The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded QinetiQ a GBP 15 million contract to manage, maintain and update the Thundercloud classified military data management system.
Thundercloud collects, analyzes, and shares meteorological and oceanographic data across all security levels for use by UK military forces. This is done through a secure network of systems, providing support for land, sea, and air operations worldwide.
The data, services, and products provided by Thundercloud offer a comprehensive understanding of the environment, facilitating shared situational awareness among different military teams. This is a critical advantage for naval, air force, and land-based teams requiring secure, accurate, and detailed geospatial information to fully utilize the environment or minimize its impact on operations.
Thundercloud was initially developed in the 1980s by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) and later managed by QinetiQ starting in 2001, with ongoing upgrades and support contracts. QinetiQ has secured the support contract in competitions held in 2014 and 2019, with the latest competition awarding a further two years of support focusing on Agile change delivery.
Hampshire-based technical managed services company, Thorn LTD, will provide a key role in engineering support, as well as other SMEs providing specialist technical support.
Commander Nick Davies, Joint Operational Meteorology and Oceanography Centre (JOMOC) said: “We are very pleased to award this ongoing contract to the QinetiQ team who have ably supported us for 24 years already, working collaboratively with us on what’s needed to deliver this key capability now and for the future. QinetiQ has worked as a partner to us to get the best from the system in the past, frequently going above and beyond to give us a reliable, best of breed solution and I’m looking forward to continuing that over the next two years.”
James Willis, Chief Executive, UK Intelligence, QinetiQ, said: “QinetiQ is proud to apply its expertise in cyber, data and electromagnetics to ensure this critical capability continues to provide its vital service to our military forces around the world.”
