2024 highlights: our best moments from this year
19 Dec 24
Inzpire
19 Dec 24
Inzpire
As 2024 draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on another eventful year.
While as a nation we’ve been largely gripped by events surrounding the general election in the UK, not to mention the presidential election in the US, it’s been a year full of achievements and accomplishments across Inzpire.
Here are some of our highlights from 2024…
We started the year on a high, being crowned Employer of the Year at the International Business Brilliance Awards 2024.
Shortlisted among huge organisations from around the world, we came out on top, impressing the judges with our exceptional commitment to employees.
With this success firmly in mind, our People function worked hard to launch Inzpired Work Awards to recognise hard work within our team. Since then, the scheme has seen more than 285 awards presented.
On New Year’s Day, as part of his volunteering for the Shropshire and Cheshire Blood Bike Charity, Pete Booth from our mission systems team, spent eight hours supporting the NHS. He’s since completed 47 Blood Bike shifts, totalling 306 hours.
Our cyber team attended a parliamentary reception at the House of Commons to raise awareness of the critical importance of investing in cyber education. This was in recognition of the outstanding work they contribute towards the CyberFirst STEM programme.
To mark the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we hosted 23 Year-6 girls at the Air Battlespace Training Centre. They got to experience flight simulators and meet inspirational women in the aerospace industry.
Our Air & Space Division (ASD) Gladiator team supported delivery of Exercise BAMBOO EAGLE with Inzpire liaison officers deployed across the US. Led by the US Air Force Warfare Centre, BAMBOO EAGLE provided the first-ever command and control-driven, live-fly and simultaneous live, virtual and constructive exercise with participants from the US, UK and Australia.
Business development manager, Alistair Howard and GECO technical sales expert, Nick Harris, attended the International Military Helicopter Conference where they exhibited our GECO Mission Support System in conjunction with Collins Aerospace’s open architecture cockpit demonstrator.
And, in a bid to make mental health first aid training more accessible, we offered all employees the opportunity to take part. Since the first session in February, we’ve trained a total of 63 people altogether.
This month saw our RPAS team support QinetiQ with the design and delivery of courseware modules for a new ETPS Uncrewed Air Systems Test course, which aims to develop the skills and competencies of flight test practitioners.
Back to our Cyber Division, the team was approached by the police to help develop a training package that can be used to educate children about the perils of getting involved in cyber-crime as part of the national PREVENT programme.
This month, ASD’s largest ever contract went live, to supply White Force services - combining both our live and synthetic training teams - to the Air and Space Warfare Centre at RAF Waddington. Thus, placing Inzpire at the heart of all UK air training.
Elsewhere, IT²EC in London saw a very successful joint demonstration between Inzpire and Varjo. We exhibited our mixed-reality Compact Agile Simulation Equipment (CASE) using the latest (at the time) Varjo XR4 FE headset – showing how our CASE systems can be integrated to allow trainees to train together in a fully immersive environment.
Our Gladiator team delivered Exercise ATHENA WARRIOR; the first UK-hosted international exercise by the Gladiator program. We delivered training to partners across NATO with participants from Canada, Norway, Italy, Greece and the UK.
It was also a big month for our Electromagnetic Warfare Technology and Training team. Not only did they deliver our inaugural five-day Fundamentals of Air Electromagnetic Warfare course to defence industry specialists, (they’ve delivered another two since), but they also exhibited at AOC Europe in Oslo that week.
This brings us to the launch of our Temporary Overseas Working Scheme. To further enhance our agile ways of working, we recognised that employees may wish to temporarily base themselves overseas while continuing to deliver day-to-day responsibilities, thereby avoiding the need to use annual holiday entitlement. Since launching the scheme, employees have based themselves temporarily out of the US, Canada and France.
Keen to support serving personnel, we sponsored RAF Digby’s cycle team as they took part in the International Bomber Command’s (IBCC) Men-of-the-Dams ride to the Netherlands, raising money for IBCC to build a new learning centre.
Staying on the theme of cycling for June, we once again sponsored RAFA Rides, with a team of 11 riders taking part in the ride on 15th June, finishing all together in an epic thunderstorm!
From supporting veteran charities, to championing our veteran community within Inzpire, we were delighted to be ranked fourth in the Great British Employer of Veterans. This is the most in-depth benchmark of the top companies employing veterans, reservists and members of the armed forces community in the UK.
One of the reservists amongst us, Andrew ‘Milli’ Millikin, had the honour of leading the King’s Birthday Flypast on 15th June, in his last ever Typhoon flight as an RAF reserve. He was one of 34 aircraft that took to the skies above the crowds over Buckingham Palace.
IT successfully completed the implementation of our virtual desktop infrastructure, improving network access company wide.
July marked our 29 Squadron White Force subject matter experts (SMEs) delivering Exercise STORM WARRIOR for the Typhoon Qualified Weapons Instructor Course. As part of this, the team provided operators to test and evaluate RAF Waddington’s John Collier Facility (JCF) and Exercise Control Hub.
We supported the Gladiator Space Wrap capability demonstration to observers from across all UK military services; this showcased new technologies and mechanisms that could better represent space capabilities in synthetic training.
