£3.8 Million Award under TALOS Programme
The British MoD has awarded a £3.8 million (€4.5 million) contract to US firm Anduril Industries for an advanced base protection system, the Ministry announced on 10 September.
Contracted under the TALOS programme, overseen by Strategic Command’s Hub innovation facility, the solution employs and AI-assisted operating system and a network of sensors (towers, ground sensors and drone technology) to autonomously detect, classify, and track potential threats, alerting operators to intrusions and presenting options for response.
TALOS seeks to accelerate a defence-wide approach to integrated C2 and the acquisition has been made through a new subscription model, meaning both software and hardware will be updated with the latest technology, while also being maintained for operational use. This approach ensures that Defence is equipped with the latest technology, while also allowing jHub to work with the company to trial and deploy new technology as it is developed. It forms part of jHub’s work on a Sustainable Tech Adoption Model (STAM), which studies different ways of working with industry to procure new capabilities.
Programme TALOS previously experimented with towers aimed at countering ground intrusion towers at the UK’s base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, to see whether the systems could be integrated into the existing C2 network. This next step allows the UK to continue to develop advanced, multi-domain, integrated force protection technology.
“This state-of-the-art technology will give our serving men and women help by identifying and assessing external threats in nanoseconds. The artificial intelligence at the heart of this system has great potential to protect our people and sites. It’s another success for our innovation team at jHub, working closely with Anduril to help create a bespoke system, from idea to implementation at pace, to meet the specific requirements of our armed forces,” commented Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, Commander of UK Strategic Command.
