AUKUS Electronic Warfare Innovation Challenge

The Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA), an initiative of the Australian Government’s Department of Defence (Defence), has been established to support Australian companies, businesses and academic and research organisations to rapidly develop innovative solutions that enhance Australian Defence Force capability.

On 2 December 2023, Defence Ministers from the United Kingdom, United States and Australia announced an innovation challenge series for AUKUS Pillar II: Advanced Capabilities. The first of these challenges will be focussed on Electronic Warfare (EW).

The challenge series will be administered by the AUKUS Innovation Working Group (IWG) made up of representatives from all three countries. The AUKUS IWG will use each nation's respective innovation system to simultaneously run and manage the challenge processes for that nation.

ASCA is requesting proposals from tenderers in response to the first challenge released by the AUKUS IWG, detailing their innovative solution to the Challenge Statement.

Challenge Statement:

The electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) is a heavily congested, contested, complex and competitive environment, and there is an increasing need for low cost, disposable, high volume and highly autonomous capabilities to achieve asymmetric advantage.

How might Defence harness the EMS to project force to target adversaries and counter their ability to target AUKUS partners?