Innovation Support to Operations Phase 3 (Cycle 7)

Key Features

This UK Defence Innovation themed competition is looking for innovative proposals that are cost competitive, designed for manufacture, and can be scaled in an approximate twelve-month timeframe.

Programme:     UK Defence Innovation

Award:     Share of up to £1 million

Opens: 24th Feb 2026

Closes: 12th May 2026

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Grant Overview

This UK Defence Innovation themed competition is looking for innovative proposals that are designed for manufacture, cost competitive and can be scaled in a 12-month timeframe.

Grant Scope

The competition is covering Unmanned Aerial Systems, telemetry, and autonomous navigation/guidance. This is a phase 3, cycle 7 of a multiple phase competition. Projects should aim to start early September 2026 and last no more than 6 months.

As well as brand new innovations, this competition will welcome proposals that outline innovative approaches using existing projects which may have not yet been tested for these purposes.

Specific Themes

Areas of interest include:

  • Counter-UAS Interceptor Sensors
  • One-Way Attack UAS Seeker
  • UAS Survivability
  • UAS Navigation
  • Telemetry Data
  • Maritime Autonomous Navigation
  • Maritime Terminal Guidance

Competition Challenges

This competition has 7 challenges; these are as follows:

  • Challenge 1: Counter UAS Interceptor Sensors
  • Challenge 2: One-way Attack UAS seeker
  • Challenge 3: UAS Survivability
  • Challenge 4: UAS Navigation
  • Challenge 5: Telemetry Data
  • Challenge 6: Maritime Autonomous Navigation
  • Challenge 7: Maritime Terminal Guidance

Competition Challenges

This competition has 7 challenges; these are as follows:

  • Challenge 1: Counter UAS Interceptor Sensors
  • Challenge 2: One-way Attack UAS seeker
  • Challenge 3: UAS Survivability
  • Challenge 4: UAS Navigation
  • Challenge 5: Telemetry Data
  • Challenge 6: Maritime Autonomous Navigation
  • Challenge 7: Maritime Terminal Guidance

Eligibility Criteria

UKDI are looking for novel ideas that benefit end-users working in UK defence and security. Proposals should include evidence of:

  • Competitive, market‑leading pricing and scalable manufacturing are built into the proposal from the start, benchmarked against existing market solutions or the closest alternatives in both output and manufacturing.
  • Innovative or creative approach
  • Techniques that can be demonstrated within the timeframe of the project
  • Clear demonstration of how the proposed work applies to defence and security context and how it can be exploited in phases of development beyond this competition.

Grant Exclusions

The following projects are not being funded:

  • Cannot achieve at least TRL 6 by the end of the project
  • Has already been sold into the UK Defence Marketplace unless it has been adapted or repurposed in an innovative way and has been made clear in your proposal
  • Platforms themselves e.g. unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned surface vehicles or unmanned underwater vehicles
  • Rely on rare or exclusive manufacturing that would preclude deployment within 12 months
  • Compromise consultancy, literature reviews or paper-based studies that simply summarise existing literature without any view of future innovation
  • Unsolicited resubmission of a previous DASA bid
  • Offers no real long-term prospect of integration into defence and security capabilities
  • Offers demonstrations of off the shelf products requiring no experimental development
  • Offers no real prospect of out-competing existing technological solutions in price while maintaining enough performance to be relevant

Grant Funding

Projects should cost no more than £350,000. Several proposals may be funded. Your proposal must not exceed £1,000,000 (excluding VAT).

For further information on this competition, please see full details.

Full competition details

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