Sceptre Mission Planner Takes the Royal Air Force a Digital Leap Forward

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

Sceptre is a modular application capable of being used on a variety of devices used for briefing and de-briefing missions defense. A revolutionary new system will allow Royal Air Force planners to integrate real and virtual technologies to direct its future Typhoon frontline fleet.

The system, Sceptre, draws on huge amounts of command and control information needed to plan and deliver a successful mission and presents this in a simple and actionable way.

BAE Systems has been awarded a contract to deliver Sceptre to the RAF to transform the way it plans, briefs, executes and debriefs missions on the Typhoon fleet.

The system combines three-dimensional in cockpit views, representation of digital aeronautical flight information, potential hazards and conflict detection with real time weather information, an intelligence picture and fast jet performance data.

Sceptre is a modular application capable of being used on a variety of devices including tablets, personal computers and interactive touch tables used for briefing and de-briefing missions.

It enables the operator to effectively be ‘airborne’ with high situational awareness and able to make better, more informed, decisions to achieve mission success. Sceptre helps the operator create a tactically astute plan, holistically reviewed, catering for conflicts and contingencies.

Louise Aiken, Head of Mission Planning Programmes - Mission Support & Training Services, BAE Systems, said:

“We have worked with pilots and our customers to create a highly intuitive system in Sceptre which delivers a wealth of information in simple, actionable way that has not been possible before.

Sceptre will deliver the RAF a very real and tangible information advantage over its adversaries.

Louise Aiken, Head of Mission Planning Programmes

"In today's world, a pilot does not have time to decipher multiple pages of information and this is where Sceptre gives them information in a clear way to allow them to focus on the mission.

"By getting information to them quickly, accurately and clearly, Sceptre allows them to make better, more informed decisions.

“We are constantly looking at new ways to exploit technology to develop our products and capabilities and Sceptre is a great example of how we’re taking these technologies on to the frontline.”

Sceptre is also key for mission debriefing of merging the real world and synthetic views exploiting all aircraft recording media into an integrated replay format.