Track 1 Hypersonics and Space

VIPER: Extending Two-Stage Light Gas Gun Performance Through Velocity Amplification for Hypervelocity Impact Testing

Presenter: Dr. Tim Ringrose, First Light Fusion

This paper presents the development and initial test evaluation of VIPER, a novel velocity amplification system designed to enhance the performance of existing two stage light gas guns (2SLGG) to achieve projectile velocities exceeding 10 km/s. VIPER addresses a capability gap in hypervelocity impact test and evaluation (T&E), supporting applications such as micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) research, spacecraft shielding assessment, and high-strain-rate materials characterisation. Three VIPER prototype configurations have been designed, manufactured, and experimentally evaluated. These include a pressurised gas filled cavity architecture and configurations incorporating alternating heavy light layer assemblies to control shock behaviour, impulse delivery, and thermal response during acceleration. Experimental trials demonstrate repeatable velocity amplification across multiple designs. Prototype I and Prototype III successfully launched solid-state projectiles at approximately 1.4× the input velocity, while Prototype II achieved up to ~2.4× amplification, producing a controlled dispersed particle output rather than a single intact flyer. These results are consistent with prior published research, including work on the STAR facility at Sandia National Laboratories, USA, while extending the application of velocity amplification to smaller-bore 2SLGG platforms. The paper summarises the prototype designs, experimental methodology, and measured performance, with a focus on practical T&E considerations including integration with existing launcher infrastructure, diagnostic requirements, and repeatability. Future development will focus on improved diagnostics, validation using spherical projectiles, and expanded computational modelling to support design optimisation and test planning. VIPER represents a scalable capability enhancement for advanced hypervelocity testing relevant to aerospace, planetary science, and space infrastructure protection.

Affordable high temperature materials T&E facility for high-speed environments

Presenters: Adam Healey and Tim Humphries, QinetiQ

There are challenges accessing representative facilities for the testing of candidate materials and materials systems in relevant high-speed environments in the UK due to limited availability of capability of testing in the correct environment including elevated temperatures. There is a need to develop a new, novel, and affordable ground Test and Evaluation facility which addresses key parts of the high-speed environment testing space for materials, structures and components to provide confidence that prototype products can meet safety and performance specifications necessary to proceed to integration and flight-testing. This T&E facility must be efficient to set-up, must include processing and instrumentation solutions, and must be affordable to maintain and operate. QinetiQ has reviewed and analysed the types of testing required for high-speed environments and has developed candidate T&E facility designs which extend the standard approach to ground testing by exploiting a combination of approaches. These candidate T&E facilities designs will lead to a flexible and representative test environment for understanding the behaviour of materials, the performance of prototypes, rapidly maturing technologies for high speed environments,   and will position the UK with a world leading capability without the need to provide bespoke supporting services, including high power demand at low cost.

TBA

Track 2 Test and Evaluation of Digital Systems including Cyber and CEMA

State-of-the-art technology enablers for future CEMA/C5ISR T&E

Presenter: Dr. Simon Crowle, Dstl

Test and evaluation in the related domains of CEMA and C5ISR research (Cyber Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA) and Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR)) poses a number of unique challenges. The increasing scope, complexity and use of this electromagnetic information space is aggressively contested by advanced, digital systems of systems. Today, we are uniquely challenged to test and evaluate in this environment where physical space and resource is relatively scarce. In this presentation we examine, from a range of perspectives, how state-of-the-art (SOTA) technology paradigms move us closer to meeting such challenges in the CEMA and C5ISR domains. We consider experimentation/trial data management; computational modelling and simulation; federated virtual-physical test facilities; synthetic lab-based environments; hybrid-virtual verification and validation methods; and approaches taken by adjacent industries. Finally, we reflect on the role of these SOTA enablers in the context of our recent, complementary requirements capture and analysis activities carried out at Dstl.

