Ravenswood to support British training exercises in Kenya

March 3, 2020March 20, 2020 Patrick Kenyette kenya

The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) has awarded Ravenswood Solutions a five-year contract to provide the British Army with tactical engagement simulation in Kenya (TESIK).

The new TESIK contract was announced by the UK Ministry of Defence Online portal on 2 March and is valued at 31.6 million pounds.

Ravenswood Solutions said it will provide British troops training in Kenya and other locations with instrumentation, weapon simulators, battlefield effects, and instrumented after-action reviews (I-AARs) in collaboration with Swiss-based laser engagement systems provider RUAG, global logistics provider Agility, and UK-based engineering and technical services corporation QinetiQ.

RUAG’s laser-based, live-simulation system (known as Gladiator) will interface with Ravenswood’s instrumentation system (known as the Mobile Ground Truth System) to generate high-fidelity exercise data, track troops and vehicles over a large, remote training area, and produce I-AARs to improve training.

Ravenswood said TESIK is its first major contract with the UK Ministry of Defence for turnkey exercise support and instrumentation services. The five-year contract has two optional one-year extensions. The contract will run from1 September 2020 to 31 August 2025.

“Team Ravenswood is thrilled to begin building a strong, trust-based partnership with our new client, the UK Ministry of Defence,” said Ravenswood CEO Dan Donoghue. “We tailored our best-in-industry capabilities to meet the British Army’s training needs, and we are honoured that they have put their trust and confidence in us. We look forward to helping the MOD achieve their desired training outcomes, as well as bridging our current capabilities to their future needs.”

The British Army has for many years held training in Kenya under the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK), with up to six British infantry battalions per year carrying out two month-long exercises in Kenya where they can train in rugged and hot conditions.

BRITISH ARMY TRAINING UNIT KENYA (BATUK)

BATUK is a permanent training support unit based mainly in Nanyuki, 200 km north of Nairobi, but with a small element in Nairobi. BATUK provides demanding training to exercising units preparing to deploy on operations or assume high-readiness tasks. BATUK consists of around 100 permanent staff and reinforcing short tour cohort of another 280 personnel.

Under an agreement with the Kenyan Government, up to six infantry battalions per year carry out eight-week exercises in Kenya.

There are also Royal Engineer exercises, which carry out civil engineering projects, and medical deployments, which provide primary health care assistance to the civilian community.