w 51.27861 n 0.79250 w 51.27861 ; 0.79250 qinetiq group plc type public limited company traded as lse qq . industry aerospace defence research and development founded 2001 headquarters farnborough hampshire united kingdom number of locations uk north america and australia key people mark elliott chairman steve wadey ceo products defence security aviation and energy and environment revenue 763.8 million 2015 1 operating income 111.3 million 2015 1 net income 104.7 million 2015 1 number of employees 6 250 2015 1 website www.qinetiq.com qinetiq k n t k as in kinetic ; styled as qinetiq is a british multinational defence technology company headquartered in farnborough hampshire . it is the world s 52nd largest defence contractor measured by 2011 defence revenues and the sixth largest based in the uk . 2 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 . contents 1 name 2 history 2.1 early years 2.2 early expansion 2.3 stock exchange listing 2.4 nao inquiry 2.5 expansion 2.6 cyber security 3 operations 3.1 organisation 3.2 workforce 4 services and products 4.1 defence 4.2 airships and balloons 4.3 uas 4.4 security 4.5 aviation 4.6 energy and environment 5 notable staff 6 see also 7 references 8 external links name edit qinetiq is an invented name . 3 qi is supposed to reflect the company s energy net its networking ability and iq its intellectual resources . 3 history edit early years edit 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 . 4 early expansion edit in september 2004 qinetiq acquired the u.s. defence companies westar corporation 5 and foster miller maker of the talon robot . 6 also in 2004 it acquired hvr consulting services a leading uk based engineering consultancy . 7 in early august 2005 the company announced it would acquire apogen technologies inc. pending regulatory approval . 8 the qinetiq website lists this merger as costing 288.0 m 162.7 m . in september 2005 it acquired a 90 % share of verhaert design and development nv vdd a belgian space systems integrator . 9 in october that year it acquired broadreach networks limited a supplier of wi fi internet to the european rail industry 10 and in february 2006 it bought graphics research corporation ltd developer of the paramarine software suite of ship and submarine design tools . 11 qinetiq dassault dornier alpha jet zj647 arrives at raf fairford gloucestershire england for the royal international air tattoo 2014 stock exchange listing edit the flotation of the company has been dogged with controversy . 12 13 14 15 ennobled in 2005 lord moonie who handled the initial sale said in 2006 that the government s 31 per cent stake should not have been sold when equity markets were languishing in 2002 . he said that he had argued for the sale to be delayed but was overruled by the treasury which had convinced the ministry of defence to go ahead . 16 qinetiq was floated on the london stock exchange in february 2006 . the company had been valued at between 1.1 bn and 1.3 bn with the mod holding estimated to be worth 616m 728m the carlyle group s holding 341m 403m and staff management s holding worth 143m 169m . controversy was generated by the very large returns for the carlyle group and senior managers with figures of over 20m suggested in the media for sir john chisholm . 17 financial press speculation concerning a stock exchange float increased in january 2006 . on 12 january 2006 an announcement was made in parliament by dr john reid secretary of state for defence . he said that the carlyle group will continue to retain a significant stake in the company and that the government would continue to hold a golden share to protect the uk s security and defence interests . 18 controversy also arose around the fact that retail investors were excluded from the initial public offering ipo due to qinetiq s complexity and that institutional investors would require less complicated marketing and financing . this led to contrasts with the sid campaign for british gas plc in 1986 where retail investors were encouraged to buy shares with discounts and a large advertising campaign . the issue was partially resolved by allowing some brokerage firms to place orders in the ipo as part of a combined order allowing the firm to purchase as though an institutional investor but on behalf of clients . while this did not result in a public campaign or retail investor discounts it did allow many investors to purchase shares . the company floated on 10 february 2006 with an ipo of 200p per share which gave a market value of 1.3 bn . on 13 february 2006 the monday after the friday ipo shares closed at 219.5 p valuing the company at over 1.4 bn . 19 speculation that a consortium including qinetiq was about to win a 10bn mod training contract helped push their share price back above 190p in early november 2006 . it was announced on 17 january 2007 that the qinetiq led metrix consortium was the preferred bidder for package one of the mod s defence training rationalisation programme worth approx 16bn . 20 qinetiq s experimental rv triton nao inquiry edit in 2007 the national audit office conducted an inquiry into the privatisation to determine whether uk taxpayers got good value for money . the inquiry looked at the following issues choice of privatisation strategy ; management of the process the split of the defence evaluation and research agency into two the sale to carlyle and the flotation ; costs incurred and the proceeds achieved ; and whether the deal met its objectives . 