techUK members win first AUKUS Innovation Challenge
Through AUKUS Pillar II, Australia, the UK and the US are pooling the talents of their Defence sectors to develop at pace the delivery of advanced technology capabilities. The first AUKUS Innovation Challenge was focused on Electronic Warfare (EW) technology, with £2m of funding to develop solutions in electromagnetic targeting and protection. The Innovation Challenge aims to find low cost, disposable, high volume and highly autonomous electromagnetic technology that can detect enemy actions or protect against them.
The trilateral Innovation Challenge was run as 3 individual competitions by DASA in the UK; the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA), in Australia; and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) in the US. The competition saw 173 qualified suppliers apply across the 3 nations, and was the first in what will be a series of AUKUS Innovation Challenges, setting the template for future advanced Defence technology competitions run by the 3 partners.
Amiosec's project is seeking to create fake radio activity, masking the true location of friendly military forces to support specialist missions. The research will focus on extending previous work on AI-generated traffic to boost realism to defeat adversary EW systems. The output of this project will create a software package that can be installed on different AUKUS military platforms, widening its potential employment and not restricting the capability to the current hardware implementation. It will be delivered by British cyber business, Amiosec in conjunction with its Australian Defence technology partner, Penten.
Roke Manor Research's project is addressing the ability to transmit and receive on identical frequencies simultaneously, which has been an operational and technical challenge for decades. The Smart STAR Jammer project sets out to combine a Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (STAR) Transceiver jointly developed by Roke and the University of Bristol.
Commenting on the succesfull selection for the inaugural AUKUS Innovation Challenge, Amiosec & Roke Manor Research said:
Amiosec are proud to have been awarded the advanced electronic decoy research contract, helping to support critical missions and ultimately save lives and influence the outcomes in future conflict”, says Ben Whitham, CTO. “We’re delighted to be widening the potential of our TrapRadio capability and working alongside the great minds at DSTL and our Australian technology partners, Penten. It is an excellent example of cross-country collaboration that the AUKUS partnership is delivering to the UK MoD
Roke is thrilled to be one of the winners of the inaugural AUKUS Pillar 2 EW Innovation Challenge! Developed in partnership with the University of Bristol, the Smart STAR Jammer project sets out to combine a Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (STAR) Transceiver with a Machine Learning based control algorithm to deliver cooperative Electromagnetic Attack and Electromagnetic Surveillance (ES) in collocated EW deployments.
You can read more about the first AUKUS Innovation Challenge here.
Fred Sugden
Fred Sugden
Fred is responsible for techUK's activities across the Defence and National Security sectors, working to provide members with access to key stakeholders across the Defence and National Security community. Before taking on the role of Associate Director for Defence and National Security, Fred joined techUK in 2018, working as the Programme Head for Defence at techUK, leading the organisation's engagement with the Ministry of Defence. Before joining techUK, he worked at ADS, the national trade association representing Aerospace, Defence, Security & Space companies in the UK.
Fred is responsible for techUK’s market engagement and policy development activities across the Defence and National Security sectors, working closely with various organisations within the Ministry of Defence, and across the wider National Security and Intelligence community. Fred works closely with many techUK member companies that have an interest in these sectors, and is responsible for the activities of techUK's senior Defence & Security Board. Working closely with techUK's Programme Head for Cyber Security, Fred oversees a broad range of activities for techUK members.
Outside of work, Fred's interests include football (a Watford FC fan) and skiing.
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- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 07985 234 170
Jeremy Wimble
Jeremy Wimble
Jeremy manages techUK's defence programme, helping the UK's defence technology sector align itself with the Ministry of Defence - including Defence Digital, DE&S, innovation units and Frontline Commands - through a broad range of activities including private briefings and early market engagement events. It also supports the MOD as it procures new digital technologies.
Prior to joining techUK, from 2016-2024 Jeremy was International Security Programme Manager at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) coordinating research and impact activities for funders including the FCDO and US Department of Defense, as well as business development and strategy.
Jeremy has a MA in International Relations from the University of Birmingham and a BA (Hons) in Politics & Social Policy from Swansea University.
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- [email protected]