Companies from the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom provided novel solutions for electronic warfare (EW) during the inaugural trilateral AUKUS Electronic Warfare Challenge. The Challenge sought to identify electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) technology solutions to give AUKUS nations a strategic edge in both targeting and protection against adversarial electromagnetic-targeting capabilities.
In March 2024, the U.S.’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), Australia’s Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA), and the U.K.’s ’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) launched the EW Challenge as part of AUKUS Pillar II, a defense and security partnership between the three countries. The partnership has the potential to enhance joint defense capabilities in order to ensure national, regional, and global stability.
Today, the Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, U.S., the Honourable Richard Marles MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Australia, and the Right Honourable John Healey, Secretary of State for Defence, U.K. each announced the winners from their respective nations at the recent Defence Ministers Meeting at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London. Together, the leaders emphasized the value of the collaboration to a free and open Indo-Pacific.
The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister highlighted the progress being made under AUKUS Pillar II to deliver capability to the warfighter while bolstering industry and innovation sector collaboration. A cornerstone of AUKUS Pillar II capability development program remains the opportunity to leverage the best of our defense industrial bases and innovation ecosystems. Over the past year, the three countries have further integrated innovation ecosystems and fostered increased collaboration with the other stakeholder communities to explore opportunities in all aspects of Pillar II.
“DIU is proud to contribute to these critical efforts with our AUKUS partners in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said DIU Director Doug Beck. “The solutions identified from each country will help address important parts of the EW challenge we all face, and will help us continue to build momentum together toward a stronger international innovation base that leverages the best technology across all of our countries, and that helps us meet our shared operational and strategic requirements, together.”
Austin announced Distributed Spectrum Inc., headquartered in New York City, as the winner of the U.S.-based challenge. The company took the top spot and $150,000 for their radio frequency (RF) sensing platform. The platform provides an understanding of adversary activity, working at both the operator and the analyst level, providing real-time indications to operators on the ground and allowing analysts at operations centers to aggregate data from thousands of sensors in the environment.
“During the AUKUS EW Challenge, the Distributed Spectrum team thought through how we would apply our attritable sensing capability to monitor large regions of the Pacific,” shared CEO of Distributed Spectrum Alex Wulff. “This challenge helped us develop new concepts for both deploying our sensing capability and also aggregating data from hundreds or thousands of sensors deployed in the field.”
Through AUKUS Pillar II, the Department of Defense (DoD) is bolstering national, regional, and global stability and security by enhancing the capabilities that warfighters need to respond to current and future threats. AUKUS allows the DoD to coordinate information and technology with its international partners to deliver critical capabilities quickly while integrating and strengthening the U.S., UK and Australian defense industrial base and supply chains.
The other finalists in the U.S.-based challenge included Adaptive Dynamics Inc., Mithril Technologies, Inc., Gambit Defense, and DataShapes AI.
In total across all three nations’ challenges, 173 qualified companies applied, in a show of strength for the AUKUS nations’ defense innovation bases.
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