712835450 - Project Brakestop

This Prior Information Notice serves to inform industry about the upcoming competition for Project Brakestop. Please see the single statement of user need (SSUN) below and further details around the project including an industry day.

SSUN:

"The User requires a cost-effective, long range (>500km) One Way Effector (OWE) Heavy, capable of being safely ground launched from a mobile platform in a high threat tactical environment, navigating to and accurately striking a user-programmed target.

It shall be: operable in harsh physical environments, day and night, of low multispectral signature, resilient in a complex Electromagnetic environment (EME), including within a GNSS denied & degraded environment, and resistant against targeted EW attack and spoofing.

Subject to potential future contract, manufacturing shall be scalable to meet operational requirements at a minimum of 20 units per month, with the ability to further increase."

Overview:

UK MOD requires the ability to deliver an 200kg – 300kg class payload (Mk 82 for reference) over a target range of 600km at a speed of around 600km/h. This must be capable of being safely ground launched from a mobile platform in a high threat tactical environment, with reduced probability of detection / high survivability with minimal take-off distance. It should be mobile via vehicle, fitted to or towed by.

This can be done via any trajectory (ballistic or low-level cruise) and could use a missile, a drone, or another technology to deliver the effect, at day or night, following a pre-programmed route. If low level cruise, it must be able to navigate in a GNSS denied environment and have some form of end stage guidance as required, to an accuracy of CEP (0.5) of 30m.

The target cost per delivery platform must be no higher than £400,000 Ex VAT and excludes the launcher system and any GFX as listed below. This requirement is for technologies that can be packaged and demonstrated rapidly, including firing in a test range. The design should be free from external government trade and usage restrictions. The design must have the ability to be spirally developed, to improve performance characteristics.

Whilst a complete solution is being sought, if you are offering part of the solution, we encourage you to participate in the industry day and to explicitly state which part of the problem you are answering within the categories of:

1. Propulsion system, e.g. engine,
2. Airframe,
3. Navigation and targeting,
4. Ability to scale,
5. Launcher system.

The project will be prioritising scalability over exquisite solutions.

The following will likely be government furnished (GFX):

1. Payload
2. Fuses
3. Testing ranges/facilities
4. Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) support for scaling
5. DSTL advice

Procurement Approach and timelines:

FCI will down select from submitted proposals using the proven 3-2-1 procurement model and invite a number of companies to a face-to-face presentation where a further down selection will be made to a small number of companies (2-5) and, subject to contract, will provide up to £5m of funding for the rapid development of those proposals. Those companies will be required to rapidly demonstrate their systems.

The aim is to deliver this product at pace, which means there is an aggressive timeline of a demonstration firing in Q2 2025 and, subject to contract, potential serial production from Q3 2025, producing a minimum around 20 platforms per month.

Industry day information:

The Authority will be holding a Project Brakestop industry day on Tuesday 8th October 2024 in London UK.

Please use the following link for further detail and to submit a request form to attend the industry day:

forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx ↗

Please note that responses must be submitted by 15:00 (GMT+1) 2nd October 2024

Due to capacity limitations, this industry day is limited to 2 personnel from each company. In the event of the location's capacity being exceeded, the Authority will reduce down to 1 person from each company. Additional information: Industry day information:

The Authority will be holding a Project Brakestop industry day on Tuesday 8th October 2024 in London UK.

Please use the following link for further detail and to submit a request form to attend the industry day:

forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx ↗

Please note that responses must be submitted by 15:00 (GMT+1) 2nd October 2024

Due to capacity limitations, this industry day is limited to 2 personnel from each company. In the event of the location's capacity being exceeded, the Authority will reduce down to 1 personnel from each company.