Roke Manor Research

Roke
Company typeLimited Company
Founded1956
HeadquartersRomsey, United Kingdom
Number of locations
4 (2025)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Marc Overton, Managing Director
Ian Cooper, Finance Director
Number of employees
828 (2022)[1]
ParentChemring Group PLC[2]
Divisions
  • Defence
  • National security
  • Geospatial intelligence
Websiteroke.co.uk

Roke Manor Research Ltd (trading as Roke) is a British technology and engineering company based at Roke Manor near Romsey, Hampshire. The company operates in the defence, national security and geospatial intelligence industries with clients in the public and private sector. Roke conducts research and development for technical areas including communications, electronic sensors, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science.

The company has been part of the Chemring Group PLC[3][4] since 2010. It was originally an arm of Plessey[5] and later of Siemens,[6] during which time it operated primarily as a research facility.

History

  • 1956: Founded as Plessey Research Roke Manor Limited by the Plessey company.[7] The first managing director was Harold J. Finden, an electrical engineer at Plessey.
  • 1989: Passed to GEC-Siemens AG in a joint takeover.[6]
  • 1991: Became wholly owned by Siemens after GEC sold its share in Siemens Plessey Electronic Systems.[6]
  • 2010: Acquired by the Chemring Group.[3][4]
  • October 2021: Awarded £6.7 million UK MoD contract under British Army's Land ISTAR programme.[8][9]
  • January 2023: Acquired Geollect.[10]
  • October 2023: Awarded £40 million UK MoD contract under British Army's Land ISTAR programme as part of Project ZODIAC.[11]
  • April 2025: Awarded £251 million UK Missile Defence Research contract for Project STORM.[12][13]
  • September 2025: Awarded £20 million British Army contract to optimise Project ZODIAC.[14]

Sites

Roke's headquarters are at Roke Manor in Hampshire. The site is centred on a manor house dating partly to the 17th century, and was acquired by Plessey in 1956. Some original buildings remain alongside research facilities constructed on the site.

The company also operates facilities in Gloucester,[15] Woking,[16] and Manchester[17]

Technology timeline

  • 1975: Research relating to gallium arsenide microwave circuit technology.[18]
  • 1995: Development of the Hostile Artillery Location System (HALO), an acoustic detection system used for monitoring artillery activity, including during the Yugoslav conflicts.[19]
  • 2000: Won the 2000 Worldaware Innovation Award for work on land mine clearance.[20]
  • 2001: Early development of the vision-based components that contributed to the Hawk-Eye ball tracking system.[21][22]
  • 2006: Developed Vigilance, a wide area multilateration system for tracking aircraft.[23]
  • 2025: EM-Vis Deceive Electromagnetic Attack (EA) system launched.[24]

Selected products

  • EM-Vis Deceive: Electromagnetic Attack (EA) system.[24]
  • EM-Vis Resolve: Electromagnetic Warfare (EW) system used for locating and intercepting radio communication signals. Received a Queen's Award for Enterprise and Innovation in 2011.[25]
  • EM-Vis Review (formerly known as Viper-Prefix): Electromagnetic Warfare (EW) command.[26]
  • Nav-Sync MRA: Miniature Radar Altimeter for Positioning, Navigation and Tracking (PNT).[27]
  • Nav-Sync Pulse: Enhanced Long Range Navigation (eLoran) for terrestrial-based PNT.[28]
  • CORTEXA GUARDIAN C-UAS.[29]
  • Post-Quantum Cryptography Consultancy Services.[30]

References

  1. ^ "Chemring Group PLC Trading Update, 6 October 2022". Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  2. ^ "Roke – Chemring Group PLC". www.chemring.co.uk. Chemring Group PLC. 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  3. ^ a b Wilson, Amy (11 August 2010). "Chemring buys Roke from Siemens". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  4. ^ a b "Completion of acquisition of Roke". Chemring Group PLC. 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
  5. ^ "Plessey Co - Graces Guide". www.gracesguide.co.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  6. ^ a b c "History". siemens.co.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  7. ^ "Plessey Co - Graces Guide". www.gracesguide.co.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  8. ^ "UK MoD awards Roke £6.7 million contract under Land ISTAR programme | Shephard". www.shephardmedia.com. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  9. ^ "ZODIAC: A central nervous system for the battlefield". www.defenceprocurementinternational.com. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  10. ^ "Roke announces acquisition of Bristol-based analysis business". Hampshire Chronicle. 28 January 2023. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  11. ^ Mitchell, Sean. "Roke secures £40m contract for the British Army's ISTAR programme". SecurityBrief UK. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  12. ^ Bisht, Inder Singh (18 April 2025). "Roke Wins $333 Million UK Missile Defense Research Contract". The Defense Post. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  13. ^ Sampson, Ben (9 April 2025). "Roke wins £251m contract to lead R&D for UK missile defense systems". Aerospace Testing International. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  14. ^ Singsit, Jangoulun (3 September 2025). "Roke to mature British Army's Land ISTAR capability under Project Zodiac". Army Technology. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  15. ^ "Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  16. ^ "Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  17. ^ "Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  18. ^ "Recalling Early GaAs MMIC Developments". Microwaves & RF. March 2009. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  19. ^ "Hostile Artillery LOcation (HALO) System". Jane's Information Group. 18 August 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2010. Jane's Military Communications
  20. ^ "The Worldaware Award 2000 for Innovation". Worldaware. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  21. ^ Hughes, Simon (15 November 2000). "How's that then for hi-tech?". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  22. ^ Owens, N., Harris, C., Stennett, C. (2003). "Hawk-eye tennis system". International Conference on Visual Information Engineering, 2003. VIE 2003.
  23. ^ Harman, Martin (September 2006). "More Room On Top". Engineering & Technology. IET. doi:10.1049/et:20060604.
  24. ^ a b "Roke unveils soldier-portable EW system". Default. 7 May 2025. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  25. ^ "A List of the 2011 and Previous Winners of The Queen's Award for Innovation" (PDF). Business Link. 21 April 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  26. ^ "Roke develops new portable EW that can target drones – Unmanned airspace". 9 May 2025. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  27. ^ "Roke MRA receives ingress protection certification". Shephard Press Limited. 6 February 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  28. ^ "e- Loran antenna for handheld devices". navisp.esa.int. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  29. ^ Defence, National (16 May 2025). "Counter Uncrewed Aerial Systems Sandbox 2025 (Urban)". www.canada.ca. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  30. ^ Albans, Matthew (21 October 2025). "NODE - The threat of the quantum hacker is closing in". NODE. Retrieved 3 December 2025.

50°59′56″N 1°31′13″W / 50.9990°N 1.5202°W / 50.9990; -1.5202

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