QinetiQ

QinetiQ

QinetiQ (/kɪˈnɛtɪk/ as in kinetic) is a multinational defence technology company headquartered in Farnborough, Hampshire. It is the world's 64th-largest defence contractor measured by 2022 defence revenues, and the sixth-largest based in the United Kingdom.[3]

As a private entity, QinetiQ was created in April 2001; prior to this, it had been part of Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), a now-defunct British government organisation. While a large portion of DERA's assets, sites, and employees were transferred to QinetiQ, other elements were incorporated into Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), which remains in government ownership. Some former DERA locations have thus become key sites for QinetiQ. These include Farnborough, Hampshire; MoD Boscombe Down, Wiltshire; and Malvern, Worcestershire.

 The firm is already spearheading a plan to develop a hypersonic missile-killing directed energy weapon in the UK called Dragonfire, with partners including Leonardo UK and missile company MBDA.

 Countries around the world are interested in the technology because it offers a credible challenge to so-called hypersonic missiles, which move at speeds faster than 3,800 miles per hour and are hard to hit with physical weaponry.

Qinetiq’s Dragonfire is being developed to hit missiles, drones and other enemy targets. Using electric power, it does not require ammunition, which is an attractive advantage at a time when the West is burning through missile stockpiles by donating them to Ukraine.

The three-year A$13m contract to deliver a prototype and develop a manufacturing base in Australia is a “critical sovereign industrial capability” for the country, it said.