Bridging the Gap Between Electromagnetic Environment Modelling and Open-Air Testing

Presenter: Alistair Bailey, Emerson NI

The evolution of cyber and electromagnetic activities (CEMA) continues to challenge traditional design and test methodologies for next generation mission systems, particularly within an increasingly contested and congested electromagnetic environment.  A large gap remains between modern model based digital design and traditional hardware in the loop test solutions, particularly when needing to scale from one-versus-one, to one-versus-few and ultimately many-versus-many scenarios.  This paper presents a modern workflow that integrates high-fidelity electromagnetic simulation with a scalable, commercial off-the-shelf, software-defined RF hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) architecture – enabling test capability traditionally reserved for ranges and in-theatre data to be brought into the integration lab and earlier in system development.  The workflow leverages modern GPU-accelerated simulation, to enable both system-of-systems mission-level analysis and high-fidelity electromagnetic representation, and pairs it with a hardware platform that scales with application demands, including wideband RF and digital I/Q interfaces, low-latency high-speed data movement, and multi-channel synchronisation for dense emulated environments.  Ultimately, by connecting the simulation and hardware emulation worlds together, earlier detection and faster iteration is possible throughout the design cycle of tomorrow’s EMSO mission system – reducing risk and accelerating delivery of capabilities to the warfighter.

Capturing and Analysing T&E Requirements for Dstl CEMA and C5ISR Research

Presenter: Lucy Ralph, Dstl

This presentation will share our approach to gathering and analysing T&E requirements for Dstl CEMA and C5ISR [1] research. We will then share our assessment of the process and top-level recommendations. In the cyber domain, our study focussed on the physical layer in the OSI 7 layer networking model. Achieving freedom of manoeuvre and maintaining information advantage is increasingly challenging in a highly contested and congested environment, populated by multiple actors. Modern operations depend on ecosystems that function within the electromagnetic environment, used for Command and Control and delivery of effects.To develop and understand these ecosystems, Dstl conducts a range of activities, from low TRL [2] trials and experimentation through to test and evaluation of higher TRL technologies and systems used for the acceptance of new equipment and capabilities.We want to improve our understanding of the T&E needs across Dstl for the CEMA and C5ISR research capability to enable better informed choices about T&E provision. To support this we have carried out a substantial requirements capture exercise.    In this presentation we will describe our requirements capture approach, summarise our analysis, assess its utility and present our top-level findings from the study.   [1] Cyber Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA) and Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR)[2] Technology Readiness Levels

Track 3 Autonomous Systems

Developing a Safer Approach towards Energetics Sampling for Evaluation

Presenter: Richard Cawthorne, Dstl

Energetic materials are, by their nature hazardous. Research and evaluation laboratories occasionally need to process substances and munitions whose properties are not yet fully understood. This processing enables assessment of the risks these materials pose and for the organisation to designate the appropriate handling procedures. Initial sampling permits detailed chemical analysis and small scale hazard testing, enabling scaling up of activities through sampling of larger quantities as knowledge and confidence grows.Chemical analysis depends on obtaining representative samples, but challenges arise when the only available material is a solid block weighing several kilograms. Obtaining material from a large propellant grain, for example, without introducing heat, friction, or impact is complex, especially when the exact sensitivity to these stimuli, for a given formulation, is unproven.This challenge was put to Dstl’s robotics specialists who were tasked with developing a fully remote method for collecting samples from large solid propellant grains. The requirement was to retrieve approximately 70 grams of material cut into consistent 12 mm particles suitable for chemical analysis and testing requirements.This presentation or poster will cover work undertaken over an eight month period by a small team who designed and refined a remote sampling method using a Collaborative Robot (Cobot) that can be operated at a safe distance. By leveraging a generic and flexible robotic platform, the team created a capability that not only enables safe sample acquisition today, but also lays the foundation for wider automation of future end to end workflows, including:•Retrieving and unpacking items for processing•Mounting test systems securely to an operating rig•Performing the sampling operation•Repackaging and dispatching materials for analysis© Crown copyright (2026), Dstl. This information is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. To view this licence, visit https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/.  Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to: centralenquiries@dstl.gov.uk.

