Guidance

AUKUS Electronic Warfare Challenge: Competition Document

Updated 26 April 2024

1. Introduction:

On Friday 1 December 2023, Defence Ministers announced the launch of an innovation challenge series for AUKUS Pillar 2. The first of these challenges will be focussed on Electronic Warfare (EW).

AUKUS is a landmark security and defence partnership between Australia, the UK, and the US to support a free and open Indo-Pacific by strengthening regional global security. Through Pillar 2, AUKUS partners seek to strengthen trilateral capabilities in cutting-edge military technologies, increase interoperability, and drive knowledge-sharing and innovation.

This is a trilaterally agreed challenge with three entry streams running concurrently in Australia, United Kingdom and United States with national process and terms applied. The challenge is being run as three separate competitions by the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA) in Australia, the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) in the United Kingdom and the Defence Innovation Unit (DIU) in the United States.

This is the United Kingdom competition document (open to UK bidders only), run by the Defence and Security Accelerator.

This challenge aims to have delivered impactful solutions by 2025.

2. Competition Scope

2.1 Background:

The electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) is a heavily congested, contested, complex and competitive environment, and there is an increasing need for low cost, disposable, high volume and highly autonomous capabilities to achieve asymmetric advantage.

How might Defence harness the EMS to project force to target adversaries and counter their ability to target AUKUS partners?

2.2 Challenge Area

This challenge will focus on Defence’s ability to leverage EMS technologies and capabilities that provide a competitive advantage to EM targeting, and those that protect Defence from adversary EM targeting capabilities. The six key elements of the targeting cycle that Defence is interested in improving through development and transition of innovative technologies are;

1. Find: Identify a target using the EMS.
2. Fix: Identify a target’s location using the EMS.
3. Track: Monitor a target’s movement using the EMS.
4. Target: Select and apply appropriate EMS assets and/or EMS enabled weapon systems.
5. Engage: Apply EMS assets and enabled weapons to a target.
6. Assess: Evaluate effects of an attack using the EMS.

To enable industry to focus resources and efforts on capabilities that are likely to have the greatest impact and potential for success, Defence has identified technologies for application within the targeting cycle for industry consideration. These include, but are not limited to:

• Sensors: The ability to increase the quantity and/or quality of sensors in the operating environment that can identify, locate, and monitor targets, and assess any effects delivered against them. To enable Find, Fix, Track, and Assess phases.
• Closed loop targeting: The ability to employ existing EW sensor data and pre-determined mission parameters to cue and engage effectors at machine speed.
  To enable Target and Engage phases.
• Electronic Attack: The ability to disrupt, degrade and deny adversary Command, Control, Communication and Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and EW (C4ISREW) systems, and EMS enabled weapons systems. To enable all aspects of the targeting cycle.
• EMS access: The ability to understand, identify and auto-allocate the EMS, dynamically access the EMS for resilience, stealth and reducing spectrum conflicts against agile adversaries. To enable Find, Fix, Track, Target, Engage, and Assess phases.
• EMS Deception & Denial: EM deception and/or denial to prevent adversaries finding, fixing, exploiting or understanding our emissions or true intent to enable blue force projection and blue force protection. To counter all aspects of the targeting cycle.

Responses to the challenge sit with each nation’s Defence innovation organisation(s). A key characteristic that Defence is seeking in both innovation proposals and industry partners actions is the ability to innovate and deliver at speed. The ability to orientate to the problem statement and rapidly iterate is of greater interest to Defence than the current TRL level of the capability.

2.3 Capability Considerations

The following considerations will be used by Defence to determine proposal viability and inform decision-making processes. Proposals are not expected to meet all of these capability considerations; rather, these should be used by industry as a guide for proposal development. These include, but are not limited to:

• Agility: Systems that are multi-spectral, distributed, high dynamic range, wide/multi band, coordinated, adaptive/cognitive, and real-time. These systems should have the ability to rapidly reprogram, share and update mission data.
• Multi-function: Systems that can meet multiple areas of interest and multiple capability considerations.
• Interoperability: Systems that employ common data standards, are flexible to Defence integration standards (including the potential to meet specific theatre entry standards), and can cooperate with existing data and systems.
• Interchangeability: Systems that can be easily integrated and/or interchangeable with AUKUS partners.
• Connectivity: Systems that can operate in a denied, degraded, intermittent and limited environment are preferable.
• Cost imposition: Systems that are low-cost, easily manufactured, disposable/attritable and can distribute the delivery of effects, thereby reducing the risk of failure if targeted.
• Sovereignty: Systems that are manufactured and sustainable domestically (or have the potential to be), and have a secure, resilient and reliable supply chain.
• Range: Distances may vary from close-range to over-the-horizon, depending on the effect required. Regardless of range, systems should have an appropriate degree of protection to operate within proximity of adversaries.
• Time: System speed and operational duration may vary depending on capability purpose and required effect. Consider speed as relative to the target the capability is effecting, and duration as relevant to mission considerations, such as travel time to close in on a desired target.
• Autonomy: Systems that can reduce reliance on workforce (including human time cost and cognitive burden) and require limited training to operate.
• Projection: Systems that can be easily projected from existing platforms and deployed into contested environments with minimal modification.
• Domain: Systems can be employed in any of the physical domains (air, land, space, maritime [surface and sub-surface]), or across multiple domains.

3. Competition key information

3.1 Submission deadline

12:00 Midday on 16 May 2024 (BST).

3.2 Where do I submit my proposal?

Via the DASA Online Submission Service for which you will require an account. Only proposals submitted through the DASA Online Submission Service will be accepted.

3.3 Total funding available

The total possible funding available for this competition is up to £1.92 million (excluding VAT). It is intended that multiple projects will be funded.

From this available funding, £150,000 will be shared between the successful suppliers for the first milestone report. This report will be used to aid early identification of suitable exploitation routes and will be shared trilaterally (under an appropriate memorandum of understanding) for awareness of UK projects. Please cost as a usual milestone report.

3.4 Eligibility

In order to be eligible to apply in this competition you must be a UK business registered on Companies House. You must be based in the UK and intending to carry out project development activity in the UK.

Entrants from Australia or the United States should refer to their national competition page in order to enter.

3.5 What technology readiness level (TRL) is being sought?

For this competition we are seeking technology that is at technology readiness level (TRL) 4, 5 or 6 to develop to TRL 7 minimum within 12 months of the contract start date.

3.6 How will my information be used in this competition?

It is intended that there will be trilateral participation in assessment. Proposals will be shared with Australia and United States under appropriate non-disclosure agreements.

We will use deliverables from DASA contracts in accordance with our rights detailed in the contract terms and conditions which may include sharing of contract deliverables with Australia and United States under an appropriate Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

4. Supporting events

4.1 Webinar

Please watch the below webinar before submitting an application.

AUKUS Electronic Warfare Challenge Webinar

The questions responded to have been captured in the FAQ document.

5. We are interested in…

We want novel ideas to benefit end-users working in UK Defence and Security. Your proposal should include evidence of:

• theoretical development, method of advancement or proof of concept research and any practical demonstrations appropriate to the current TRL of the technology
• innovation or a creative approach
• clear demonstration of how the proposed work applies to military electronic warfare needs

6. We are not interested in…

We are not interested in proposals that:

• constitute consultancy, paper-based studies or literature reviews which just summarise the existing literature without any view of future innovation (which therefore cannot meet the AUKUS ambition to have delivered impactful solutions by 2025)
• an unsolicited resubmission of a previous DASA bid
• offer demonstrations of off-the-shelf products requiring no experimental development (unless applied in a novel way to the challenge)
• offer no real long-term prospect of integration into defence and security capabilities
• offer no real prospect of out-competing existing technological solutions

7. Accelerating and exploiting your innovation

It is important that over the lifetime of DASA competitions, ideas are matured and accelerated towards appropriate end-users to enhance capability. How long this takes will depend on the nature and starting point of the innovation.

7.1 A clear route for exploitation

For DASA to consider routes for exploitation, ensure your deliverables are designed with the aim of making it as easy as possible for collaborators/stakeholders to identify the innovative elements of your proposal.

Whilst DASA recognises that early identification and engagement with potential end users during the competition and subsequent phases are essential to implementing an exploitation plan, during the competition phase all correspondence must be via the DASA helpdesk accelerator@dstl.gov.uk, or your local Innovation Partner.

 All proposals to DASA should articulate the expected development in technology maturity of the potential solution over the lifetime of the contract and how this relates to improved capability against the current known (or presumed) baseline.

