UK Defence Innovation launches competition to deploy tech ‘faster than adversaries’
UKDI is seeking technologies that will have ‘immediate operational impact’ across five areas of defence
The body whose role is to accelerate the development and adoption of advanced technologies within the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has called for innovators to submit proposals for novel technologies that could be manufactured at scale and deployed in 12 months.
UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) – which sits within the National Armaments Director Group – launched the eighth round of its Innovation Support to Operations competition on 28 July. It is the first round since the UK government’s Defence Investment Plan was unveiled.
“Our aim is simple: deliver useful technology into service faster than our adversaries,” UKDI said.
The competition seeks technologies that would have “immediate operational impact” in five areas: counter UAS interceptor sensors, one-way attack UAS seekers, platform survivability, telemetry data, and maritime autonomous navigation.
It calls for UK-registered businesses, sole traders and academic institutions to submit proposals “with a clear route to operational deployment” and stipulates that “solutions must combine technical excellence with affordability, manufacturability and the ability to scale quickly to get into operational use within 12 months” of contract end.
It adds that projects would need to “demonstrate performance in representative operational environments” within four months.
“Beyond proving the technology, innovators will need to show how production could be rapidly increased to meet deployment demands,” UKDI said.
UKDI said projects are expected to cost “no more” than £350,000 (US$465,010) but that proposals of up to £1m (US$1.3m) “will be considered”.
Winning projects will receive support from UKDI project managers, technical partners and military stakeholders “throughout delivery”.
The submissions deadline is 22 September. Funding decisions are expected to be communicated in December, with successful projects starting in January 2027 and expected to run for four months.
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From the frontline of defence innovation
UKDI was created by the UK government last year, and was part of a number of reforms to UK defence made under former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer. The government launched its Strategic Defence Review in 2025, and published its Defence Investment Plan (DIP) on 30 June this year. The investment plan earmarks £298bn (US$398bn) for defence spending over the next four years.
The plan said the Ministry of Defence had made “tough choices” to “stop doing things which were designed for another age” and invest in capabilities “fit for the next war, not the last one”.
The Strategic Defence Review promised a “root-and-branch reform” of defence procurement combined with substantial investment in innovation, novel technology, advanced manufacturing and skills to “grow the productive capacity of the UK economy”.
In February this year, Global Government Forum interviewed Tim Ketton-Locke, deputy director of the Defence Office for Small Business Growth within the MoD, whose job is to diversify the UK defence supplier base by enabling more small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – and even individuals – to compete for government contracts.
He explained that around 90% of the MoD’s contracts with SMEs are currently “indirect”, and that he and his team are working to attract more innovators to work on specific parts of large military assets, for example.
“For a tank or an aircraft… we’re unlikely to go to Bob in his shed, or Jane in her garage, and say: ‘Hey, can you give us an aircraft?’,” Ketton-Locke said during the interview. “But… we can use components that they can produce, which will go into the manufacturing of that aircraft.”
