BAE Systems and MBDA will work with U.K.-based small and medium-sized enterprises to advance their defense-related technologies under the Defence Technology Exploitation Programme.
The SMEs selected to receive funding from DTEP, sponsored by the U.K. Ministry of Defence’s Directorate of Industrial Strategy and Exports, are:
- High Temperature Material Systems, a ceramic matrix composites developer based in Bristol
- OpenWorks Engineering, an autonomous technology company with headquarters in Stocksfield, and
- Mind Foundry, an artificial intelligence company based in Oxford.
Along with the government grant, the three companies will partner with the higher-tier suppliers, who will serve as mentors in developing their innovations that address national defense and supply chain challenges.
BAE Systems will collaborate with Mind Foundry to explore how the latter’s AI signal processing techniques for processing and analyzing sensor feeds can be improved to take multiple data inputs from various sensor types and provide a unified operating picture using a single system. According to Brian Mullins, CEO of Mind Foundry, the project is expected to produce a capability that would enable multidomain mission operators to move away from manual sensor feed analysis.
The other two DTEP awardees will have MBDA as their technology development partner.
HTMS will work with MBDA to create a low-cost version of a ceramic matrix composite material used in defense and security applications. The product can withstand temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius.
MBDA will also collaborate with OpenWorks Engineering to develop a counter-unmanned aerial system featuring an AI-enabled optical detection, tracking and targeting system for the British Army.