DASA Launches Semi-autonomous Reconnaissance Vehicles for the Army Competition

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is part of the UK Government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), run by the Ministry of Defence. The Accelerator funds proof-of-concept research that offers a high potential benefit to defence and security in the UK and which thereby supports UK economic growth and prosperity.

DASA has launched a competition to support proposals that can deliver semi-autonomous forward reconnaissance systems controlled from manned mobile assets – a concept known as Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) – for the British Army.

DASA is interested in ground-to-ground, air-to-air and ground-to-air systems. The control system should be designed with a single operator in mind, working inside an existing mobile platform (either ground or air). DASA is accepting proposals that address one or more of the following competition challenge areas:

Challenge 1: An unmanned system capable of semi-autonomous operation

Challenge 2: A system capable of being deployed by a suitable armoured platform

Challenge 3: A system with an appropriate operator interface

The competition is interested in funding innovation in, and development of, existing MUM-T systems that currently fall between technology readiness levels (TRL) 4-6, such that they can be demonstrated in a field trial at Army Warfighting Experiment (March 2020) (ideally at TRL 5/6).

Proposals will be accepted from across the full range of suppliers including academia, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large companies, from both the UK and overseas.

This is a single phase competition with a total funding of £1.8 million over eight months, to potentially support 3 to 5 bids. Each proposal will be capped at £600,000.

Proposals should be submitted by the 18 June 2019 (midday) deadline.

More information about this research funding opportunity and the application process is available on the RESEARCHconnect funding information platform. RESEARCHconnect provides up-to-the minute content, insight and analysis on research funding news and policy. To find out more about how RESEARCHconnect can keep you in the know, and subscription fees, contact us today.