Attritable interceptors

AMENDMENT 001 - An attachment has been added. The document contains an update (correction) related to the ENGLISH version of the Challenge.

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The ISC Website challenge notification update will be available by 2025-06-26 by end of day.

This Challenge Notice is issued under the Innovative Solutions Canada Program (ISC) Call for Proposals 004 (EN578-24ISC4).
Solicitation Documents reference: https://canadabuys.canada.ca/en/tender-opportunities/tender-notice/cb-3…
*For additional general information on the ISC Program, visit: https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/innovative-solutions-canada/en).
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This challenge is only open to receive proposals for Phase 2 (Prototype Development) of our Challenge Stream. Proposed solutions that fall within technology readiness levels (TRL) 5-9 can be submitted to this challenge.

Steps to apply:
Step 1: read this challenge
Step 2: read the Call for Proposals : https://canadabuys.canada.ca/en/tender-opportunities/tender-notice/cb-3…
Step 3: propose your solution here : https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/innovative-solutions-canada/en/attrita…
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Challenge sponsor: Department of National Defense (DND)

Funding mechanism: Contract

Multiple contracts could result from this Challenge.

Phase 2:
Maximum Funding: $150,000.00 CAD
Project Duration: Up to 6 months
Estimated Number of contracts: 4
Note: Selected companies are eligible to receive one contract per phase per challenge.

This disclosure is made in good faith and does not commit Canada to award any contracts for the total approximate funding. Final decisions on the number of Phase 2 awards will be made by Canada based on factors such as evaluation results, departmental priorities, and availability of funds. The Government of Canada reserves the right to make partial awards and to negotiate project scope changes.

Travel: No travel required.
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Problem statement:

The presence of Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) has significantly proliferated in military contexts. UAS are used for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions, delivering kinetic effects and increasingly undertaking an airborne interceptor role in Counter-UAS (C-UAS) operations. These UAS are built according to the principles of manufacturing by design, ease of user experience, flexibility of uses, and have cost structures that render them attritable, allowing them wide, rapid proliferation. We are fundamentally seeking designs that strive for frugality in unit cost and design.

With most anti-air weapons platforms having been designed to target traditional aviation assets with their cost profile and specific performance ranges, there is a dramatic disequilibrium in shot exchange, with anti-air weapons increasing costing more to fire then the UAS target they would hit. This proliferation and change in the landscape of air defence has created the need for C-UAS Interceptors that provide affordable and reliable air defense options. The UAS targets that this challenge seeks to address range in size from several hundred grams to several hundred kilograms and inhabit airspace ranging from just Above Ground Level (AGL) to as high as 10,000 AGL with some achieving speeds in excess of 200km/h. The target UAS have variable defences ranging from none, to camouflage, signal jamming, hardened exteriors, radical agility, and other creative countermeasures. The Department of National Defence is looking for creative solutions to this problem in the form of C-UAS Interceptors. While most C-UAS interceptors that have been deployed in existing combat zones have relied on kinetic effect- that is to say, contacting their target with an explosion- the pace of change makes it incumbent that all creative and innovative solutions for C-UAS Interceptors are entertained. The intent of this process is to evaluate late-stage prototypes to build towards procurement opportunities through the ISC Testing Stream.
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Desired outcomes and considerations

Essential (mandatory) outcomes
The proposed solution must:

1. Demonstrate the ability to intercept and interdict a target UAS at a militarily useful range and altitude. Though military utility will depend on the use case and specialty envisioned for the innovation, in all cases, this must be able to engage at minimum from launch to 3km in range and 2000ft AGL.
2. Be able to cruise at a speed up to 150km/h, achieve speeds up to or above 200km/h, maintain controlled flight at a speed of 75km/h.
3. Adhere to design principles of interchangeable parts and manufacturing for design, which make the innovation readily conducive for scalable mass production.
4. Respond to the issue of shot cost exchange offering a C-UAS interception capability at a price that is attritable with respect to its intended target. The UAS must not exceed a 10x cost ratio of it's intended target (e.g. an innovation envisioned to cost $100k per unit must not be designed to interdict targets that cost $1k per unit to field).
5. Be designed according to principles of user-centricity so that the system can be easily used (or learnt) by non-specialists.

Additional outcomes
The proposed solution should:

1. Be able to interchangeably carry interception and interdiction payloads specific to the use case.
2. Receive initial targeting from existing CUAS C2 networks or targeting systems (via SAPIENT, JREAP-C, Link16, CoT, etc.) and be interoperable.
3. Achieve altitudes approaching 10,000AGL.
4. Be capable of autonomous interception of target UAS once target UAS is designated by human, either in its current iteration or as part of its ongoing development trajectory.
5. Operate in a 20km radius from its launch point and loiter for 40 minutes.
6. Be deployable in 15 minutes or less.
7. Depend on as few offboard systems as possible. This should allow the system to perform as many functions independently or operate with minimal human intervention (fully autonomous or semi-autonomous modes) as possible.
8. Be possible for a single operator to control multiple UAVs simultaneously, supporting the use of these systems in coordinated groups to communicate, assign targets, and effectively neutralize entire swarms of enemy UAS.
9. Incorporate design characteristics that ensure ruggedness and durability common to combat situations. If the platform is not specifically designed to be consumable, it should demonstrate high survivability rates against Class 1 drones and remain functional for repeated missions.
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Background and context:

The defence industrial complex is designed to create bespoke solutions for complex problems on multi-year or even multi-decade timelines. While this is suitable for some platforms, in the CUAS domain, the defence industrial complex is not proving that it is sufficiently able to respond. Innovative and creative use of commercial technologies and practices into novel military applications is defining the battle space for UAS. This is a crucial problem that has been identified as a priority by the government of Canada, particularly in the Our North Strong and Free defence policy. There are currently no solutions in this space in Canada. The drone maker community is limited to a small number of start-ups that are almost exclusively focused on prototypes for commercial use cases, not viable military ones. Small interceptor drones as we are seeing define the battle space in Ukraine do not represent a militarily significant industry in Canada. For successful solutions, there is the potential to collaborate with allied nations for field validation and equipment testing to inform subsequent versions of the solution.