MASS, part of the Cohort plc Group, has launched the latest version of its Networked Electronic Warfare Training Simulator – NEWTS IQ. Supporting electronic warfare (EW) and communications intelligence (COMINT) training in the classroom and in the field, NEWTS IQ provides a realistic learning environment for the next generation of Electronic Warfare & Signals Intelligence (EWSI) personnel.
NEWTS IQ provides your personnel with fundamental EW and COMINT skills and knowledge including how to search for radio signals of a hostile nature, extract and exploit what is being said, and make a report against it.
Combining a classroom-based simulator with the ability to train out in the field, personnel can learn and develop their skills in a safe and realistic environment in which all elements of the intelligence cycle can be followed. The platform brings the proven SESCO methodology to life, providing a comprehensive framework that can be applied beyond training to operational continuous validation.
Stuart (Taph) Willumsen, Head of Spectrum Warfare Training at MASS, said: “While it remains a vital part of military training to enable operators to understand the technical and tactical aspects of EW activity, the pressures and strains of the battlespace cannot be replicated in a classroom environment alone. The NEWTS IQ platform has been designed to serve the next generation of operators, with software that is standardised, repeatable, and simulates extremely challenging scenarios in increasingly realistic environments.”
“With real world experience of deployed EW operations, and working in collaboration with the Royal Signals, MASS is committed to providing quality training opportunities within the military. NEWTS IQ demonstrates our capability to take personnel from simulation-based training through to field-based emulation and calibration training – truly enabling them to train the environment.”
The platform integrates the SESCO methodology throughout the training process, ensuring comprehensive coverage from classroom-based simulation training through to field-based emulation and calibration training. The SESCO framework sits at the heart of NEWTS IQ’s approach, enabling the transition from simulation and emulation-based training at the start, through to stimulation of current equipment, and finally calibration ready for seamless transition into an operational deployment.
The mission-specific training offered by the platform incorporates four key steps:
- Requirements, planning and direction: plan EW, COMINT and J6 (communications) asset deployments via the BATTLEYE planning tool; determine best mission location; view maps of coverage area; and carry out Path Profile Analysis
- Collection and exploitation: allow ability to search, intercept, direction finding and analyse IQ-embedded signals of interest (SOI); generate realistic operator experiences; offer repeatable, scalable and standardised COMINT training scenarios
- Processing, analysis and collation: search against SOI parameters to make sense of call signs, frequency, lines of bearing and keywords
- Production, dissemination and reporting: use the SOI repository to support a range of reporting – e.g. activity reports, tactical tip-offs, jamming reports, intelligence reports, and up and down Command and control (C2 reports)
NEWTS IQ also offers a solution to a well-known industry challenge – how to base training objectives around unknown networks.
Placing the trainer in control of each scenario, it allows them to accurately assess whether students are meeting the right objectives. A ‘train as you would fight’ tool, it immerses students in realistic environments and identifies gaps in their skills base. Blending the classroom with in-field training, students gain confidence and real-life skills prior to operational deployment.
MASS’s experts will be on the stand at EW Live 2025 this week to discuss the launch.