7.2 How to outline your exploitation plan

A higher technology maturity is expected in subsequent phases. Include the following information to help the assessors understand your exploitation plans to date:

• the intended defence or security users of your final product and whether you have previously engaged with them, their procurement arm or their research and development arm
• awareness of, and alignment to, any existing end user procurement programmes
• the anticipated benefits (for example, in cost, time, improved capability) that your solution will provide to the user
• whether it is likely to be a standalone product or integrated with other technologies or platforms
• expected additional work required beyond the end of the contract to develop an operationally deployable commercial product (for example, “scaling up” for manufacture, cyber security, integration with existing technologies, environmental operating conditions)
• additional future applications and wider markets for exploitation
• wider collaborations and networks you have already developed or any additional relationships you see as a requirement to support exploitation
• how your product could be tested in a representative environment in later phases
• any specific legal, ethical, commercial or regulatory considerations for exploitation

7.3 Is your exploitation plan long term?

Long term studies may not be able to articulate exploitation in great detail, but it should be clear that there is credible advantage to be gained from the technology development.

Include project specific information which will help exploitation. This competition is being carried out as part of a wider MOD programme and with cognisance of cross-Government initiatives. We may collaborate with organisations outside of the UK Government and this may provide the opportunity to carry out international trials and demonstrations in the future.

8. How to apply

8.1 Submission deadline

12:00 Midday on 16 May 2024 (BST).

8.2 Where do I submit my proposal?

Via the DASA Online Submission Service for which you will be required to register.

Only proposals submitted through the DASA Online Submission Service will be accepted.

8.3 Total funding available

The total funding available for this competition is up to £1.92 million (excluding VAT).
For further guidance
Click here for more information on our competition process and how your proposal is assessed.

Queries should be sent to the DASA Help Centre – accelerator@dstl.gov.uk

9. What your proposal must include

In this competition we are seeking proposals that develop technology from TRL4/5/6 through to TRL 7, with a TRL 7 demonstration at the end of the contract. Your proposal must include the following:

• the proposal must include an initial milestone of a costed report to be delivered as soon as possible after contract date. This will be shared trilaterally with the use of an appropriate Memorandum of Understanding. It will also be used in the early identification of potential exploitation routes. This should include an initial practical de-risking of the technology; a detailed development roadmap (including technical risk); a plan to trial in a representative environment; an exploration of the exploitation plan and operational advantage that would be delivered; the advantage to UK sovereign capability

• the proposal should focus on the competition requirements but must also include a brief (uncosted) outline of the next stages of work required for exploitation
• when submitting a proposal, you must complete all sections of the online form, including an appropriate level of technical information to allow assessment of the bid and a completed finances section
• completed proposals must comply with the financial rules set for this competition. Proposals will be rejected if the financial cost exceeds this capped level
• you must include a list of other current or recent government funding you may have received in this area if appropriate, making it clear how this proposal differs from this work

• a project plan with clear milestones and deliverables must be provided. Deliverables must be well defined and designed to provide evidence of progress against the project plan and the end-point for this phase; they must include a first milestone report and a final report. Additionally, any slides created during the project will form part of the set of deliverables and will be subject to the terms and conditions of any order arising from the proposal

• you should plan for attendance at a kick-off meeting at the start of the contract, a mid-project event and an end of project event at the end of the contract, as well as regular reviews with the appointed Technical Partner and Project Manager; all meetings will be in the UK. Meetings may also take place virtually. Any slides presented at these meetings need to be made available.

• you should plan to carry out a TRL 7 demonstration at a location to be determined. Overseas travel costs should be factored into this milestone.
• your proposal must demonstrate how you will complete all activities/services and provide all deliverables within the competition timescales (12 months). Proposals with any deliverables (including final report and TRL7 demonstration) outside the competition timeline will be rejected as non-compliant.

10. What your resourcing plan should include

Your resourcing plan must identify, where possible, the nationalities of proposed employees that you intend to work on this phase.

10.1 If your proposal is recommended for funding

In the event of a proposal being recommended for funding, the DASA reserves the right to undertake due diligence checks including the clearance of proposed employees. Please note that this process will take as long as necessary and could take up to 6 weeks in some cases for non-UK nationals.

