Competition Document: Contemporary Deception for the British Army
This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is run on behalf of the British Army.
Documents
Details
Project APATE - the Greek goddess or spirit of deceit, deception, guile, and fraud - seeks industry and academia to identify and develop new (novel) deception technologies that could be exploited by the British Army to gain operational advantage and to aid the survivability of deployed UK Land Forces.
The aim of Project APATE is to identify and develop novel deception (defined as a Feint; Demonstration, Ruse or Display), technologies that could be exploited to ‘hide the real’ or ‘show the false’ on Land operations, including the near-surface (0-10,000ft) and command and logistic hubs. The development of a deception capability for military application will enhance Survivability in a number of potential applications:
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Novel decoys of personnel, military activities, in-service platforms, systems and hubs that can deceive non-communications sensors and adversarial radar, including battlefield radars, at various ranges; and/or
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Developing novel technologies, or exploiting existing technologies in new/novel ways, to enhance survivability by reducing the likelihood of being There, Detected, Acquired and Engaged, in support of the survivability onion concept.
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By the proposal of new concepts for implementing battlefield deception that are a blend of deception technologies but tactically exploited through new thinking and the potential update to the Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) of employing deception. How can the Army use deception in novel ways, by challenging the unconventional? To deceive in plain sight, to exploit the unexpected and gain the tactical advantage, if only momentarily.
We encourage proposals where the innovation output is no higher than, Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 5. Successful proposals will be expected to validate their deception technology in a relevant environment. This could include validation against a range of representative sensor technologies in a formal tactical trials environment. An appropriate level of evidence will be required for solutions expected to exit at TRL 3 or 4.
Any correspondence directly relating to this competition between the innovator and the Army competition team should only be done through the DASA helpdesk email at accelerator@dstl.gov.uk, or your local Innovation Partner.
Competition key information
Submission deadline
12:00 midday on 09 July 2024 (BST).
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.
Total funding available
The total possible funding available for this DASA competition is £900,000 (excluding VAT).
This is expected to fund between six and eight proposals over a maximum project duration of 5 months. Pending each proposal additional funding may be made available from Defence Science and Technology Laboratories (Dstl).
There may be additional funding for further phases to incorporate successful solutions onto prototypes under development (using a different commercial arrangement through Defence Equipment and Support’s Aurora Engineering Partnership).
Supporting events
Dial-in session
07 June 2024 – A dial-in session providing further detail on the problem space from the Army’s competition team, with a chance to ask questions in an open forum. If you would like to participate, please register on the Eventbrite page.
We invite Expressions of Interest (by 17 Jun 2024) where there are sensitive questions that you would prefer to pose either about the competition or the scope of your proposal. DASA has a team of Innovation Partners that can provide you with support in working with DASA. If you want to submit an expression of interest (by 17 June 2024) we encourage you to speak to your local DASA Innovation Partner.