High Fidelity Simulation: Accelerating T&E for BVLOS Regulatory Approval

Presenter: Elliott Kerman, Flarebright

At Flarebright we are actively trying to prove that drones can safely operate in smaller spaces, unlocking their use for everyday infrastructure tasks such as the surveying of gas pipelines.  Often, the financial burden of proving the safety of unmanned platforms outstrips the operational cost benefits they offer over existing expensive manned aircraft, effectively grounding many advanced applications and limiting many others to restricting Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) operations.Central to these challenges is the Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) framework. Traditional compliance relies on overly conservative formulas to calculate available flight volumes. This methodology yields volumes that are simply too large for practical missions in populated environments but, without better information, remains vital for ensuring a UAS can be operated and tested safely. This session demonstrates how we can utilise digital twinning and simulation to overcome these regulatory bottlenecks. By executing thousands of simulations across a wide spectrum of environmental conditions, operators can transition to a robust, data-driven approach over the traditional, static, worst case assumptions.Attendees will be introduced to ML SCOPE, an application developed to streamline the process of setting up, running and processing results from these simulations.  This promises to speed up and reduce the cost of the T&E process, unlocking a wider array of applications for these vehicles.  This session will also cover the verification and validation  of these synthetic environments. We will explore how real-world flight test data can be used to anchor the simulation, discuss the limitations of applying blanket uncertainty margins to dynamic flight states, and outline the future of “state-dependent” uncertainty quantification to safely and legally shrink Ground Risk Buffers (GRB) for regulators.Whilst currently applied to subsonic unmanned aerial systems, this approach has potential in a wide array of missions and vehicles.Learning Objectives: By the end of this session, participants will be able to:- Identify regulatory bottlenecks: Understand the current challenges facing BVLOS operations, specifically how traditional SORA Annex A static containment formulas restrict infrastructure surveying and inflate T&E costs.- Transition from static formulas to dynamic modelling: Compare standard, linear SORA calculations which mandate worst-case atmospheric assumptions against dynamic Monte Carlo simulations to mathematically justify a drastically reduced Ground Risk Buffer (GRB).- Define approaches to uncertainty quantification: Explore frameworks for validating Digital Twin outputs against flight test data, transitioning from rudimentary static safety margins to sophisticated, state-dependent uncertainty modelling for robust regulatory approval.

Digital Engineering and Data-Driven Services for AI-Enabled Test and Evaluation of Autonomous Systems

Presented by: Rob McGeachy, THALES

Digital engineering is reshaping how complex defence capabilities are designed, integrated, and evaluated, particularly as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and autonomy introduce behaviours that are adaptive, probabilistic, and difficult to assess through traditional methods alone. Synthetic environments and Digital Twins are increasingly used not only for training, but as digital test infrastructures that support experimentation, verification, validation, and evidence generation across the full capability lifecycle. Thales will provide an insight into their use of environments such as Air and Space Operational Environment Digital Twin (AOEDT) to understand how digital engineering and data-driven services can support AI-enabled Test and Evaluation (T&E) of autonomous systems through a collaborative, federated approach.Through open standards-based approaches, AOEDT enables MiL, SiL, HiL and Live, Virtual, and Constructive components from different vendors to be integrated into a common mission context. This federated architecture supports collaboration across government, industry, and academia, allowing partners to contribute and reuse models, data, services, and scenarios without relying on a single monolithic solution.A key strength of this approach is it’s ability to shift T&E left, starting at operational analysis and concept definition and continuing throughout the systems engineering lifecycle. Rather than waiting for late-stage physical integration, candidate architectures, behaviours, and interfaces can be explored early and refined through spiral development. This is particularly valuable for complex systems of systems, where operational performance depends on interactions between multiple platforms, networks, operators, and autonomous functions.The methodology combines digital engineering workflows with data-driven services. Digital engineering maintains coherence between requirements, models, scenarios, interfaces, and measures of effectiveness, while data-driven services capture and analyse execution data from real world and synthetic trials to support traceability, behavioural assessment, and evidence-based decision making. This emphasis on data is critical for AI-focused T&E, where performance must be understood in context rather than through deterministic pass/fail criteria alone.Relevant applications include AI Computer Generated Forces trained through reinforcement learning, providing adaptive and tactically credible behaviours, and flight or vehicle models informed by physics-informed neural networks, combining computational efficiency with physical realism. These techniques expand the realism, variability, and scale of synthetic testing.By enabling complex autonomous systems of systems to be integrated and tested in mission context, the AOEDT approach helps reduce reliance on scarce physical assets and lowers the cost and risk of large-scale live testing. The result is a scalable and evidence-rich T&E environment in which data, models, and AI are central to collaborative digital engineering and informed capability development.

Track 4 DEW, Communications and Sensors

Hybrid Digital Twins for RF C-UAS: Using a Synthetic Environment as a T&E Testbed for Detecting and Jamming 5G NTN Controlled Drones in an Urban Terrain

