Qinetiq

Coordinates: 51°16′43″N 0°47′33″W / 51.27861°N 0.79250°W / 51.27861; -0.79250

Qinetiq (/kɪˈnɛtɪk/ as in kinetic; styled as QinetiQ) is a British multinational defence technology company headquartered in Farnborough, Hampshire, United Kingdom. It is the world's 52nd-largest defence contractor measured by 2011 defence revenues, and the sixth-largest based in the UK.

It is the part of the former UK government agency, Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), privatised in June 2001, with the remainder of DERA renamed Dstl. It has major sites at Farnborough, Hampshire, MoD Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, and Malvern, Worcestershire, former DERA sites. It has made numerous acquisitions, primarily of United States-based companies.

It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

Name

"Qinetiq" is an invented name. "Qi" is supposed to reflect the company's energy, "net" its networking ability, and "iq" its intellectual resources.

History

Early years

In 2001, when defence minister Lewis Moonie announced the creation of QinetiQ, on privatisation of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, he said that it would remain a British business based in the UK. The Ministry of Defence would keep a 'special share' in the company, and safeguards would be in place to prevent conflicts of interest. In February 2003, the U.S. private equity firm the Carlyle Group acquired a 33.8% share for £42m. Prior to stock market flotation, ownership was split between the MoD (56%), Carlyle Group (31%) and staff (13%). The Carlyle Group was expected to invest for three to five years, after which a stock exchange float would take place.

QinetiQ 1

QinetiQ 1 was a balloon designed to set a new world altitude record for manned balloon flight of around 40 km (25 miles, 132,000 feet). The balloon was named after the main sponsors, QinetiQ (formerly part of DERA, the British Defence Evaluation and Research Agency).

The immense 381 m high zero-pressure balloon was constructed from 5,000 kg of polyethylene. The lift gas used for the balloon was helium. At the anticipated flight ceiling, the balloon's volume would have been 1.25 million m³ (40 million ft³). The two pilots, Andy Elson and Colin Prescot, were to occupy an open deck, relying on Zvezda-manufactured Sokol space suits to keep them alive during the anticipated twelve-hour flight.

The attempt was originally planned for 2002, but adverse high altitude conditions halted attempts in that year. The launch site for the twelve-hour flight was decided to be from off the coast of Cornwall.

In 2003 the launch was initially set to take place on 2 September from the deck of RV Triton off the coast of St Ives. Early that morning, it was decided to postpone the launch for 24 hours due to cloud cover at high altitude. The following morning an attempt was made to inflate the balloon. At around 6.55 AM with the balloon inflated to a height of 15 metres, helium began to escape from the envelope. An irreparable tear was discovered along one of the seams of the balloon, and all efforts for a flight in 2003 were abandoned.