DASA: Delivering operational advantage for defence via improved self-sufficiency
DASA is seeking innovations to enable deployed forces to move away from logistics resupply, towards self-sufficiency and enhanced operational energy.
Opportunity Details
When
Registration Opens
08/05/2024
Registration Closes
02/07/2024
Award
DASA expect to fund between 5 and 20 proposals of between £50,000 and £500,000 in value. The maximum value of a single proposal is £500,000.
Organisation
DASA
Defence is on a journey to enable a future where more sustainable, green technologies are central to providing operational advantage. The deployed force will need to operate more concisely, i.e. removing all that is superfluous, with a smaller footprint; i.e. reduced energy demand, host nation resource reliance and carbon emissions, and greater agility. By doing so it will reduce its reliance on the support chain and demands on the regions in which it is operating.
Our vision is a future where environmental technologies become the means for a revolution in military campaigning, where the emphasis shifts from logisticians planning to sustain at reach (the need for logistics resupply), to scientists and engineers designing for self-sustainment.
Our deployed force needs to be able to operate in a dispersed manner, capable of transitioning between varying levels of activity intensity, i.e. from routine intensity conflict to high intensity combat.
Changes could include but are not limited to:
- reduction in time for a deployed force and its capabilities to be at full operating capacity
- increased ability to operate across the environmental extremes
- capabilities that are scalable to a range of deployed expeditionary forces from a small scale, littoral strike 12 person team up to and including a large scale, enduring force of circa 2750 personnel
Our vision for success is to increase resilience through the ability to acquire, produce, or negate the demand for resources at the point of need, thereby creating the conditions for increased independence of the deployed force from the military support chain. This better places us to outcompete and deter nearby adversaries through ensuring essential capabilities are readily available in a given situation without the need of resupply from the support chain.
There are 7 competition challenges:
- Challenge 1: Food – feeding the winning edge
- Challenge 2: Water – harvest and recycle water with increasing efficiency
- Challenge 3: Materiel – reducing the supply chain burden
- Challenge 4: Waste – trash into treasure
- Challenge 5: Platform Power & Energy – enduring energy
- Challenge 6: Platform Thermal Management – keeping cool for persistent power
- Challenge 7: Deployed Power & Energy – energy fuels persistence
-
DASA submissions are welcome from the private sector, academia, individuals (i.e. sole traders) and Public Sector Research Establishments (PSREs).
-
The focus is on providing self-sustainment of the deployed expeditionary force and enhanced capability across the maritime, land and air domains.
This competition is open to any self-sufficiency and operational energy technologies that can provide a step change in deployed endurance in at least one of the challenge areas (below). It is also open to solutions that provide advantage across multiple challenge areas. We want technologies that will reduce defence’s heavy reliance on the support chain, give a winning edge over adversaries, meet the increasing requirement for electricity, deal with the thermal energy and improve battery technology.
We don’t want currently available technologies (unless they are not yet used in a defence context and are being applied in a novel way), or proposals that do not offer an increase of at least one technology readiness level (TRL).
Delivery from the competition will be technologies at TRL 3 to TRL 6. Each project must move through at least one TRL within the contracting period. Proposals for innovations at higher TRL solutions, which have been previously unused in defence would be acceptable, as long as the above criteria are met.
-
Please refer to the Challenge Details document to get the full details for each challenge:
- Challenge 1: Food – feeding the winning edge
- Challenge 2: Water – harvest and recycle water with increasing efficiency
- Challenge 3: Materiel – reducing the supply chain burden
- Challenge 4: Waste – trash into treasure
- Challenge 5: Platform Power & Energy – enduring energy
- Challenge 6: Platform Thermal Management – keeping cool for persistent power
- Challenge 7: Deployed Power & Energy – energy fuels persistence
Please select one challenge area for your proposal.
For all proposals you will be asked to demonstrate awareness of possible linkages to other challenges and the impact your solution may have on them, in order to highlight benefits and disadvantages.
-
21 May 2024 – A dial-in session providing further detail on the problem space and a chance to ask questions in an open forum. If you would like to participate, please register on the Eventbrite page.
29 May, 4 June and 6 June 2024 – A series of 10 minute one-to-one teleconference sessions, giving you the opportunity to ask specific questions. If you would like to participate, please register on the Eventbrite page. Booking is on a first come first served basis.
If you are uncertain of the relevance of your innovation you are strongly recommended to contact your local DASA Innovation Partner to discuss sending a one-page expression of interest; this should be sent to your Innovation Partner no less than three weeks before the competition closes (11 June 2024). You should receive a response within 2 weeks, confirming whether or not your idea is in scope. You will be required to confirm whether or not you have submitted an expression of interest and what the outcome was, when you submit your proposal.