Don’t Blow It! Phase 2 Launch Event
DASA is inviting expressions of interest for a launch event on 1 October 2019 for our 'Don’t Blow It! Safely eliminating chemical and biological munitions on the battlefield' competition
Don't Blow It! Competition Image
This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is seeking proposals for novel and innovative technologies and approaches to access, disable and/or irreversibly destroy chemical and biological munitions, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) containing chemical and biological agents, and containers of bulk agents in challenging environments.
Following a successful Phase 1 competition, Phase 2 offers up to £1.5 million to fund emerging innovations at technology readiness level (TRL) 3 upwards to develop full-scale prototypes. Phase 2 of the competition will launch on 1 October 2019, virtually or at a location in London (to be determined).
This competition is jointly funded by the UK Ministry of Defence and the U.S. Department of Defense, and will operate under an existing memorandum of understanding between both nations.
Under the Chemical Weapons Convention, all member states are obligated to destroy any chemical weapons they own or possess, or that they abandoned on the territory of another member state. Whilst destruction technologies exist for this purpose, they are not appropriate for use in all circumstances. Recent events have increased focus on developing a toolkit to enable rapid and effective disablement or irreversible destruction of smaller caches discovered in resource-limited environments.
Through this competition, we will investigate novel or innovative new concepts or adaptions of current technologies. We expect these solutions will ultimately enable more rapid, effective and flexible destruction methods than are used for large stockpiles, and reduce logistical support requirements, whilst maximising ease of operation, transportability and ruggedness of the equipment. These improvements are expected to improve operational flexibility for a wide variety of scenarios.
This competition is focused on three main objectives:
- Access: Gain access to munitions, IEDs and bulk containers without relying on the original design features, such as filling ports
- Disable: Prevent munitions, IEDs and bulk agent being used as intended either temporarily or permanently
- Destroy: Permanently and irreversibly destroy munitions, IEDs and bulk agents
Where Phase 1 funded proposals were focused on single component parts, Phase 2 projects should focus on a system solution either by collaboration with other partners or by integration into existing technologies.
The competition will be formally launched at 13:00 on 1 October 2019. If you are interested in attending an event please register your expression of interest here by 14 August 2019 17:00 (BST). Accepted registrants will be sent full details and an agenda.