DASA competition: Protecting Physical Assets from Uncrewed Aerial Systems Attack

DASA submissions are welcome from the private sector, academia, individuals (i.e. sole traders) and Public Sector Research Establishments (PSREs). DASA will examine the legal status of organisations prior to placement of any contract. In most cases there are no nationality restrictions, however DASA individual competition documents will detail any necessary restrictions.

Home Office, NPSA and Dstl are inviting industry to leverage novel physical protective countermeasures that can be utilised to reduce, or completely mitigate, the threat posed by one or more UAS being used as a weapon to fly into an asset and/or drop an explosive payload onto an asset.

The size of the protected asset can range from a single person through to a vehicle or a large building. Proposals need to outline the expected protection envelop from their proposed solutions in order to allow the authority to scope the proposal against a range of end use cases within three scenarios.  The scenarios will be delivered as Government Furnished Information (GFI) and will cover:

• Scenario 1: Protection of a permanent asset (static)
• Scenario 2: Protection of a temporary asset (static)
• Scenario 3: Protection of an asset on the move

A range of successful bids will be supported to provide proof-of-concept trials, based upon the three scenarios, demonstrating the ability of the working design to protect an asset from an inbound UAS air raid. The competition is seeking a range of proposals:

1. that produce evidence of a working design that has been validated in a recognised laboratory or a relevant environment to TRL 4 or 5. The competition welcomes proposals that outline an innovative approach to re-using existing products that have been designed for other industries, which may not have been tested to date, but which could be applied to the C-UAS protective security measures.
2. relating to countermeasures designed to provide a degree of protection to assets from a range of kinetic energy threats realistically capable of being delivered by known threat and potential threat UAVs.
3. where countermeasures are covertly deployed, or deployable in a discreet manner (i.e. to avoid detection by aerial surveillance). If the countermeasure is not  preinstalled, it must be rapidly and remotely deployable on command.

A variety of physical defensive approaches have been employed in the recent past to counter UAS attacks against both mobile assets and fixed installations. In recent conflicts, for example, protective canopies have been used to reduce the effect of UAS strikes/munition drops for assets on the move.  The issue with such approaches is that they can be seen by opposing forces who can then plan and adopt alternative attack approaches to counter them.  This competition seeks to move us beyond such limitations by introducing innovative approaches where protective capability can be deployed in a covert or discreet manner and activated automatically, where necessary, at the point of need.

As a minimum, the system needs to be rapidly deployable either by an operator or automatically as the last line of defence to protect an asset. However, the ideal system should be capable of passive deployment without the need for human intervention. Either way, the system may require a degree of early warning which could come from an existing UAS Detect, Track and Identify technology.

Out of scope ideas for this competition include established off the shelf technology which looks to directly interdict the air vehicle either;

1. Electronically i.e. to jam, take control, or spoof the command link or GNSS of a UAS.
2. or by using an active kinetic effect on the drone (i.e. high intensity lasers, EMPs, ammunition, etc.)

This challenge is focused on providing protection to temporarily static or permanently fixed assets from hostile UAS, including assets that are either important to the functioning of a site or may pose a hazard to life or other assets if targeted in an attack.

An example scenario might include providing last ditch protection to pressurised fuel supply or storage systems at a refuelling station within Critical National Infrastructure against a hostile Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) carrying an explosive, where primary C-UAS systems have proven ineffective.

The solution should be deployable in a covert manner, easily hidden or masked so that basic reconnaissance will not result in the threat actor redirecting a mission to avoid the physical countermeasures deployed.  An ideal solution should be rapidly deployable by a remote operator if there is a credible UAS threat inbound.

For temporary assets, the solution needs to be easily redeployable, i.e. portable or semi-portable, so that it can be easily moved if the asset changes location or as the threat changes.

This challenge is focused on providing protection from hostile UAS to a moving asset. This might include a land or maritime vehicle, convoy of vehicles, or a person.

A typical example might include providing last resort protection to a protected person in a moving vehicle against an attack from a UAV, or protecting an asset in transport which may pose a hazard to life or other assets should it be subjected to an attack.

Such systems need to be fully portable rather than easily deployable so that they can be moved with the asset as it changes location or as the threat changes, as well as rapidly deployable/initiated remotely to protect the asset as the last line of defence if there is a credible UAS threat inbound.

We need a solution that can be deployable in a covert manner, easily hidden or masked so that basic reconnaissance will not result in the threat actor redirecting a mission to avoid the physical countermeasures deployed.

2 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.

9 May 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.

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.

For further support, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Security & Defence team.