What Cunning Running Software does

Cunning Running Software Ltd. is a UK private limited company (registered in England & Wales, No. 2236737) that develops specialist geospatial software for mission-critical planning by defence, counter terrorism, law enforcement and emergency services organisations. Its headquarters are at Amesbury, Wiltshire with operational offices in Portchester, Fareham and a Romsey address. The company has been in operation for over 30 years, having been built by founder Chris Barrington Brown before transitioning to an Employee Ownership Trust in June 2022; the current CEO is Phil Cowell (former Royal Navy warfare specialist) and the COO is John Overend (former Police Search Advisor). Reported customers include the UK Ministry of Defence / Royal Air Force, UK Counter Terrorism agencies, the US Department of Homeland Security, Devon & Cornwall Police and Devon Air Ambulance.

The core product family is built on a 2D and 3D mapping and visualisation platform that integrates with third-party geospatial data sources and operational systems (Skyline TerraExplorer for 3D rendering, iFind and Grampian behavioural datasets, ANPR, CCTV, mobile phone records, financial transaction data, ResilienceDirect, Airbox MOSAIC, and ACANS). On this platform run five domain-specialised applications: FPPT for military force protection; CTS-PRAS for counter terrorism and search planning against stand-off weapons including MANPADS, rockets and UAS; SEARCH-PRAS for missing persons and crime search coordination; UAS-PRAS for counter-drone threat planning; and HLS-PRAS for helicopter landing site selection. Supporting offerings include professional training courses and a consultancy practice. All products share common geospatial foundations but are vertical-specific rather than a general-purpose GIS.

Revenue is generated through multi-year enterprise software licensing to government agencies and military organisations (including RAF contracts covering software, training and ongoing support), supplemented by training course fees and consultancy services. There is no published pricing; contracts are negotiated directly with ministries, police forces and emergency service operators. Sales are delivered via a direct enterprise field-sales motion, remote demonstrations on Teams, and presence at Home Office-affiliated exhibitions (Security & Policing, JSaRC) and emergency services events (The Emergency Tech Show). Cyber Essentials Plus certification is held. No external funding rounds, parent company or institutional investors are recorded; ownership resides with the Employee Ownership Trust.

Name

Cunning Running Software

Legal name

Cunning Running Software Ltd.

Website

https://cunningrunning.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Cunning Running Software Ltd. develops specialist 2D and 3D geospatial planning software - FPPT, CTS-PRAS, SEARCH-PRAS, UAS-PRAS and HLS-PRAS - used by military, counter terrorism, law enforcement and emergency services organisations for mission-critical force protection, search and counter-drone operations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Satellite Imagery & Remote Sensing Geospatial Platforms (BPAMANAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Defense R&D, Test, Evaluation & Innovation (BPAIAHAC)

Keywords

• Geospatial mission planning software
• Force protection planning tools
• Counter terrorism software
• Missing persons search software
• Counter UAS drone planning

Headquarters

HQ city

Romsey

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Software Licensing: Enterprise software licensing including FPPT, CTS-PRAS, SEARCH-PRAS, UAS-PRAS, and HLS-PRAS. Contract with UK Ministry of Defence for Royal Air Force includes software licenses, training provision, and ongoing support.
2. Training Courses: Training programs for Search-PRAS and other software solutions. Delivered to UK and international clients including police forces and government agencies.
3. Consultancy & Services: Consultancy services offered alongside software products for specialised mapping and mission-critical planning requirements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Cunning Running Software develops specialist 2D and 3D geospatial mapping, visualisation and mission-critical planning software for defence, counter-terrorism, law enforcement and emergency services. Its core offerings are FPPT (Force Protection Planning Tool), CTS-PRAS (Counter Terrorism & Search), SEARCH-PRAS (Missing Persons Search), UAS-PRAS (Counter UAS/drone) and HLS-PRAS (Helicopter Landing Sites), complemented by training courses and consultancy services.

Product overview

Cunning Running Software provides a suite of specialized geospatial planning and visualization software products. The core offerings include FPPT (Force Protection Planning Tool) for military force protection, CTS-PRAS for counter terrorism planning, SEARCH-PRAS for missing persons searches, UAS-PRAS for counter-drone operations, and HLS-PRAS for helicopter landing site planning. All products are built on 2D and 3D mapping, visualization, and geospatial analysis capabilities. The software is used by UK police forces, military, law enforcement, and emergency services. The company also offers professional training courses and consultancy services. The product family shares common geospatial foundations including mapping, visualization, data integration, and planning automation capabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• FPPT (Force Protection Planning Tool): Geospatial planning software for force protection decision-making, supporting deployed and domestic environments with terrain assessment, line of sight analysis, and vulnerability identification.
• CTS-PRAS (Counter Terrorism & Search - Position Ranking Analysis System)
• SEARCH-PRAS (Search Position Ranking & Analysis System)
• UAS-PRAS (Counter UAS/drone software)
• HLS-PRAS (Helicopter Landing Sites)

