Nova Systems to deliver Australian-first T&E Advanced Practitioners Course

Nova Systems’ T&E Capability Lead, Tim Grabert, explains why the Australian owned company elected to invest heavily in creating an Australian-first advanced T&E training course to teach system-of-systems testing.

Unprecedented geopolitical tensions, reduced strategic warning periods and stressors on munitions and energy supply chains are driving countries to seek the realisation of ever more complex and integrated capabilities to mitigate these threats.  

The ability to test a system-of-systems (a collection of multiple, independent systems in context as part of a larger, more complex system) is regarded by many as a fundamental enabling process to achieve joint force assurance.  

Testing a system-of-systems presents unique challenges such as the extreme costs of assembling and operating fleets of scarce and exotic mission systems in a representative test environment and competing for valuable time and resources during joint force exercises. 

System-of-systems T&E requires specialist knowledge and tools. Evaluating systems-of-systems requires the application of scientific test and analysis techniques in order to select an experimental design that will identify interaction effects between  operational factors in a rigorous but efficient way.  

With this in mind, it is critical Australia has a suitably skilled workforce of T&E professionals who are capable of independently testing, certifying and assuring future Defence capabilities. Such capabilities will likely feature disruptive technologies such as hypersonic weapons and Artificial Intelligence and will be highly dependent upon the electromagnetic spectrum and cyber domains. 

Nova Systems recognised that there was no single integrated course available in Australia that used real-world mission systems to teach T&E Practitioners how to apply scientific test and analysis techniques (STAT), design of experiments (DoE),  digital engineering skills, and validated modelling and simulation tools in the context of systems-of-systems T&E. 

In an Australian-first, Nova Systems will deliver a new Test and Evaluation (T&E) Advanced Practitioners Course set to equip participants with the skills and  knowledge to deliver world-leading Defence capability to support keeping our nation  safe and secure in an increasingly volatile world.  

The four-week course, developed and delivered in-person by leading Nova Systems T&E practitioners, is designed to teach participants the very latest, current and future T&E techniques.  

The course will be delivered in two parts, a two-week theory component and a two week hands-on component at a range facility, giving participants the opportunity to  test learnings using real-world scenarios. 

The course will teach advanced theory of T&E techniques and T&E modelling and simulation using live mission systems during live test scenarios.  

Our most experienced consultants will be delivering the course, all of whom have  worked on Australia’s major Defence strategic projects, meaning participants will be learning first-hand from people at the top of their field.  

The hands-on component of the course will utilise live mission systems such as Nova Systems’ fleet of remotely piloted air vehicles, where participants can practise their new learnings.

Upon completion of the new Nova Systems T&E Advanced Practitioners Course,  participants will leave with greater knowledge and experience they can apply to their work every day and the course will ultimately support our nation with the much needed capability we require to support keeping our future generations safe and  secure.  

The course complements Nova Systems’ recent announcement that we are investing an initial $2 million to establish an Australian-first T&E Centre of Excellence (CoE) to support the continued evolution of sovereign T&E capabilities for the Australian  defence industry.  

In order to establish both the T&E CoE and the Nova Systems Advanced T&E Practitioner Course, we looked towards world-leading T&E agencies and industry bodies, such as the International Test & Evaluation Association, to best inform the design of our training products. 

We recognised:  

1. Senior T&E practitioners must understand how synthetic modelling and simulation environments can be validated so these environments can be used for complex system of systems evaluations. 
2. T&E practitioners must possess digital engineering skills and knowledge to ensure they are fully integrated into the broader digital engineering team. 
3. T&E practitioners must be capable of working within delivery teams applying agile project management practices. 
4. T&E practitioners must be capable of employing test methodologies suitable for systems where the configuration cannot be rigidly controlled such as machine learning applications. 
5. T&E practitioners must retain the skills and knowledge required to plan, conduct and report on testing conducted in both the physical and virtual domains.  

Our new course reflects best practice in T&E – for today and our future. 

As truly sovereign, global leaders in T&E, Nova Systems is well placed to support our future leaders in T&E and ultimately, help keep our nation and region safe and secure now, and for our future generations.