On 27 July the Director presented the Institute's Award to the best graduate in Navigation- & Integration-related subjects.
The year-long AeroSystems Course (ASC) was formed in 1968, having replaced the Specialist Navigation Course (SpecN). The Course - currently the 52nd - now takes place at The Defence Academy of the United Kingdom at Shrivenham, Wiltshire, having recently moved from RAF Cranwell via a year at the Empire Test Pilots' School, Boscombe Down. The Course is sponsored by the Air & Space Warfare Centre at RAF Waddington, Lincoln.
The Course can accommodate up to 16; 4 RN and 8 RAF students graduated this year, 3 of them female. The resulting Qualified AeroSystems (QAS) award indicates that graduates can undertake roles in test and evaluation, flight trials, requirements management and capability development, as well as provide systems acquisition advice to their Service commands.
Eight external associations and companies make awards to graduates; our Institute specifies that the chosen student be assessed as having achieved the highest overall standard in the Navigation- and Integration-related modules. The aim is to promote knowledge in navigation and its associated sciences, whether on, in, over or under land, sea, air or space.
Almost 100 people, many from graduates' families, attended the graduation ceremony and RIN Director, John Pottle, presented the RIN Trophy, a beautiful astro-compass enclosed in a glass dome, to Flt Lt Mark Ashton, an RAF pilot. The Institute has also offered all graduates one year of free membership.
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