Windfarm Mitigation for UK Air Defence

Overview

This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is seeking proposals that can provide future offshore windfarm mitigation for UK Air Defence surveillance; including alternative technologies that could fill or remove gaps in radar coverage.

Competition Challenges

Challenge 1: alternatives to radar

This may include, but is not limited to, alternative sensory information or technologies that would result in the mitigation of Windfarm inference with UK Air Defence.

Challenge 2: technologies applied to the wind turbine or installation

This may include, but is not limited to, metasurfaces applied to, or alterations to the design of, the wind turbines.

Challenge 3: technologies applied to the radar, its transmission, or its return

This may include, but is not limited to, alterations to the initial radar signal or radar station or processing of the return.

Challenge 4: technological mitigations that meet the above scope that are not covered by Challenges 1, 2, or 3

Funding Costs

The total funding available for Phase 1 is £2m (excluding VAT), with individual proposals not exceeding £500K (ex VAT). If successful, contracts awarded will complete no later than 31 March 2021.

Additional funding for additional phases to increase TRL may be available. Any further phases will be subject to a separate competitive commercial process and will be open to applications from all suppliers, not just those that submitted successful Phase 1 bids.

DASA are looking for:

Novel ideas to benefit users working in UK Defence and Security. Your proposal should include evidence of:

• theoretical development, methodological advancement or proof of concept research which can demonstrate potential for translation to practical demonstration in later phases
• innovation or a creative approach
• clear demonstration of how the proposed work applies to the given civil and military air traffic control context and military air defence context (including non-cooperative aircraft within the recognised air picture)

Exclusions

For this competition they 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 could not be developed into further phases)
• do not offer realistic prospect of mitigating within-radar line of sight turbine impact
• offer demonstrations of off-the-shelf products requiring no experimental development (unless applied in a novel way to the challenge)
• technologies above TRL 4
• are an identical resubmission of a previous bid to DASA or MOD without modification
• offer no real long-term prospect of integration into defence and civil capabilities
• offer no real prospect of out-competing existing technological solutions