By this time in the year, our Training Services Division had successfully secured 12 analysis and consultancy contracts with various MOD customers; half of these being follow-on extension contracts.
Plus, our finance team reaped the benefits of human factors training from our very own Tug Wilson.
With all this hard work underway, many of us were grateful to be able to take two work-free hours: an initiative launched by our wellbeing team for Self-Care Day on 24th July.
Our mission systems team took to the choppy waters of Manvers Lake for a charity Dragon Boat Race in aid of Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice. The team came second, but still a valiant effort, raising over £2300.
Over a hot July weekend, a cross-company team completed the ‘Trent 100’ Stand Up Paddleboard Challenge – paddling 100km along the River Trent! They completed the entire course (many didn’t), raising over £1300 for Marie Curie.
Now into August, our enthusiastic team of STEM ambassadors attended the RAF Air Cadets’ National Air and Space Camp Industry Day at RAF Syerston. This flagship event offers the opportunity for young people from across the UK to immerse themselves in the aviation and space industry and to discover varied careers in the sector. Something we’re always keen to champion!
Air Assault A400M - Exercise COBRA WARRIOR © UK MOD Crown Copyright 2024. AS1 Riley Allison.
In September, our 92 Squadron White Force SMEs delivered the largest air exercise to be held in UK airspace, Exercise COBRA WARRIOR 24-2, with participants from UK, US and across Europe. This included the first live-synthetic connection to Gladiator supported by the Gladiator White Force. It was also the first time the whole exercise control function was delivered from the JCF.
Huge congratulations go to our JCF manager who won two notable military awards for their contribution to the establishment of the JCF capability: a “Team Excellence Award” at the 11 Group Annual Awards dinner and an “Air & Space Commander’s Team Commendation” in the Honours List.
Over to Portugal next, where our maritime team provided SME input to the use of autonomous vehicles in the Above Water and Underwater domains for REPMUS 24; and where our Helicopter Services Division delivered a brand-new Foundation Electronic Warfare course in support of the Multinational Helicopter Training Centre (MHTC) in Sintra.
Finally, Philip Johnston-Davis, from our ISR & RPAS Division won the inaugural Inter Services Urban Orienteering Championships, followed by his second RAF Orienteering Champs title. Well done, Phil!
October was an action-packed month for Inzpire.
In an exciting first, on 2nd October, we welcomed over 150 guests from all three services and industry to our Annual Reception at London’s award-winning, immersive gallery, Frameless.
We celebrated an incredible 10 years of support to Nottingham Hospitals Charity. We’ve raised over £20,000, with funds going towards the Paediatric Critical Care Unit at the Nottingham Children’s Hospital.
Building on nearly 20 years of world-leading military aircrew training in the live and synthetic environment, our Helicopter Services Division announced that it had secured a contract to deliver helicopter tactics courses to over 20 European partners, at the MHTC until the end of 2025.
To further develop relationships with European nations, the head of division, Craig Brown, joined our head of business development, Ian Thorne, at the Global Defence Helicopter conference in Warsaw to discuss our broad range of helicopter training services and mission systems.
In support of another European nation, our RPAS team travelled to Brussels to deliver our UAS & RPAS Operational Concepts Course to the Belgium MOD Materiel Management Organisation; the second iteration of the course after a successful delivery in 2022.
A big well done to army veteran, Roger Stakemire from our intelligence team, who completed a walk across the Western Front Battlefields and raised over £2400 for the Army Benevolent Fund. He’s also helped the wider team based at Chicksands to rack up 233 miles of walking this year, all in aid of teambuilding and raising money for excellent causes.
Our intelligence team has been busy across the board, delivering training in four different countries to over 100 students.
November saw our maritime experts deliver Sharpshooter - a live and synthetic training exercise for the Royal Navy at sea - in collaboration with QinetiQ. This iteration used dynamic aerial targets for the first time.
Our helicopter services team participated in the MHTC symposium in Spreewald, Germany, with Rich Dawson invited to deliver two presentations.
In more Heli news, all three of our Civilian Qualified Helicopter Instructors at RNAS Yeovilton have now flown 2000+ hours on the Wildcat platform, with one of them also amassing more than 6000 hours total flying.
Our IT team has also done a fantastic job configuring M365, ensuring it can be used to its full capabilities.
To give back to the environment, our mission systems team braved the elements with spades in hands to plant over 400 trees at Hill Holt Wood, helping to connect eco-systems.
Representatives from our cyber team attended the SANS CyberThreat 2024 conference as official sponsors of the UK Cyber Team; a great opportunity to share how their design and delivery of immersive training exercises helps to turn high-performing individuals into high-performing teams.
Congratulations to Yasmin from the team who, this month, completed the Empowering Women to Lead Cyber Security programme.
Yasmin was one of 80 members of Inzpire to undertake valuable courses and qualifications this year. Nine of these are currently undertaking apprenticeships, which is the highest number we’ve had to date! It’s safe to say that our learning and development team has been super busy this year, and we’re especially grateful for their efforts.
To round off the year, we were honoured to be awarded the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award for the second time in a row, demonstrating our exceptional support to the armed forces community.
We’d like to thank all our people and industry friends, colleagues and partners who have helped in our achievements for 2024. We look forward to working together in 2025!
13.02.25
Cyber Security
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