DASA has launched a new innovation focus area (IFA) on behalf of dstl. This funding opportunity aims to investigate generation-after-next advanced materials for Defence. There are two challenges i) intelligent materials and structures and ii) materials for enhanced thermal management. There are multiple areas within these two challenges based on different domains. TRL at finish varies as does the length of the project and funding available (maximum £300k). It’s quite complicated but we have provided a useful summary table in the information:
This IFA will run for two cycles of the DASA Open Call. These cycles close midday 22 February 2023 and midday 25 April 2023. If you are interested then please send a 500-word EOI to Deb (What the idea is? Who might use the idea and how? What advantage the idea offers?) and she will ask the customer if they are interested in assessing a full proposal.
As ever, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to drop us a note.
Many kind regards,
DASA Scotland
Deb (djcarr@dasa.service.mod.uk) – Innovation Partner
Linda (lgalloway@dasa.service.mod.uk) – Innovation Partner
Anis (amourad@dasa.service.mod.uk) – Access to Mentoring and Finance Partner
We are pleased to announce a new DASA market exploration.
To remind you, these are effectively pre-competition market surveys and allow our customers to decide whether they will run a future DASA competition; they offer you an opportunity to influence that. The submission process is much shorter than applications for a DASA competition.
This market exploration, which closes at midday 20 January 2023, is about anti-submarine warfare technologies. Specifically, we are looking for innovative systems and technologies that could deliver persistent, deployable uncrewed maritime assets. Areas of interest include:
- Sensors
- Platforms
- Analysis
- Communication i
- Launch and recovery solutions
- Power sources
- Station-keeping and propulsion
- Navigation
- Data
- Maintenance and sustainment options
- Training
- Validation
More details are here
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dasa-seeks-deployable-anti-submarine-warfare-technologies
Many kind regards,
DASA Scotland
Deb (djcarr@dasa.service.mod.uk) – Innovation Partner
Linda (lgalloway@dasa.service.mod.uk) – Innovation Partner
Anis (amourad@dasa.service.mod.uk) – Access to Mentoring and Finance Partner
DASA is delighted to announce a new Themed Competition on whole body vibration (WBV). We have £2.5m to investigate three challenges:
Challenge 1: Define the size and nature of the problem
Challenge 2: Quantify exposure to WBV
Challenge 3: Establish the short-term effects of WBV on the performance of duties
£925k of the total £2.5m must be spent within the financial year 2023/2024 and deliverables must be planned with this in mind. We expect to fund between one and three proposals over a 47-month period. All contracts must complete by the end of March 2027. At least one funded proposal will be a multidisciplinary programme seeking to address all or the majority of the questions raised. Projects can start in the range of TRL1 to TRL5 but must progress to TRL6 by the end of the contract.
There is a webinar and general Q&A on 17 November 2022 and the opportunity to book 15-minute one-to-one sessions with the technical team on 22 and 29 November 2022. These will all be delivered by MS Teams. Eventbrite signup pages are provided in the competition document which is here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/competition-understanding-whole-body-vibration
Delighted to announce the launch of a new DASA Themed Competition seeking innovative technologies contributing to the development of a Novel Amphibious Craft concept to enable Commando Force to safely and rapidly insert themselves into high-threat environments. Future craft need to:
- travel at sustained high speed over a long-range,
- provide the ability to deliver personnel and light vehicles to a coastal access point with limited or no impact on operational speed/capability,
- relaunch from the coastal access point and
- operate with low signature across all spectrums (thermal, radar, visual, acoustic, etc.) to reduce the probability of detection.
We have £1m to support this competition. We expect proposals to be between £100k and £350k in value. This competition has two themes.
Theme 1: Priority Challenges
Theme 1 aims to address the following technical challenges faced by the capability:
- Theme 1a: How to reduce the signature across multiple spectrums (thermal, radar, visual, acoustic etc.).
- Theme 1b: How to deliver the Commando Force (troops and vehicles) across the water gap and minimise the requirement for wading.
- Theme 1c: How to land onto/retract from an unprepared coastal access point.
Theme 2: Capability Design
Theme 2 aims to design a craft capable of delivering the complete capability defined above. This is a lower Technology Readiness Level (TRL) theme up to TRL4.
You can book one-to-one meetings with the Technical Team (using MS Teams) on 03 or 08 November. I’m sure these slots will go fast. The competition document (including Eventbrite links for the Teams meetings) is here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/novel-amphibious-craft
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with any questions you might have.
