Market Intelligence
Defense Equipment Security Technology Europe United Kingdom Government Procurement

United Kingdom protection against IEDs

The UK MOD’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is holding a competition that is looking for novel technologies that can rapidly be developed to deliver life-saving protection against Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), while being adaptable to evolving technologies and able to operate in an increasingly congested electromagnetic spectrum. This competition, titled Invisible shield, has $1.9 million in funding available for companies with novel technology to develop. Invisible shield closes at midday (BST) on Wednesday 1st July 2020.

Invisible shield addresses the need for UK defense to deploy new countermeasure techniques and technologies to outpace IED threat evolution. The Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) and Electronic Search systems, that the innovations generated through this competition will provide a crucial capability for UK military and security, protecting lives of our service personnel, emergency services and the public using RF techniques to counter IEDs.

This call for information is looking to generate novel technologies and techniques that can be rapidly developed to deliver life-saving protection against IEDs, while being adaptable to evolving technologies and able to operate in an increasingly congested RF spectrum. Proposals need to be considerate of the cognitive, training and physical burden that will be placed on the bearer (vehicle and service person), by any proposed solution.

The MOD is interested in ways to develop and expand the variety of capabilities used for UK Defence and Security. Possible threat technology types in this area are constantly evolving and therefore front-line operators need to have a wide variety of options at their disposal to mitigate emerging problems quickly and effectively.

Invisible shield contains 3 challenges to be addressed:

  • Innovations that capture and analyse RF signals using novel spectrum survey techniques
  • Innovations that neutralize targets in a timely and effective manner
  • Novel hardware and ancillaries (system components)

Proposals should include evidence of:

  • An innovative or a creative approach
  • A clear demonstration of how the proposed work applies to the challenges outlined

For more information on the competition, please visit Invisible shield or contact PJ Menner in Embassy London at pj.menner@trade.com.