DASA has launched a new Themed Competition: “It’s Good
for Missiles to Talk” (Phase 2)
Funding provided by the Ministry of Defence
(MOD) and forms part of the Cooperative Missile
Project
Up to £1.6 million (ex VAT) is available with an
expectation to fund multiple proposals between £100,000 to
£300,000 (ex VAT) over a maximum project duration of 12
months
The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is pleased to launch
a new Themed Competition: It’s Good for Missiles to Talk Phase 2.
The aim is to identify and develop novel technologies that could
be exploited in the development of a new category of missile –
cooperative missiles.
Cooperative missiles can communicate with each other, share
situational awareness and organise themselves to ‘work together’
efficiently, during an engagement and within operator-set
constraints, to achieve a common objective. The aim of the work
is to:
- Develop technologies to deliver cooperative missiles
- Demonstrate how the capability could be integrated into
future systems
The implementation of cooperative missiles will offer UK armed
forces’ enhanced capability, providing a significant advantage in
comparison to current capability. There are many benefits that
can be realised. For example, considering collateral damage
during missions or live safety data updates if non-combatants
enter the battlefield post-launch. Cooperative missiles can share
this vital information to ensure an abort function is carried out
live during a mission, under human operator authority.
It is important to note that the operation of UK missile systems
will always remain under human control and we are only interested
in technologies that could enable cooperation between missiles
within this context.
Key Dates and Funding
- Up to £1.6 million (ex VAT) is available for this competition
with an expectation to fund multiple proposals between £100,000
to £300,000 (ex VAT) over a maximum project duration of 12 months
- Submission deadline is midday (GMT) on Tuesday 20 February
2024
- A Q&A webinar will take place on Tuesday 12 December 2023
with 1-2-1 sessions taking place on Tuesday 19 December and
Tuesday 16 January 2024.
Can you deliver an innovation which could aid in the development
of cooperative missiles? Read the full Competition Document
The Challenge Areas
This competition has five challenges:
- Distributed target detection and identification
- Data processing on board and between missiles
- Enhanced navigation though cooperation
- Finding and engaging multiple targets distributed over a wide
area
- Novel Missile Communication Systems
Read more about the challenge areas in depth and the competition
requirements in the full Competition Document
Phase 2 of this DASA competition builds on Phase 1 with more
focused challenge areas. Proposals from innovators that seek to
expand on their Phase 1 work are welcome, as well as innovators
that are new the competition. Successful submissions into phase 2
will identify and increase the maturity of novel technologies to
enable exploitation in future cooperative missile programs.
We encourage proposals where the innovation should output over a
range of Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3-5.
Successful proposals will present credible plans for progressing
new, advanced technologies which could underpin a future
cooperative missile.
Please note that throughout this competition UK missile strategic
partners MBDA and Thales will provide technical support to the
MOD competition team.
Supporting events
Tuesday 12 December 2023 - dial-in Q&A webinar. This session
will provide further detail on the problem space from the MOD
competition team and provide a chance to ask questions in an open
forum. If you would like to participate, please register on the
Eventbrite page.
Tuesday 19 December 2023 and Tuesday 16 January 2024 – a series
of 20 minute one-to-one teleconference sessions, giving you the
opportunity to ask specific questions to the MOD competition
team. If you would like to participate, please register on the
below Eventbrite page. Booking is on a first come first served
basis.
1-2-1 Session Tuesday 19 December 2023 – Eventbrite
link
1-2-1 Session Tuesday 16 January 2024 – Eventbrite
link
Submit a proposal
Do you have a novel technology that could be exploited to help
develop cooperative missiles? For full details and to submit a
proposal, read the full Competition Document.
