CORDA is a small analysis and management consultancy company, owned by

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

and based in

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

. It provides evidence-based decision support to BAE Systems, government departments, and other commercial organisations.''Prospects'' careers website
accessed 8 June 2009.
/ref> "CORDA's key capability lies in the integration of scientific, technical, and financial skills with military expertise across all domains, to provide a packaged, one-stop analysis service, focussed at the concept and assessment phase of the defence lifecycle."

History

CORDA was founded in 1985 as part of CAP Scientific (part of the CAP Group). At the time CORDA stood for: Centre for Operational Research and Defence Analysis. As with other parts of CAP Group, it became part of the Anglo-French

SEMA Group Sema Group plc was an Anglo-French IT services company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was acquired by Schlumberger in 2001. History The Company was founded in 1988 by the merger of t ...

in 1988. In 1991 it became part of

BAeSEMA BAeSEMA was a naval technology joint venture between British Aerospace and the French Sema Group. The company was formed in 1991 and dissolved in November 1998 when BAe purchased SEMA's 50% share. BAeSEMA acquired Dowty-Sema in 1992, another naval ...

, a company jointly owned by SEMA Group and

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

. It became part of British Aerospace in 1998, and

in 1999.

Type of work undertaken

Simulations

CORDA builds

computer simulations Computer simulation is the process of mathematical modelling, performed on a computer, which is designed to predict the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be dete ...

,"Emily Leeper wanted to apply the skills she had learnt from her mathematics degree and PhD in cosmology to real-world issues. A recruitment agency put her in touch with Corda, a technical and support services provider, and she was offered a job. Eighteen months later she is a senior analyst, building computer simulations and carrying out research for the MoD. Defence analysts, she says, should be 'numerate people with analytical mindsets who can apply that to real-world problems'. Does not being able to talk shop with her friends bother her? 'I quite like it,' she says. 'It makes for more interesting conversations.'"
Plumer, John, ''How do I become a defence analyst?'', The Times, 8 April 2008
/ref> and uses them for operational analysis studies. In the late 1980s CORDA produced a simulation called FASTAID that was used by the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...

to help train soldiers to make decisions about dispatching ambulances. An improved and updated version of this tool was developed for

Operation GRANBY Operation Granby, commonly abbreviated Op Granby, was the code name given to the British military operations during the 1991 Gulf War. 53,462 members of the British Armed Forces were deployed during the conflict. The total cost of operations wa ...

and delivered by CORDA staff to troops in the field.Kempster, S, ''Casualty evacuation for Operation GRANBY'', presented at ISMOR in 1991.

Soft OA

CORDA has used a variety of soft operational analysis techniques such as

drama theory {{Use dmy dates, date=July 2021 Drama theory is one of the problem structuring methods in operations research. It is based on game theory and adapts the use of games to complex organisational situations, accounting for emotional responses that ca ...

,Young, Michael J, ''New conflicts, new methods'', presented at ISMOR in August 2001.
Discusses "new wars" such as UN peacekeeping operations using soft-OA techniques such as

, matrix gaming, and

wargaming A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

matrix gaming,

, and political cards gaming in studies. For instance in 2002, they used matrix gaming in conjunction with cost modelling done by HVR to look at the use of unmanned underwater vehicles for Ministry of Defence.Young, Michael J, ''What matrix gaming is and how and when to do it'', August 2002
. This paper discusses methods used by CORDA and HVR in a study of the use and likely cost of unmanned underwater vehicles. Photographs of Peter Cook (then head of HVR) and

Philip Pugh Philip Pugh (1679 – 12 July 1760) was a Welsh minister. Biography Pugh was a dissenting minister, was born at Hendref, Blaenpenal, Cardiganshire, in 1679, and inherited a good estate. He was trained for the independent ministry at the nonconfo ...

(author of ''The Cost of Seapower'') can be recognised in the slide-pack. In November 2008, "CORDA provided both an interactive symposium on 'political cards' and a presentation on 'the application of war gaming and combat modelling in support of defence decision making' at the ''war gaming and combat modelling course''... run by the

Defence Academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

at Shrivenham."

Business and solutions modelling

"Within BAE Systems, CORDA provides Defence Analysis services to Business Units during the programme assessment phases, to support operational system and financial trade off and solution optimisation, and during programme delivery phases to provide specialist technical and analytical modelling support." For example, in "February 2008, the CORDA team, in combination with economic modellers from Military Air Solutions, supported

BAE Systems Inc. BAE Systems Inc. (formerly BAE Systems North America) is an American subsidiary of British defense, security, and aerospace company BAE Systems plc. The American subsidiary operates under a Special Security Agreement which allows it to work o ...

(the US division of BAE Systems) on the T45 Goshawk proposal, which was later followed with support on their Special Operations Forces Support Activity (SOFSA) bid."

