Ricardo Technology Used in Navy Prototyping, Experimentation Exercise

LONDON —
Ricardo Defense’s Mobile Fuel and Energy Management (MFEM) system has
successfully completed its participation in Phase 1 of the U.S. Navy’s Fight
the Naval Force Forward Advanced Naval Technology Exercise, the company
announced July 22.

The Ricardo MFEM
provides dynamic visibility and management of liquid fuel to help ensure that
forces in the field have the resources needed to attain their objectives. The
Ricardo MFEM provides the tools and information needed to understand fuel
usage, distribution and availability in the theater of operations.

Manual
procedures for fuel management — measuring, collecting, aggregating,
calculating usage and projecting needs — are replaced with fully automated
processes, significantly improving the commander’s ability to plan and monitor
fuel use and status with the speed, accuracy and efficiency needed for field
operations. MFEM offers commanders with insight into fuel status that can be
incorporated into a battlefield “common operating picture.”

Ricardo
Defense demonstrated the capabilities of the MFEM system during Phase 1 of the
Fight the Naval Force Forward Experimentation Campaign, a multimonth
exploration phase that allowed for the detailed assessment of technologies
integrated into actual mission scenarios. Technologies were examined in live,
virtual or constructive simulation demonstrations as a part of the Advanced
Naval Technology Exercise over a two-week period that ended on July 18. 

The collaboration
with a variety of system stakeholders during the exercise positions Ricardo
Defense for future development and fielding of these capabilities. The Ricardo
MFEM is being assessed for a follow-on Phase 2 project that would include a six-
to 18-month prototyping period, limited use in the field and experimentation,
as part of Fleet/Force Experiments and/or Rapid Fielding.

“We are very excited to
have had the Ricardo MFEM included in this year’s Advanced Naval Technology
Exercise,” Ricardo Defense President Chet Gryczan said. “MFEM helps improve
military personnel decision-making through an accurate, up-to-date shared view
of fuel resources. The award of a Phase 2 effort, if granted, will validate the
value of MFEM and pave the way for maturation of the capabilities it provides.”