The competition will employ a new 'bake-off' style approach to procurement. 

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) plans on launching a new vehicle-based light mortar competition this year in a bid to bolster its land force’s mobile artillery capabilities.

Expected to go live in mid-2025, the project seeks to integrate a 120mm mortar onto an in-service light mobility vehicle, such as those manufactured by Supacat, the head of Defence Equipment & Support’s (DE&S) Future Capability Innovation (FCI), James Gavin, told DSEI in March.  

The competition will be run by FCI’s Capability Acceleration team supported by the DE&S Engineering Delivery Partner (Aurora) and Project Delivery Partner (Equinox).

The companies behind the Aurora consortia include QinetiQ, AtkinsRéalis and BMT.

This competition follows a new approach to acquisition Gavin calls ‘off the shelf bake off’, whereby the MoD buys commercial off the shelf equipment from several companies before holding a ‘bake off’ to assess the kit.

This allows the “developers to iterate and advance their kit throughout the process to deliver faster more efficient competitions and equipment delivery”, Gavin said.

For the mortar programme, the intention is for two companies to be selected to participate in a competitive 'bake-off' demonstration to showcase the integration of their mortar systems on an in-service light mobility vehicle.

A batch of mortar systems will be procured to help understand their capability before full roll out, Gavin said.

Sitting within DE&S, FCI explores and accelerates innovative technology, including from smaller companies, into operational use.

Enjoy reading this article? Click here to read more about our upcoming DSEI membership offering...