Presenter: Nathan Nims, Keysight

The integration of 5G and Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) enables beyond-line-of-sight control of unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Operational test and evaluation of these systems and associated counter-UAS (C-UAS) operations is varied and complex across multiple propagation domains. Live-range testing alone cannot cost-effectively or safely cover the scenario space — dense urban geometry, multi-band propagation, satellite geometry variation, and adversarial jamming constraints demand a repeatable, instrumented synthetic environment. This effort presents a hybrid digital twin approach that integrates physics-based propagation models (deterministic ray tracing) with hardware-in-the-loop channel emulation to create a repeatable T&E testbed for RF detection, attribution, and jamming of drones controlled via 5G NTN. The test scenario includes a 5G NTN LEO constellation controlling a set of drones operating in an urban environment. The LEO satellites are communicating with various terrestrial assets in a dense urban environment where for each channel, appropriate propagation models are applied, including deterministic ray tracing for the 3D urban environment. In addition to the 5G NTN network, the drones communicate over a tactical MANET with multi-band channel models spanning sub-6 GHz and FR2. The developed channel models — incorporating diffraction, reflection, multipath, and blockage — are injected into a real-time network digital twin to exercise satellite-to-user, satellite-to-drone, and drone-to-drone link segments under mission-relevant latency, Doppler, and shadowing conditions. Jamming assessment covers GNSS drone emitter jamming and selective RF jamming constrained by spectral masks and rules of engagement. The primary contribution is a reproducible evaluation methodology for RF C-UAS behavior against 5G NTN-controlled UAS in a multi-domain environment. Using this testbed, we demonstrate  Identification of the RF control source (uplink path) associated with a 5G NTN UAS operating in dense urban canyons under mobility and multipath. Quantification of geolocation accuracy as a function of antenna pattern, time synchronization, and satellite geometry. Assessment of jamming effectiveness and collateral spectral impact using probability of detection and link throughput degradation.

DEW T&E

Presenter: Jesse Dykes, QinetiQ

Coming soon

Thales Weapon System Digital Twins for T&E

Presenter: John Harvey, Dan Higgins, THALES

Coming Soon

Track 5 Future T&E Capability

Creating Mult-Domain Operations (MDO) with D- Live, Virtual, Constructive (LVC)

Presenter: Tilghman Turner, US Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC)

Future testing requires an operationally realistic Multi Domain Operations (MDO) approach.  The required MDO testing cannot be performed using live assets.  The future MDO test environments will have to use a Live, Virtual, Constructive (LVC) approach.  To meet this need, the Army Test & Evaluation Command (ATEC) created a distributed LVC MDO test environment to prove this concept.  ATEC demonstrated the ability to test U.S. Army platforms, systems, and systems of systems in a Multi-Domains Operations Environment. Leveraging distributed test networks, ATEC connects the Hardware in the Loop (HWIL) facilities, System Integration Labs (SIL), Test Centers, and ranges in a virtual sandbox to perform early Integration and Experimentation along with Developmental and Operational testing to inform the Acquisition Lifecycle enabling the delivery of advanced technologies to the warfighter at the speed of need.

“Impossible” Imaging: Revealing hidden defects behind steel with 450 kVp X-ray CT

Presenter: Richard Boardman, Southampton University

X-ray computed tomography in the low-mid hundreds of keV range is readily available within the UK imaging community, whereas access to MeV imaging is often complex or impossible, e.g. necessitating the export of parts outside the UK or disruption to production-line radiography. Here, we demonstrate how this gap can be substantially reduced for specific classes of problems. Using a 450kVp microfocus X-ray source, we show that cracks within low-density infill materials can be resolved despite being enclosed by thick steel walls, recovering features that single-projection MeV radiography cannot, such as detailed defect morphometry. This is achieved through careful management of scatter through a combination of acquisition strategies, including source and detector collimation, slice-wise 1D approaches, hybridised thick slices, and deliberately oversaturated scans that exploit the objects geometry. Whilst curved linear detector arrays remain the gold standard for individual slice clarity, comparable image quality can be approached using flat-panel systems, with orders-of-magnitude improvements in speed. In some cases, full CT acquisition of large components is achieved in under five minutes. These results indicate that, whilst not a replacement for full MeV tomography, laboratory-scale systems can in some cases complement high-energy techniques by revealing classes of defects that radiography alone otherwise cannot fully categorise.