You must identify any ethical / legal / regulatory factors within your proposal and how the associated risks will be managed, including break points in the project if approvals are not received.

MODREC approvals can take up to 5 months therefore you should plan your work programme accordingly. If you are unsure if your proposal will need to apply for MODREC approval, then please refer to the MODREC Guidance for Suppliers or contact your Innovation Partner for further guidance.

Requirements for access to Government Furnished Assets (GFA), for example, information, equipment, materials and facilities, may be included in your proposal. DASA cannot guarantee that GFA will be available. If you apply for GFA, you should include an alternative plan in case it is not available.

Failure to provide any of the above listed will automatically render your proposal non-compliant.

11. Export control for overseas partners

All relevant export control regulations will apply if a company ultimately wants to sell a developed solution to a foreign entity. All innovators must ensure that they can obtain, if required, the necessary export licences for their proposals and developments, such that they can be supplied to the UK and other countries. If you cannot confirm that you can gain the requisite licences, your proposal will be sifted out of the competition.

Additionally, if we believe that you will not be able to obtain export clearance, additional checks may be conducted, which may also result in your proposal being sifted out of the competition.

12. Cyber risk assessment

12.1 Supplier Assurance Questionnaire (SAQ)

On receipt of a ‘Fund’ decision, successful suppliers must prove cyber resilience before the contract is awarded. The start of this process is the submission of a Supplier Assurance Questionnaire (SAQ). The SAQ allows suppliers to demonstrate compliance with the specified risk level and the corresponding profile in Def Stan 05-138, and the level of control required will depend on this risk level.

To expedite the contracting time of successful suppliers we ask all suppliers to complete the SAQ before they submit their proposal.  The SAQ can be completed here using the DASA Risk Assessment RAR-240319B03 and answer questions for risk level “very low”. In the form, for the contract name please use the competition title and for the contract description please use the title of your proposal.

Defence Cyber Protection PartnershipThe Defence Cyber Protection Partnership (DCPP) will review your SAQ submission and respond within 2 working days with a reference number and an indication of your compliance status. The resulting email response from DCPP should be attached (JPG or PNG format) and included within the DASA submission service portal when the proposal is submitted. You will also be asked to enter your SAQ reference number. Please allow enough time to receive the SAQ reference number prior to competition close at 12:00 midday on 16 May 2024 (BST).

The SAQ will be evaluated against the CRA for the competition, and it will be put it into one of the following categories:

1. Compliance Status Met – no further action
2. Compliance status Not Met – if successful in competition and being funded, the innovator will be required to complete a Cyber Implementation Plan (CIP) before the contract is placed, which will need to be reviewed and agreed with the relevant project manager.

Innovators can submit a proposal without all controls in place, but are expected to have all the cyber protection measures necessary to fulfil the requirements of the contract in place at the time of contract award, or have an agreed Cyber Implementation Plan (CIP).

The CIP provides evidence as to how and when potential innovators will achieve compliance. Provided the measures proposed in the Cyber Implementation Plan do not pose an unacceptable risk to the MOD, a submission with a Cyber Implementation Plan will be considered alongside those who can achieve the controls.A final check will be made to ensure cyber resilience before the contract is placed.  Commercial staff cannot progress without it. This process does not replace any contract specific security requirements.

Additional information about cyber security can be found at: DCPP: Cyber Security Model industry buyer and supplier guide.

13. Public facing information

When submitting your proposal, you will be required to include a title, Proposal Value Proposition Statement (PVPS) and a short abstract. The title, PVPS and abstract you provide will be used by DASA, and other government departments in UK, AUS and US, to describe your project and its intended outcomes and benefits. They may be included at DASA events in relation to this competition and in documentation such as brochures. The proposal title will be published in the DASA transparency data on GOV.UK, along with your company name, the amount of funding, and the start and end dates of your contract. As this information can be shared, it should not contain information that may compromise Intellectual property.

14. How your proposal will be assessed

At Stage 1, all proposals will be checked for compliance with the competition document and may be rejected before full assessment if they do not comply. Only those proposals that demonstrate compliance against the competition scope and DASA mandatory criteria will be taken forward to full assessment.