21 in november 2007 the nao reported that taxpayers could have gained tens of millions more and was critical of the incentive scheme given to qinetiq managers the 10 most senior of whom gained 107.5 m on an investment of 540 000 in the company s shares . the return of 19 990 % was described as excessive by the nao . the role of qinetiq s management in negotiating terms with the carlyle group while the private equity company was bidding for the business was also criticised by the nao . carlyle bought a third of the business for 42m which grew in value to 372m in less than four years . 22 however the ministry of defence defended the sale it has delivered excellent value for money generating more than 800m for the taxpayer while protecting uk defence and security interests said baroness taylor minister for defence equipment and support . 23 expansion edit in january 2007 the company bought analex a u.s. corporation providing high technology professional services and solutions principally to the us government and its agencies . 24 it was incorporated in 1964 under the name biorad and evolved into hadron a u.s. government systems consulting firm . 25 on 9 february 2007 the carlyle group sold its remaining 10.3 % stake at 205p per share giving it a 290m return on its original investment . 26 in february 2007 the acquisition of its corporation a provider of it services to the us government and its agencies was announced . 27 the disposal of aerospace filtration systems formerly part of westar was announced at the same time . 28 in june qinetiq announced that its us subsidiary apogen technologies inc. had completed the acquisition of 3h technology llc a specialist it company with us government and commercial clients . 29 in october the company completed the acquisition of boldon james holdings limited a uk based provider of software solutions for high end secure messaging primarily for military government and security customers worldwide . 30 qinetiq agustawestland aw109e power arrives for the 2014 royal international air tattoo england in march 2007 qinetiq spun off a new company omni id ltd for commercialising passive uhf radio frequency identification rfid tags . 31 the mod sold its remaining 18.9 % holding in september 2008 at 206p per share raising 254m . the government retained its special share giving it control over any potential takeover . 32 cyber security edit chinese hackers are understood to have compromised research at qinetiq in north america . 33 the pentagon still entrusts qinetiq with sensitive defense technology . 34 it was reported that between 2007 and 2010 qinetiq s north american business was the subject of a cyber attack . at the time of the incidents the company said it disclosed all of its breaches to the responsible government agencies and these were resolved to their satisfaction . 35 cyber security continues to be an issue with a recent pentagon report saying that government agencies had been victims of attacks . 36 operations edit qinetiq provides technology based products and services to government and commercial customers . more than 2 000 of qinetiq subsidiary foster miller s talon robots have been deployed to iraq and afghanistan most used to remotely locate and disable roadside bombs . qinetiq s spo stand off threat detection system has been sold to the us transportation security administration for railway stations and airports . 37 qinetiq s zephyr a solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle recently flew non stop for 14 days a world record for longest duration unmanned flight . 38 qinetiq has a 25 year long term partnering agreement ltpa with the uk ministry of defence mod to provide test and evaluation services and manage military ranges . it is a major stakeholder in the uk defence technology centre which places military research contracts on behalf of the mod . 39 qinetiq has a 15 year maritime strategic facilities agreement msca with the mod to provide strategic maritime facilities and capabilities including hydromechanic facilities at haslar biomedical facilities on the uk s south coast and submarine structures survivability and shock testing facilities at rosyth . 40 organisation edit the qinetiq group comprises qinetiq emea europe middle east and australasia and qinetiq north america . qinetiq north america which was set up after the takeover of foster miller is a wholly owned subsidiary of qinetiq but remains independent and separated from the qinetiq group by a proxy agreement with the us to comply with us laws that prevent sensitive technology coming under the control of a foreign venture that takes over a us company . 41 the major uk sites are at farnborough hampshire the historical royal aircraft establishment and malvern worcestershire the historical rsre rre tre . 42 workforce edit qinetiq is one of the top ten largest uk employers of science and engineering graduates 43 recruiting around 150 a year . 44 between 2002 and 2006 it has appeared in the times top 100 graduate employers list . it has since been accused by unions of exhibiting higher than average levels of stress related depression among employees which is strongly denied by the company .