Can NATO’s CUAS marketplace turn urgent demand into deliveries?
Framework contracts and leasing options aim to shorten acquisition timelines, while manufacturing partnerships could help suppliers scale production to meet allied demand.
The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) has announced a $10 million investment programme inviting researchers to develop innovative solutions to defeat improvised threats.
The availability of low-cost, sophisticated technology is enabling adversaries to deploy a diverse and ever-evolving range of improvised threats. Defeating this threat will require multi-disciplinary research to be funded under this programme.
The challenge is being taken up as part of the government’s $730 million Next Generation Technologies Fund. Researchers are being tasked with developing a demonstrator that will detect and respond effectively to these threats without putting defence personnel or civilians in harm’s way.
Framework contracts and leasing options aim to shorten acquisition timelines, while manufacturing partnerships could help suppliers scale production to meet allied demand.
The US is pursuing multiple UGV programmes, from commercial robotic platforms to new autonomy technologies. The combination of these efforts could prove key to turning ambition into operational capability.
NATO is looking to artificial intelligence to provide integration between different C2 systems to create a common operational picture, potentially offering a faster route to interoperability than the slow-moving processes of NATO standards committees.
The large-scale exercise in Latvia was the culmination of three experimentation initiatives to see how platforms, weapons and systems could fit into the alliance’s Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative. As well as forces, it brought together companies and equipment.
Canada plans to acquire at least 120 uncrewed aerial systems through two competitions with combined funding ceilings of C$32 million.
New counter-drone technologies, autonomous launchers and manufacturing modernisation initiatives highlighted emerging opportunities for defence suppliers, while the UK advanced a major military vehicle procurement programme.