Mandatory Criteria
The proposal outlines how it meets the scope of the competition	Within scope (Pass) / Out of scope (Fail)
The proposal fully explains in all three sections of the DASA submission service how it meets the DASA criteria	Pass / Fail
The proposal clearly details a financial plan, a project plan and a resourcing plan to complete the work proposed in Phase 1	Pass / Fail
The project plan includes a first milestone report and final report as described here.	Pass / Fail
The project plan includes a TRL 7 demonstration	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies the need (or not) for MODREC approval	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies any GFA required for Phase 1	Pass / Fail
The proposal demonstrates how all research and development activities / services (including delivery of the first milestone report, TRL demonstration activity  final report) will be completed within 12 months from award of contract (or less)	Pass / Fail
The bidder has obtained the authority to provide unqualified acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Contract.	Pass / Fail

Proposals that pass Stage 1 will then be assessed against the standard DASA assessment criteria (Desirability, Feasibility and Viability) by subject matter experts from the MOD (including Dstl), other government departments and the front-line military commands.

For this competition, it is intended that technical experts from the Australian Department of Defence and United States Department of Defense will assess proposals. This will be done under appropriate non-disclosure agreements.

You will not have the opportunity to view or comment on assessors’ recommendations.

DASA reserves the right to disclose on a confidential basis any information it receives from innovators during the procurement process, which includes the full proposal, to any third party engaged by DASA for the specific purpose of evaluating or assisting DASA in the evaluation of your proposal. In providing such information you consent to such disclosure. Appropriate confidentiality agreements will be put in place.

Further guidance on how your proposal is assessed is available on the DASA website.

After assessment, proposals will be discussed internally at a Decision Conference where, based on the assessments, budget and wider strategic considerations, a decision will be made on the proposals that are recommended for funding.

Innovators are not permitted to attend the Decision Conference.

Proposals that are unsuccessful will receive brief feedback after the Decision Conference.

15. Things you should know about DASA contracts:

15.1 DASA terms and conditions

Please read the DASA terms and conditions which contain important information for innovators. For this competition we will be using the Innovation Standard Contract (ISC), links to the contract: Terms and Conditions. We will require unqualified acceptance of the terms and conditions; if applicable, please ensure your commercial department has provided their acceptance.

More information on DEFCON 705 can be found by registering on the Knowledge in Defence site.

Funded projects will be allocated a Project Manager (to run the project) and a Technical Partner (as a technical point of contact). In addition, the DASA team will work with you to support delivery and exploitation including, when appropriate, introductions to end-users and business support to help develop their business.

We will use deliverables from DASA contracts in accordance with our rights detailed in the contract terms and conditions.

For this competition, up to £1.92 million is currently available to fund proposals. Where a proposal meets the fundable requirements for a competition, but is not funded, DASA will continue to seek funding from partners across government and shall consider your proposal fundable for 12 months from the date of the decision release. We will share the abstract, PVPS and title of your proposal with any other UK government departments that may express an interest in funding the proposal through DASA, in accordance with the competition document. If a budget holder within the MOD wishes to read the full proposal to decide if they will fund it, we will share it with them under these circumstances. If it is within 60 days of the original NOT FUNDED decision release date, we will share the full proposal with them without seeking your permission. If it is over 60 days since the original NOT FUNDED decision we will seek your permission before sharing the full proposal with them.

For other potential funders, we will seek your permission before sharing the full proposal regardless of the number of days since the original NOT FUNDED decision release.

In the event that funding becomes available, DASA may ask whether you would still be prepared to undertake the work outlined in your proposal under the same terms. Your official DASA feedback will indicate if your proposal was deemed fundable, but not awarded funding at the time.

16. Key dates

Webinar	16 April 2024
Competition closes	Midday (BST) 16 May 2024
Feedback release	23 July 2024
Contracting	Aim to start in August 2024 and end 12 months later in  August 2025

17. Help: Contact the DASA Help Centre

Competition queries including on process, application, commercial, technical and intellectual property aspects should be sent to the DASA Help Centre at accelerator@dstl.gov.uk, quoting the competition title. If you wish receive future updates on this competition, please email the DASA Help Centre.

While all reasonable efforts will be made to answer queries, DASA reserves the right to impose management controls if volumes of queries restrict fair access of information to all potential innovators.

Please reference the FAQ document to check whether we have already answered your question here. We also ask that you listen to the webinar recording prior to writing your proposal.