Products and services

• FPPT (Force Protection Planning Tool) Geospatial planning software for force protection decision-making in deployed and domestic military environments. Enables terrain assessment, line-of-sight analysis, weapon-threat visualisation in 2D and 3D, vulnerability identification, protective layout modelling and articulation of residual risk to commanders. Used by armed forces such as the Royal Air Force and UK Ministry of Defence.
• CTS-PRAS (Counter Terrorism & Search - Position Ranking Analysis System) Advanced counter terrorism and search planning software used by police and security agencies to analyse and mitigate threats from stand-off weapons including MANPADS, rockets, missiles, mortars, small arms and UAS. Supports venue protection planning, resource allocation, and search operations for evidence and threats. Adopted by UK Counter Terrorism Agencies and the US Department of Homeland Security.
• SEARCH-PRAS (Missing Persons Search Software) Advanced crime and missing persons search tool used to quickly create search areas from integrated mapping and datasets, produce tasking sheets for search teams, manage search progress, and build decision rationale audit trails. Integrates iFind and Grampian behavioural databases. Used by police forces and Police Search Advisors (PolSAs).
• UAS-PRAS (Counter UAS/Drone Software) Counter UAS planning software that maps and mitigates drone risk for vulnerable locations. Enables visualisation of drone access and attack routes in 2D and 3D, identification of likely UAS launch points, assessment of coverage blind spots, and optimisation of countermeasure system placement. Used by airport, CNI and critical site operators.
• HLS-PRAS (Helicopter Landing Sites) Specialist 2D and 3D mapping tool designed to help air ambulance crews and emergency responders rapidly identify safe helicopter landing sites. Applies aircraft-specific criteria including D-value, gradient, surface type and overhead obstructions to filter unsuitable areas and highlight viable landing sites for day and night operations.
• Training Courses Professional training programs delivered for Search-PRAS and other software solutions by experienced search professionals and operational specialists to UK and international clients including police forces and government agencies.
• Consultancy & Services Specialist consultancy services for geospatial planning, threat vulnerability assessment and mission-critical operational planning, offered alongside Cunning Running's software products.

Quantifiable outcome

• Search area definition time reduced from 135 minutes to 2 minutes using Search-PRAS software
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability3 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• UK Ministry of Defence / Royal Air ForcecoreTechnology or Integration · 5 May 2026Cunning Running Software Ltd awarded contract by UK Ministry of Defence to provide FPPT (Force Protection Planning Tool) to Royal Air Force. Contract covers continued provision and support of the geospatial planning software for force protection decision-making in both deployed and domestic environments.
• Devon Air AmbulancecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 September 2025Cunning Running is working closely with Devon Air Ambulance to refine and deploy HLS-PRAS (Helicopter Landing Site Planning Tool). The collaboration ensures the software delivers exactly what frontline operators need, fitting seamlessly into existing procedures. DAA crews provide valuable operational feedback through trial use, guiding refinements that improve usability and safety. The partnership enables HLS-PRAS to support air ambulance operations, especially night-time flying.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Cadcorp: UK-based specialist GIS and geospatial software vendor serving emergency services, defence, and government; directly comparable to Cunning Running in target customers and product category but at broader GIS scope.
• Dedrone: Counter-drone detection and airspace management software provider used by defence, government, and critical infrastructure operators; overlaps with UAS-PRAS in counter-UAS planning workflows.
• DroneShield: Counter-UAS hardware and software vendor serving military, law enforcement, and critical infrastructure customers; directly comparable on the UAS-PRAS counter-drone planning use case, though DroneShield layers detection hardware.
• Skyline Software Systems: Provider of 3D geospatial visualisation software (TerraExplorer) that is integrated into Cunning Running's CTS-PRAS and Search-PRAS products; an upstream technology partner and partial peer in the geospatial mission-planning space.

Broad incumbents

• Esri UK: UK arm of the global GIS software leader ArcGIS; competes in the broader geospatial platform category and is a likely competitor or co-supplier in UK defence, police, and emergency-services procurements where CRSL is active.
• Palantir Technologies: Data analytics platform widely used by UK and US defence and security agencies; a broad incumbent that could expand into geospatial mission-planning workflows adjacent to CRSL's niche.
• Hexagon Geospatial: Global geospatial software and sensor company (Power Portfolio, ERDAS, Luciad) used across defence, intelligence, and infrastructure; broad incumbent providing alternative platforms for mission-critical mapping.
• QinetiQ: Large UK defence and security technology company with T&E, C4ISR, and mission-planning capabilities; a broad incumbent in the same UK MoD procurement channels that buy FPPT from Cunning Running.
• BAE Systems Digital Intelligence: UK defence prime with a digital intelligence arm covering situational awareness, threat intelligence, and geospatial analytics; competes in the same UK/US government security procurement landscape.

Emerging players

• Anduril Industries: US defence-technology company building counter-UAS, autonomous systems, and command-and-control software; an emerging player whose Lattice platform overlaps with parts of CRSL's counter-UAS and force protection planning.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses1 record

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cunning-running-software-limited
• Xx.com/cunningrunning

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cunning Running Software