QinetiQ, through a combination of its Paramarine advanced marine design software and it's Through-Life Submarines Support Services has assisted the MoD in its on-going submarine safety programme. The project that QinetiQ undertook evolved from HMS Astute grounding in 2010.

As part of the post incident review it was identified that enhanced information was required to help in the assessment of safety for stability of a submarine that had grounded.

QinetiQ were tasked with the development of a decision support tool that would help to establish the condition of a grounded submarine whilst taking into account a range of variables such as the condition of the sea bed and state of the tides.

This would assist in the rapid assessment of the state of a submarine given that in some cases there is limited information to base a response on.

The project was carried out for the In-Service Submarines Team which is part of the Defence Equipment and Support (DE and S) MoD agency, responsible for all Royal Navy in-service submarines (Trafalgar, Vanguard and Astute Classes) and for supporting the introduction of new submarines into service.

"QinetiQ produced an excellent response to the brief. The grounding information they delivered more than met our expectations in terms of its content, layout, presentation and overall quality of information to ensure that all levels of staff can use it in an emergency situation.

They have delivered a value for money task in a timely fashion. The attention to detail and input into the project by QinetiQ's submarine experts has added significant value to us," observed Linda Eadie, Engineering System Owner, Naval Architect for In-Service Submarines, MoD.

QinetiQ have an unrivalled knowledge in the field of submarine manoeuvring and control performance, design, optimisation and safety with over 25 years' experience and have worked with navies around the world including the UK Royal Navy, the Canadian, Norwegian, Italian, and Dutch Navies and submarine constructors such DCNS, Fincantieri, Navantia and BAE Systems.

QinetiQ provides an extensive range of submarine through-life support services and tools including Paramarine software, a world leading submarine design solution, and range of Submarine and Propulsor Design, Performance, Optimisation and Safety Services.

"We have established a long and mutually beneficial relationship with the MoD working on both the Royal Navy surface and submarine fleet.

"This project is an excellent demonstration of the range and depth of capabilities QinetiQ are able to bring to bear to deliver a successful outcome to a complex problem," observed Vittorio Vagliani, Managing Director, QinetiQ GRC.