The UK Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is set to launch a competition to encourage new innovative solutions that would help counter munitions safely on the battlefield.
Dubbed ‘Safely eliminating chemical and biological munitions on the battlefield ‘Don’t Blow It!’, the competition seeks proposals on how to access, disable and / or irreversibly destroy chemical and biological weapons (CBW) munitions, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and bulk agents.
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Seeking participation from the private sector and academia, the competition is aimed at non-traditional defence and security innovators, particularly from the allied technology areas such as the oil and gas, mining sectors, as well as those which have experience in handling hazardous materials.
The competition has been jointly funded by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the US Department of Defense (DoD) and is expected to be operated under an existing memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries.
Initially, the two defence ministries will fund £500,000 for multiple proof-of-concept proposals at low Technology Readiness Levels (TRL).
An additional £1.5m is expected to be funded based on the results of the initial funding phase.
The competition is slated to be officially launched during an event in London, UK, on 26 September this year.
In May this year, the DASA made an open call to seek for new and innovative ideas that would allow UK improve the defence and security of the country.
IED is a type of unconventional explosive weapon capable of taking any form and can be activated in different number of ways, thereby continuing to be part of the operating environment for future Nato military operations.
