UK MoD awards £2million in contracts for Map the Gap
Argonaut is Ultrabeam's latest fully anphibious vehicle; designed, constructed and tested in 3 months at our HQ in Hayle, Cornwall. (Photo: Ultrabeam)
DASA has selected three small and medium-sized businesses to receive £2milion in contracts to help the military cross rivers, streams and bogs.
The Map the Gap: Phase 2 competition progresses as the Defence and Security Accelerator has awarded contracts worth £2million to three small and medium-sized businesses.
Digital Concepts Engineering aims to develop a low signature, autonomous unmanned air and ground system with the capability to deploy sensors to collect the desired gap measurements.
Ultrabeam has been selected for its product Argonaut 2, an autonomous, amphibious kinematic survey vehicle.
The Argonaut’s modular survey sensor package includes LiDAR, sonar, current profiler and electric cone penetrometer. It also implements AI machine learning technology to boost autonomy.
ISS Group has put forward a UAV rotorcraft solution equipped with 3D photogrammetric, EO/IR and downward viewing IR cameras, Simultaneous localisation and mapping sensor, ground-penetrating radar and bathymetric/topographic LiDAR.
Map the Gap aims to develop semi-autonomous reconnaissance and survey systems that help the military to cross obstacles such as rivers, streams, bogs and other ‘wet gaps’.
Replacing manned reconnaissance with a remote BLoS system will reduce the threat to life and offer the ability to survey multiple crossing sites in a more timely and efficient manner.
More from Defence Notes
-
![Spain unveils new multi-billion euro defence investment plan]()
Spain unveils new multi-billion euro defence investment plan
The new plan outlined how Spain would reach 2% of its GDP spend on defence by 2025, with €1.9 billion earmarked for new equipment acquisition with several land, naval and air platforms disclosed to be replaced or upgraded.
-
![New Zealand boosts defence spend to US$6.6 billion and vows increased closeness with Australia]()
New Zealand boosts defence spend to US$6.6 billion and vows increased closeness with Australia
This budget will be spent over the next four years and nearly doubles the country’s defence spending as part of GDP to 2%.
-
![UK Chancellor commits £2 billion to make the country a “defence industrial superpower”]()
UK Chancellor commits £2 billion to make the country a “defence industrial superpower”
Rachel Reeves announced port upgrades, protected budgets for innovation and investment in novel technologies.
-
![Avalon 2025: Australian defence budget meets the low expectations of show attendees]()
Avalon 2025: Australian defence budget meets the low expectations of show attendees
The Australian Budget was marked by tax cuts and a looming general election which led to little hope that there would be a substantial defence boost even with a big bill for nuclear submarines due.
-
![Launch of Gilat Defense targets DoD market]()
Launch of Gilat Defense targets DoD market
The communications company Gilat launched its new Gilat Defense division at the Satellite 2025 expo, with future solutions aimed at US military customers.