Many thanks,
DASA Scotland
Deb (djcarr@dasa.service.mod.uk) Innovation Partner
Linda (lgalloway@dasa.service.mod.uk) Innovation Partner
Anis (amourad@dasa.service.mod.uk) Access to Mentoring and Finance Partner
Firstly a new themed competition – CHERI within Defence and Security. It is funded by Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) Cyber Programme. There is £1.5 million funding available to experiment and trial the effects of the CHERI (Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions) based architecture extensions within the Arm’s Morello prototype System on Chip (SoC). We expect to fund a number of proposals up to £100k. The closing date is midday on 14th November. Further details can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/competition-cheri-within-defence-and-security
Secondly there is an opportunity to participate in a Novel Amphibious Craft Collaboration Day either in person in Newcastle or virtually. The aim is to give innovators the chance to network with others in their community and help shape a future DASA competition, Novel Amphibious Craft. There will also be an opportunity to meet with experts from across DSTL, DE&S and the Royal Marines Commando Force. It will take place on 10 October 2022. Note registration closed on Friday 30th September at midday. Details are below:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/novel-amphibious-craft-collaboration-day-tickets-425011499837
Beyond Line of Sight Communications (IFA036)
This IFA is being run on behalf of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) Communication and Networks programme, and is seeking Generation-After-Next (GAN) proposals, which explore and develop new / novel beyond line of sight (BLOS) communication options.
This IFA expects proposals to deliver a proof of concept at around Technical Readiness Level(TRL) 3/4 by the end of the project. DASA expects to fund proposals around £100K, (although this is not a hard limit) which provides a proof of concept within a maximum contract duration of 2 years.
Making Science Fiction a Reality: Future Directed Energy Weapons (IFA035)
DASA are seeking proposals which present ideas to contribute to the first generation of deployed Directed Energy Weaponhe first generation of deployed Directed Energy Weapons. We are interested in novel ideas to enhance the performance and/or reduce the size, mass and volume of the system and sub system areas associated with laser and RF Directed Energy Weapons. Full details are provided on our website.
For this IFA, DASA are seeking ideas between TRL 2-6, with suggested project values of between £50k-£200k, and a maximum project duration of 12 months.
Full descriptions of these IFAs can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defence-and-security-accelerator-dasa-open-call-for-innovation/open-call-innovation-focus-areas
The DASA Innovation Focus Area on Human Augmentation has been extended for another Cycle of the DASA Open Call. It will now close at midday 23 November. This IFA is seeking ideas that temporarily or permanently modify human performance. The call is very wide and covers everything from nutrition to exoskeletons. Projects will finish at TRL3 and last 6 months. The value of the contracts will be around £70k. Please find further details below.
Any questions, please get in touch.
Kind regards,
DASA Scotland
Deb (djcarr@dasa.service.mod.uk) – Innovation Partner
Linda (lgalloway@dasa.service.mod.uk) – Innovation Partner
Anis (amourad@dasa.service.mod.uk) – Access to Mentoring and Finance Partner
You may have seen that we have launched a new Market Exploration called ‘How clean is your hull?’. The Royal Navy is looking for innovative ways to clean submarines, specifically to mitigate the negative impact of bio-fouling on a submarine’s signature and performance.
More details are here
If you have any questions, please get in touch.
Many kind regards,
DASA Scotland
Deb (djcarr@dasa.service.mod.uk) – Innovation Partner
Linda (lgalloway@dasa.service.mod.uk) – Innovation Partner
Anis (amourad@dasa.service.mod.uk) – Acces to Mentoring and Finance Partner
DASA are pleased to announce a new funding programme called the Defence Technology Exploitation Programme (DTEP).
DTEP is a £16m programme designed to help small or medium-sized (lower-tier) SME suppliers join Defence supply chains and to boost SME defence innovation. Lower-tier suppliers will partner with UK-based higher-tier suppliers who provides or plans to provide Capability to MOD. A grant of up to 50% of total eligible project costs is available to SMEs, up to a maximum value of £500k (£1m total project). In addition, a higher-tier supplier contribution of in-kind resources is required to work with the lower-tier – a minimum of 15% of the total project value. This will not form part of the eligible grant, but is provide in addition to and on top of any government funded support.
Any proposals must address one of the MOD Enduring Capability Challenges:
- Pervasive Full Spectrum Multidomain Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR)
- Multi-Domain Command, Control, Communications and Computing (C4)
- Securing and Sustaining Advantage in the Sub-Threshold
- Asymmetric and Hard Power
- Freedom of Access and Manoeuvre in Key Domains and Environments
The competition will be run in 3 monthly cycles, and will have two stages: an outline submission and a full submission.
Full details and closing dates can be found in the competition document here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-defence-technology-exploitation-programme/guidance-document-the-defence-technology-exploitation-programme-dtep
If you are interested in DTEP please get in touch.
Regards
Linda Galloway
Debra Carr
Anis Mourad
DASA Scotland