Historical studies

Historical analysis is an operational analysis tool used to take account of human factors. CORDA has undertaken historical analysis studies for the UK Ministry of Defence, these include studies of

friendly fire In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy/hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while eng ...

in the land battle from World War II to

Operation TELIC Operation Telic (Op TELIC) was the codename under which all of the United Kingdom's military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on ...

conducted from at least 1994 to 2004.Syms, Paul R ''Friendly fire: learning lessons from history'', 2 NATO JCAS Conference, November 2008.
references three CORDA reports on friendly fire for the Ministry of Defence. Other areas of study have included casualty and sickness rates, and campaign level studies to validate current MoD models.

Support to the armed forces on operations

CORDA has provided operational analysis support to the armed forces on operations in support of

, in the Balkans, and in Northern Ireland.

Fast response studies for Ministry of Defence

From 2001 - 2010, CORDA provided fast response studies for the Director Equipment Capability (DEC) in the Underwater Battlefield Capability Area of the UK Ministry of Defence. CORDA was involved in the day-to-day business of the DEC including cost/capability measurement, weapon and sensor capability evaluation across the whole spectrum of underwater systems, business case preparation for equipment procurement and concept studies.

Fitting 155mm guns to warships

"Since 2006 the MoD has provided some funding to CORDA (BAE Systems’ specialist consultancy arm) and the company's Land Systems business for a 155mm Naval Gun Study". "'Our previous work in this area showed real potential for an enhanced gun system on the Navy's ships,' says Samir Patel, CORDA's business development director. 'This contract will allow more concentrated research and a live, land-based firing trial in 2009 will inform further developments on the programme'. The next step for the programme, subject to a successful trial and MOD requirements, will be a full scale technology demonstrator programme, leading to possible full manufacture and fit to the ''Future Surface Combatant'' and possible retrofit to the existing Type 23 Duke-class frigates and/or the Type 45 ''Daring''-class destroyer."

Synthetic trials of new 30mm gun on Type 23 frigates

In 2008, CORDA was "awarded a £300,000 research contract by the UK MoD's Defence Technology and Innovation Centre (DTIC) to assess the level of protection British warships receive from small calibre 30mm guns." It was to "examine the implications a large attack by small, fast boats would have on a large warship and research how the threat could be reduced. Particular emphasis will be placed on coastal and estuarine environments, where larger ships are increasingly operating... 'Over the last few years the threat of these small craft as an asymmetric weapon against larger warships has grown,' explains Dr John Golightly, CORDA's MSE programme manager. 'What we are doing is looking at the performance of the Royal Navy's 30mm Automated Small Calibre Gun (ASCG) 0mm DS30Mand what can be done to increase the level of protection it provides.'... 'The ASCG system has significantly enhanced capability, but we have been asked to look at how improving tactics or integrating further technology could improve the performance of the system further.'" The DS30M, which the Royal Navy is fitting to

Type 23 frigate The Type 23 frigate or Duke class is a class of frigates built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The ships are named after British Dukes, thus leading to the class being commonly known as the Duke class. The first Type 23, , was commission ...

s, "integrates an off-mount electro-optical director (EOD) with a fully automated 30 mm gun mount".Scott, Richard, ''ASCG enhances Type 23 close-in defence'', International Defence Review, 30 October 2007.
/ref> The study used "simulator based operator trials and aims to quantify the performance of the entire weapon system when engaging multiple vehicles attacking together in a co-ordinated fashion. Results of the study are expected in early 2009." The trials were at the Maritime Warfare School at . CORDA worked in partnership with GE FANUC and BAE Systems' Advanced Technology Centre, in conjunction with the DE&S Integrated Project Teams (IPTs), with

Dstl The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is "to maximise the impact of science and technology for the defence and security of the UK". The a ...

providing technical direction.''New study to examine warship protection'', CORDA news, 26 June 2008.
/ref>

List of conference papers and reports

ISMOR papers

ISMOR is an international conference on defence operational research, held annually since 1984. ISMOR is officially endorsed and sponsored by the UK Ministry of Defence and is co-sponsored by the Defence Special Interest Group of the OR Society, and supported by the Military Operations Research Society in the US. An archive of papers from past Symposia is maintained by Cranfield University.ISMOR, The International Symposium on Military Operational Research.
/ref>

Other conference papers

Frankis, D.; Corrigan, N.; Bailey, R. ''Modelling military requirements for non-warfighting operations'', Simulation Conference Proceedings, Winter 1999.
This paper "describes work undertaken for national force development and planning staff, and NATO scientific staff, developing methods and models to assist military planners in identifying the military requirements for non-warfighting operations, typically peace support, humanitarian aid and disaster relief."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corda (Uk) Companies established in 1985 BAE Systems subsidiaries and divisions Defence companies of the United Kingdom Science and technology in the United Kingdom Companies based in Farnborough Software companies of the United Kingdom 1985 establishments in the United Kingdom