiSim's Virtual Battlespace 4 (VBS4) known as Defence Virtual Simulation 2 (DVS2) in British service, and the Exonaut exercise management software from 4C Strategies.