Canada’s Maritime T&E Advantage: Joint Range Operations, Environmental Stewardship, and Capability Evolution at CFMETR

Presenter: Stephen McCormick, Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges

Coming soon

Track 6 Digital Engineering and Data Driven Services

Creating a Search Engine for Test Data: Using AI Agents to Discover, Compare, and Analyse Test Results

Presenter: Michael Rosam, Quix Analytics Limited

Test organisations have invested heavily in capturing and storing data. Modern data acquisition systems reliably record high-fidelity measurements from wind tunnels, engine dynamometers, hardware-in-the-loop rigs, and environmental chambers. Yet engineers still schedule new tests rather than query existing results, because finding a relevant previous test and trusting its context takes longer than re-running the experiment.The core issue is data access. Measurement data typically arrives disconnected from the configuration that produced it. The context an engineer needs to interpret a test lives in separate locations. For example, metadata such as rig setup parameters, test article identifiers, environmental conditions, software versions might be stored in spreadsheets, standalone databases or individual engineers’ laptops. When an engineer needs to answer “did we already test component X under condition Y?”, there is no single place to ask that question.This paper presents an architecture that uses AI Agents to address access at two levels. 1) The Data Engineering Agent: Writes its own scripts to enrich time-series with configuration metadata as it enters the search engine, so every test run is catalogued with its full context: what was tested, on which facility, under what conditions, with which software and model versions. This makes the data queryable by facility, programme, configuration, time window, or any combination.2)The Analysis Agent: Handles the full journey from question to answer. The agent is pre-configured with context about the data environment: the catalogue schema, available data sources, column definitions, units, and the APIs needed to query them. An engineer asks “compare vibration profiles across all balancing tests on rotor type X from the last six months.” The agent: – interprets the query- identifies the relevant test runs from the catalogue- writes the Python code to extract and align the data- generates the comparison visualisation- presents the result. The engineer never needs to know which database to query, how the data is structured, or how to write the analysis code. If the resulting analysis is useful once and discarded, it serves its purpose. If it is worth reusing, it can be saved and deployed as a shareable application for colleagues with a single click.This approach, sometimes described as “just-in-time software,” inverts the traditional workflow. Instead of engineers learning tools to get answers, the tooling is generated on demand to fit the question. Because the agent understands the data environment, it can ask clarifying questions when a request is ambiguous, chain together multiple queries across different data sources, and iteratively refine the analysis until the engineer has what they need.Engineers who understand the physics of their test can get engineering answers quickly. The architecture is built on open-source technologies with Anthropic’s Claude Code providing the agentic analysis layer. We present implementation patterns and practical results from Formula 1 wind tunnel and track test programmes, where the combination of automated metadata enrichment and agentic analysis measurably reduced redundant test scheduling and cut the time from “I need an answer” to “I have an answer” from days to minutes.

Accelerate or Lose: F-1 Lessons for Digital T&E

Presenter: Matt Malloy, Dell

Coming soon

Digital Twins: Is Defence Ready?

Presenter: Harriet Hewett, Dstl

Digital twins and digital engineering are no longer distant or aspirational concepts within Defence. They are increasingly a necessity for effective delivery in an era defined by unprecedented system complexity, rapid development cycles, and the need for assured decision‑making. This is particularly evident in sixth‑generation programmes such as the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), where traditional approaches to engineering and Test and Evaluation (T&E) alone are insufficient to manage the scale, pace, and integration challenges inherent in such capabilities. This talk explores the role of digital twins as a key enabler of contemporary Defence T&E, while challenging common misconceptions about their purpose and scope. Digital twins do not replace established modelling and simulation techniques; rather, they augment them. By linking existing models with test, manufacturing, and operational data, digital twins offer a dynamic, continuously evolving representation of systems that can enhance insight, traceability, and confidence across the lifecycle. When applied appropriately, they have the potential to support test design, reduce physical test burden, improve anomaly investigation, and enable more agile and evidence‑based assurance. However, the implementation of digital twins within GCAP and similar programmes is not without significant challenges. This presentation examines some of the practical problems currently facing digital twin adoption, including data availability and quality, model fidelity and credibility, configuration management, accreditation and assurance, security constraints, and organisational readiness. It also considers the “buzz word” effect, and the cultural transformation that needs to happen now.  It will consider how these challenges manifest within a multi‑national, multi‑partner programme environment and discuss pragmatic approaches to overcoming them, emphasising incremental delivery, governance, and alignment between engineering and T&E communities. The talk ultimately addresses the central question posed by the title: are digital twins an inevitable evolution for Defence T&E, or are we still laying the foundations required for their responsible and effective use? By grounding the discussion in the realities of current Defence programmes rather than future vision statements, the session aims to move beyond hype and provide a balanced assessment of what digital twins can realistically deliver today, what risks must be managed, and what changes are required to fully realise their potential. This presentation seeks to stimulate informed discussion on readiness, responsibility, and the practical steps needed to embed digital twins as a trusted component of Defence T&E.