Dstl unveils battle-winning scientific support to Ukraine
Scientists praised for vital role following Putin’s illegal and unprovoked invasion.
Ukraine: The science and technology battlefield
Since the start of Russia’s illegal invasion, the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has played a pivotal role in the UK’s efforts to help the Ukrainian armed forces defend their country.
With agility and innovation, Dstl has made use of every skill, idea and technology that we and our partners have to offer.
What we have done to date has been a critical factor in strategic and tactical success, ensuring MOD science and technology adds impact and advantage to defence and national security operations.
Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey said:
What Dstl has done over the last year is bring to bear the brilliance of UK defence science – in partnership with the UK defence industry, defence intelligence, and the cunning of the UK and Ukrainian militaries – in order to deliver capability at pace for the Ukrainians.
That has not only kept them in the fight but put them in a position where they can win.
Dstl has a lot to be proud of for the fact that we have reached that point.
Armed Forces Minister visits Dstl
Hundreds of Dstl experts have been called upon to support Ukraine, including in areas such as:
- counter drone technology
- counter electronic warfare
- protection systems
- analytic insight
The Defence Command Paper 2023 revealed that Dstl used the depth of its scientific knowledge on camouflage, concealment and deception techniques to provide novel and innovative solutions to improve the survivability of the M270 Multi-Launch Rocket System (MLRS) gifted to Ukraine by the UK.
Using its extensive materials expertise, Dstl also developed bespoke and readily available armour protection solutions for the Challenger 2 main battle tanks, to provide additional protection from specific Russian threats.
And Dstl technical expertise enabled the Ukrainian Armed Forces to mount and integrate the UK-gifted Starstreak short-range air-defence system on to a number of Ukrainian armoured fighting vehicles.
Dstl has also provided ongoing operational support and advice to the armed forces and our security partners since the start of the conflict covering many more areas.
Our rapid support to operations and crises is only made possible because of MOD’s enduring science and technology investment in research, key capabilities and facilities, allowing it to provide an indispensable source of novel and diverse technical support at pace.
We will continue to provide support to the UK response to Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
We stand united with Ukraine.