Who we are

Inzpire began – as so many great British ideas do – over a bottle of wine shared amongst a small group of friends! These friends, possessing deep military experience, were driven by frustration with how the armed forces were treated by businesses.

Their goal was to create a defence company that delivered on-time and on-budget, whilst drawing on real-world military expertise to provide an unmatched service.

From the beginning, Inzpire was built on a commitment to recruit top talent from across the armed forces. This allowed us to position ourselves as the employer of choice for veterans from the Royal Air Force, British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Marines.

Our first contract came almost as soon as we were founded in May 2005; providing support for classified trials of the Tornado F3 – offering subject matter expertise to the F3 operational evaluation unit.

We were tasked to run a number of synthetic events at RAF Waddington’s ABTC as part of an MoD concept and capability demonstration programme.

In April 2008, we moved into Henley Way; originally a single room which we split in two with a partition wall to create a meeting room. After a couple of years, we ended up renting the whole ground floor in the building.

In May 2009, we were asked by AgustaWestland Helicopters (now Leonardo) whether we could use our helicopter training expertise to develop and deliver a course for them, at their international flying training academies in Italy and the USA.

In 2010, we began supplying GECO - a safety and mission enhancing system covering mission planning, briefing, execution and debriefing - to the British Military in Afghanistan. Inzpire was now a proven supplier of training, personnel and products.

DSEI, or Defence and Security Equipment International, is a large trade exhibition for the global defence and security industry. The event attracts visitors from around the world, including senior military officials, government representatives and industry experts.

In 2012, we commenced our contract to deliver all aspects of the UK Apache Attack Helicopter Conversion to Type training for the British Army, with a team of Civilian Qualified Helicopter Instructors delivering the course at AAC Middle Wallop in Hampshire.

Following fantastic commercial success and rapid growth, we moved from our shared office building to Landmark House in February 2015. This was a significantly larger, dedicated office space located in the West of Lincoln, taking a major step in the evolution of the business.

In April 2015, we were awarded our first Queen’s Award for Excellence in Innovation for our military mission planning system, GECO.

In November 2015, we were named as a Sunday Times Top 100 Company for the very first time.

Inzpire reached the milestone of 100 employees on 15th September, 2016. From three friends around a dinner table, to 100 people - in just over 11 years!

In November 2018, Inzpire was acquired by QinetiQ Group PLC.

This contract saw our personnel working alongside RAF and Royal Navy requirements managers to provide technical subject matter expertise.

In late 2019, we were awarded the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award for the first time. This award is for the highest level of demonstrable support to the armed forces community.

In January 2021, Inzpire achieved Disability Confident Committed Employer status through the HM Government Disability Confident scheme.

The scheme helps employers; recruit and retain great people; draw from the widest possible pool of talent; secure high quality staff who are skilled, loyal and hard working and improve employee morale and commitment by demonstrating that you treat all employees fairly (Gov.uk).

In February 2021, we doubled the size of our Lincoln office space at Landmark House, providing over 13,000 square feet of meeting, head office and production space.

In April 2021, Maritime Division was established to provide live and synthetic collective training support to the Royal Navy and other maritime customers.

In April 2021, we obtained our second Queen’s Award for Excellence in Innovation - once again having been recognised for our next-generation GECO Mission Support System.

In November 2022, we were listed as one of the ‘Top 10 Best Large Companies to Work For’ in the UK. We were also given the Best Companies Special Award in the ‘Best Large Company Employee Wellbeing’ category.

On 21st June 2022, Hugh Griffiths decided to step down from his role as CEO and became Executive Chairman. Hugh was one of the original founders of Inzpire and spent 17 years with the business – seven years as Chairman, and 10 as CEO.

On 22nd June 2022, Bren Nolan was appointed as our new Managing Director, following three years at QinetiQ Plc as the firm’s Air & Space Business Development Director.

In June 2023, we were awarded ‘Employer of the Year’ at the British Ex-Forces in Business Awards.

Project TIQUILA will see Lockheed Martin deliver rotary-wing devices and fixed-wing drones to the British Army to provide cutting-edge imaging and surveillance capability.

We were contracted to supply training needs analysis, training design and training delivery services to British Army uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) instructors at the Royal School of Artillery to ensure the new UAS are integrated effectively and their capabilities maximised by users.

The scheme, which rewards employers who demonstrate exceptional support to the armed forces community, takes into consideration several factors. This includes employment of ex-military personnel, forces-friendly recruitment and support to reservists.

Approximately 75% of our personnel are ex-military, with many employees also currently serving as reservists across the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

In 2024, we were awarded a new three-year contract to supply White Force services - in both live and synthetic environments - to the Air and Space Warfare Centre at RAF Waddington.

Our White Force supports the design and delivery of the Royal Air Force’s capstone live flying event, Exercise COBRA WARRIOR, along with multiple synthetic exercises run from the Air Battlespace Training Centre under the GLADIATOR programme.

In 2024, Inzpire was awarded fourth best employer of veterans across the whole of the UK, by the organisers of The British Ex-Forces in Business Awards.

The Great British Employers of Veterans is the most in-depth benchmark of the top companies employing veterans and other members of the armed forces community in the UK. The programme was designed to provide veterans with a comprehensive guide to companies in which they can build a meaningful second career with, while being fully supported.

We have been supporting NHC since 2014 in honour of one of our long-standing employees, Bob Chevli. In 2024, we were very proud to reach the £20,000 milestone!

On 2nd October 2024, we hosted our inaugural annual reception at London’s award-winning gallery, Frameless. The event was an incredible success with over 150 attendees from across the armed forces and defence industry.

In January 2025, our Technical & Strategic Services (TSS) division became 100-strong, with Director, Mark ‘Nuts’ McNulty (pictured), at the helm.

Our Compact Agile Simulation Equipment for Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (CASE JTAC) was approved for Types 1, 2 and 3 controls in 2025, making it the first accredited mixed-reality JTAC simulator in the UK.

The deployable, point-of-need simulator has been certified by the UK Ministry of Defence for competency and currency training of JTACs from all NATO member states.

As of 19th May 2025, we were incredibly proud to achieve 20 years in business.