IBM and Defence Equipment and Support, a department of the Ministry of Defence, today announced a five-year strategic agreement for IBM to manage the UK Air Surveillance Command & Control System (UCCS).

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The IBM system is used to identify every one of the thousands of aircraft that are in the skies above the UK at any moment of the day. It tracks their movements against filed flight plans and sifts through real-time data to pinpoint suspicious activity. As a result, Royal Air Force Aerospace Battle Managers at two interlinked centres, Royal Air Force Boulmer in Northumberland and Royal Air Force Scampton in Lincolnshire are able to scramble Tornado or Typhoon fighters to intercept any aircraft that enters NATO and national airspace without proper authorisation or is acting suspiciously. In a typical year, the system will monitor as many as 2 million aircraft movements.

Air Commodore Mark Wordley, Air Officer Battlespace Management, HQ Air Command, commented: "Continued support and development of the UCCS system remains vital to the defence of the UK Homeland. Furthermore the UCCS system supports key training activities essential for the preparation of Joint Forces deploying to operational theatres."

The system was originally designed and implemented by IBM staff in the UK in 2001. The new agreement continues the existing relationship and covers the support for all hardware, software, training, helpdesk and onsite assistance to meet the most demanding requirements specified by the Royal Air Force.

Graham Richards, Project Manager, Air Command and Control Systems Integrated Project Team said "For both ourselves and IBM, it was an impressive achievement to complete such a large and complex project to the satisfaction of users, within budget and on schedule."

IBM will also be responsible for upgrading the system. In plan are extensions to take new types of data feeds from commercial air traffic control centres. Future enhancements will exploit advances in radar and data-link technologies so that information from aircraft in flight can be transmitted and incorporated into the new system. IBM's innovative use of commercial off-the-self technology in a front-line defence system won it the 2007 Technology award from Management Consultants Association.

Paul Hubbard, Manager, IBM Global Business Services, added "Safety and performance are paramount to Royal Air Force operations and have therefore been a significant factor in this contract award. For example IBM's ability to take data feeds from a variety of interconnected systems and analyse them in real-time has reduced manual intervention by the Aerospace Battle Managers by 75%."

  The contract was signed in August 2008, to commence June 1, 2009.

  Notes to Editors:

  About Defence Equipment and Support, Ministry of Defence

  For further information visit:
  http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/MicroSite/DES/

  About IBM

  For more information about IBM in the UK public sector, visit:
  ibm.com/easyaccess/publicsector

  Contacts

  Defence Equipment & Support, Ministry of Defence
  Tim Lewis, Press Office, tim.lewis684@mod.uk  0117 913 0526

  IBM

Ken Saunders, IBM UK Communications, Tel: 0207 021 8422 / Mobile 07830 123145 saundken@uk.ibm.com

Randy Zane, IBM Media Relations, 917-472-3589, rzane@us.ibm.com

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: rzane@us.ibm.com

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SOURCE: IBM