Investing in Homegrown Expertise and Capability: Q&A with Greg Barsby

Assuring the future of Australia’s sovereign Test & Evaluation capability begins with investing in our people, explains QinetiQ Australia’s Managing Director Greg Barsby.

What is Test & Evaluation and why is it important to Australia? 

Test & Evaluation (T&E) is a really interesting part of the whole defence enterprise. Given the massive expenditure by the Australian Government in terms of our platform and capability acquisition over the coming decades, it's an exciting part to be involved with. Evolving platform technology and threat environments mean that our military decision-makers have to be equipped with the best knowledge they can about that capability. That's an area that QinetiQ has significant experience in globally. In Australia, we're working hard to build sovereign capability in test and evaluation by leveraging QinetiQ’s world-class capability and investing in the local expertise required to deliver. 

What makes sovereign T&E so critical to Australian defence capability?

Australia has an enormous capability due to the diverse array of technologies we’ve invested in and developed collaboratively with our allies over the years. The challenge for T&E in Australia now, is in bringing all these different platforms and capabilities together in a joint-use environment where we're testing platforms that haven't necessarily been used together before. Having the sovereign capability to conduct complex, end-to-end trials, test and evaluation in Australia, for Australia, by Australians will help grow Australia’s independence, self-reliance and, ultimately, national security interests. That’s the type of sophisticated test and evaluation capability that is needed in-country to deliver the absolute best capability that we can for those who wear the uniform. 

How is QinetiQ investing in critical Australian T&E capabilities? 

To me, the only real way that we can secure Australia's future sovereign capability in test and evaluation is to invest in the career development of Australians. That's why we’ve launched our Test & Evaluation Sovereign Skills Program. The Program is a bespoke career development program tailored to an individual’s learning requirements, that leverages QinetiQ’s global knowledge, capability and infrastructure to develop local Australian expertise in test and evaluation. This is a multimillion-dollar investment that provides candidates with the opportunity to work alongside global T&E experts at QinetiQ's world-class air, land and maritime test and evaluation ranges and environments. This radical approach to creating sovereign Australian capability is about investing in the long-term career growth of our people to equip them with the technical, behavioural and leadership competencies to be leaders in T&E in Australia. 

Where will program participants be sent for their experiential learning?

The location of the experiential learning will be driven by learning requirements. However, one of the ranges we operate in the UK on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence, is MOD Hebrides, in northwest Scotland. It’s the largest Test and Evaluation range in Europe, and can be expanded to over one million square kilometres of cleared sea and airspace with unlimited altitude. That enables us to safely trial Integrated Air and Missile Defence capabilities by utilising highly capable targets as representative threats. We’re also able to integrate the Hebrides range with other QinetiQ ranges and sites across the UK, bringing together physical and synthetic assets to conduct Live, Virtual and Constructive T&E that better replicates operational test environments. Imagine having an opportunity to work alongside people and capabilities like that? Personally, I’m very excited about being able to offer such an incredible career development opportunity. 

How is QinetiQ’s first TESSP cohort progressing? 

We’ve successfully recruited candidates for the roles of Trials Control Officers and Trials Safety Managers. Gap assessments are currently underway, which will identify each individual’s existing knowledge base and then be used to inform their tailored career development program. They’ll then head over to the UK where they will have the opportunity to work on QinetiQ’s world-leading ranges, such as MOD Hebrides. The Program is a great example of QinetiQ’s commitment to investing in the long-term careers of our people. It is also an investment by QinetiQ in support of the Australian Defence Force to grow sovereign capability for generations to come, enabling the delivery of advanced defence capability for our global defence and security customers to ensure the war-fighter is equipped with trusted, assured technology. Feedback from senior stakeholders on the customer side that I've engaged with on this has been really positive. Our candidates have also expressed their excitement at commencing this incredible career-development opportunity. 

What type of candidates will you be recruiting for the next TESSP cohort? 

We're looking for people from both the defence industry and adjacent industries with aligned technical or engineering backgrounds. Candidates who have experience working in safety-critical environments will be well-placed, as will candidates with high levels of professional discipline to ensure the delivery of objective test and evaluation.

For more information, visit www.QinetiQ.com/TandESovSkills.