New and novel: call for multi-domain autonomous systems

• UKDI has launched a new Themed Competition: Novel Autonomy and Robotics
• Funded by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl)
• Over £1 million funding available across 2 stages
• Competition stage 1 closes midday 11 August 2026 (BST)

UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) sits within the National Armaments Director (NAD) Group, the part of UK defence responsible for developing, delivering and sustaining the UK's national arsenal, as well as managing the defence estate, including its housing and harbour infrastructure.

This UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) competition is run on behalf of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) 's Autonomy Programme Incubator project. It seeks cutting-edge low-technology readiness level (TRL) science and technology (S&T) ideas that may be matured to support military use of autonomous systems across land, sea and air environments.

In this competition we will be running a 2-stage process to help innovators understand early on, and with reduced effort, if their idea is appropriate for the competition and to make the review and decision-making process more efficient. Successful candidates of stage 1 will be invited to proceed with stage 2 of the competition. Head to the competition document to learn more about this new 2 stage process.

Stage 1 Competition details

Stage 1 of this competition is interested in early-stage science and technology ideas. It aims to test new ideas and demonstrate potential rather than maturing or developing a working system or concept.

Proposals should include:

• Novel S&T - completely new science or approaches. This also includes S&T known in other sectors but not applied in defence.
• Research that is potentially speculative, uncertain, or high risk - however it must have a basis in scientific theory.
• Low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) ideas - we are seeking to accelerate low TRL (1-2) research.
• Ideas that may radically alter how we do things in the future, give rise to a new type of capability or a new type threat (that we could need to counter).

Key dates and funding

Over £1 million in funding available across 2 stages. Project stage 1 offers £600,000 (excluding VAT). Maximum proposal value is £60,000. Estimated funding for Project stage 2 is £600,000

The deadline to submit a proposal for stage is midday 11 August 2026 (BST)

Supporting events

Launch webinar: 20 July 2026 2pm to 3:30pm (BST)

This launch webinar will provide further detail on the problem space and a chance for attendees to ask questions in an open forum. If you would like to participate, please register on the Eventbrite page.

Submit a proposal

If you have an early-stage, novel and disruptive idea that could benefit the autonomation of defence systems, then we want to hear from you.