UK launches GBP1 million competition for autonomous sensors

The British Army showcased its digital targeting web as part of Asgard to media and industry on 16 July 2025. (Crown Copyright)

The UK Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) has launched Phase 2 of its Autonomous Sensor Management and Sensor Counter Deception competition, which has been allocated GBP1 million (USD1.3 million) worth of funding, according to a 2 December DASA press release.

Phase 2 of the competition seeks autonomous sensor management systems to counter hostile activity aimed at deceiving intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). The systems must be at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 by project completion, and use open standards to interface via the SAPIENT (Sensing for Asset Protection with Integrated Electronic Networked Technology) standard, DASA said.

DASA, which is part of UK Defence Innovation (UKDI), is running the competition on behalf of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). Participants of the competition deemed successful will work with Dstl to integrate their systems into a large-scale demonstration, which includes the SAPIENT standard as well as sensors, DASA said.

The UKDI-DASA competition also calls for innovations to have the capability to be “brought to market by an appropriate collaboration between development partners”.

Some of the key reasoning behind the competition for autonomous sensor management includes the need to update current systems, which “are largely designed for benign environments”, according to the release. Developing more advanced autonomous sensor technologies also falls in line with the UK Ministry of Defence commitment to integrate the armed forces through the digital targeting web by 2027. The idea behind this is to connect sensors, deciders, and effectors to speed up operations in contested environments.

For more information, please see Global MilSatCom 2025: UK tests range extension technologies to improve Asgard capabilityand