UK, France seek fresh missile technologies
The UK Ministry of Defence and French DGA Materials and Components for Missiles, Innovation and Technology Partnership (MCM ITP) programme is launching Innovation Call research activities for 2020 on emerging and low Technology Readiness Level innovations with potential value in missile systems.
UK and French industry, SMEs, research institutes and academia are encouraged to participate in the call, which is interested in relatively small-scale, short duration research activities. It aims to identify and support high potential, innovative ideas and technologies to support missile system capabilities of the future.
In addition to research topics relevant to the MCM ITP technical domains, potentially ground-breaking, disruptive and innovative ideas and areas of research that could be relevant are also being sought. These may include areas that are being pursued in other industries and have the potential for direct read-across.
The MCM ITP sponsored research fund is headed by MBDA and open to all British and French companies and academic institutions. It funds proposals from industry, SMEs and academia on an annual cycle with the aim of developing novel, exploitable technologies for generation-after-next missile systems.
More from Defence Notes
-
Canada’s new military drone marketplace targets rapid acquisition pipeline
The Department of National Defence expects initial contracts to deliver thousands of uncrewed systems, but has yet to establish the quantities, capability mix or deadline behind Ottawa’s promised tenfold expansion.
-
Ukraine turns legacy Kongsberg land turrets into semi-autonomous USV weapons
The company told Shephard that Ukraine is operating modified Protector weapon stations originally supplied for armoured vehicles, with human operators authorising engagements from hundreds of kilometres away.
-
UK urged to prioritise sea, air and space over heavy armour
A report from the Council on Geostrategy argues the UK should move away from a traditional balanced force and shift investment to naval, air and space capabilities, backed by a larger fleet of attack submarines and deeper AUKUS integration.
-
Thales: deployment speed to determine winners in ‘production versus production’ era
At its technology summit in London, attended by Shephard, Thales UK examined the importance of speed to delivery, the growing focus on cross-domain capabilities and how procurement reform could be crucial for future battlefield advantage.
-
Orchestrating operational readiness across every defence domain
Are all systems ready for the next mission? Have upgrades been applied? Are all assets aligned to deploy together, on time and fully prepared? In modern defence operations, readiness is no longer measured platform by platform. It is measured by how well people, assets, data and decisions move together — across land, sea and air.