BAE invests £10m in Royal Navy facility

Defence company BAE Systems has launched a £10m investment programme in order to fund upgrades at its Hampshire- based Maritime Integration and Support Centre (MISC) - a specialist facility that provides support to Royal Navy warships when researching its future combat systems and technologies.

Located on Portsdown Hill, Portsmouth, the Type 45 destroyer shaped MISC replicates real-life ship conditions using the same combat system technology found across the Royal Navy's surface fleet, including systems used to track threats, co-ordinate weapons and manage on-deck aircraft movements and enables engineers to develop and test key elements of combat systems before installing them on vessels and, once in service, provide them with through-life support.

BAE Systems' £10m investment will fund its research of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, information and electronic warfare, unmanned vehicles and new weapons.

As a result of the funding, the MISC will receive new facilities including a visualisation suite capable of displaying live tactical data from any Royal Navy warship anywhere in the world, further enhancing warship support.

Richard Williams, BAE's Naval ships combat systems director, said, "The Maritime Integration and Support Centre is a vital facility for ensuring combat systems equipment aboard the Royal Navy's fleet remains at peak operational performance and allows us to continue our work on the combat systems of the future. Our investment will ensure the MISC will build on the success it has enjoyed since opening in 2004 and help us understand how new technologies can be introduced to keep navies safe."