Visit of HRH The Duke of Kent to Defence Academy
HRH The Duke of Kent has visited the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, based at Shrivenham in Oxfordshire, in his capacity as ‘Visitor’ to Cranfield University.
Prof Ian Horsfall introduces HRH to the technological aspects of Body Armour
The Duke’s visit to Shrivenham took place on Tuesday 29th June 2010. The visit was based around the Defence Capability Centre (DCC), a facility, which opened in 2007, providing leading edge facilities and resources to enable effective learning in the practical elements of defence technology.
The first stop for the Duke was a display of Ammunition Technical Officer (ATO) course project work, covering IED threat technology and the MOD approach to Counter IED and the technology involved. He then moved on to a presentation on two current research topics: one on hyperspectral imaging and its use for finding and tracking difficult targets in a complex scene and the other on a three dimensional Radar imaging technique for detecting targets which would otherwise be masked by the environment.
Staff and students from Cranfield Forensics Institute (CFI) talked the Duke through their recent work at the former Royal Naval Hospital Haslar, covered recently by Channel 4’s Time Team. He was also given an introduction to the CFI MSc Programme, hearing about Forensic Archaeology and Biomechanics and Stress Fracture Prediction.
Coming back to the present day, the role played by the college in the development of protection for soldiers in current and future operations was highlighted to the Duke as he was shown the facilities used to educate all arms students in the use and technology of body armour and helmets.
The Duke was shown the Simulation and Synthetic Environment Laboratory (SSEL) which provides facilities for practical hands on support to delivery of education in the use of modelling and simulation in all aspects of Defence activity, including analysis, training and experimentation.
Before returning home, the Duke took the opportunity to speak with students. Firstly with soldiers currently on the Ammunition Technicians (AT) course, some of whom are only 17 years old, and then with students from the Cranfield Forensics Institute, currently studying for Masters and Research Degrees in the fields of Forensic Anthropology and Archaeology.