Opportunity Overview
We are looking for suppliers who can demonstrate strong model performance against a military object detection use case and who are interested in working collaboratively with Defence to improve that capability using representative data and feedback from live exercise activity.
The competition will use the Model Arena’s “demonstration by doing” approach: suppliers will be assessed on how their models actually perform against the use case, rather than on written proposals alone.
The use case is to develop and deploy the CV – based components for autonomous drones in the land domain, operating within an AI enabled drone swarming system.
This phase is focused on establishing an effective baseline for experimentation and iterative deployment. The intention is to evolve this capability and implement other sensing-specific AI domains and multiple layers of decision-making behaviour; any potential successful supplier would be a core component of an industry co-creation ecosystem.
Why take part:
- The Model Arena gives suppliers an opportunity to demonstrate capability directly against a real Defence requirement and receive evidence-based feedback on model performance.
- For suppliers progressing to Stage 2, it also provides an opportunity to work much more closely with the Defence user community, understand the operational problem in greater depth and develop capability using increasingly representative data.
- For successful suppliers selected for Stage 3, it provides the ability to rapidly develop models and demonstrate suitability for continued co-creation.
- The intent is to create a level playing field for suppliers while helping Defence identify the strongest technical solutions and teams for continued development.
We will hold a supplier drop-in session...
How to bid: GlobalGov tracks this tender; it does not accept bids. Submit your response through the issuing agency’s official notice.
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Start a free GlobalGov accountSolicitation Details
| Issuing agency | Ministry of Defence |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Category | Government Procurement |
| Estimated value | $3.2M |
| Published | September 03, 2026 |
| Procurement stage | Request for Proposal (RFP) |
| Response due | Not specified / rolling |
| Status | Open — accepting responses |
| Official source | View original notice |
| Last verified | October 11, 2026 |
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: UK Government (Find a Tender).
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