Overview
- The Ministry of Defence, through UK Defence Innovation, publicly launched Project PANOPTES on 2 September 2026 to solicit integrated counter‑uncrewed aerial system (C‑UAS) proposals for vehicle‑mounted use.
- A share of £5 million is available now to help UK firms speed existing technologies toward demonstration, with a supplier webinar on 9 September and a Stage 1 submission deadline of midday 23 September 2026.
- The MOD has said it wants an autonomously operating system mounted on an Army vehicle and has signalled particular interest in laser directed‑energy weapons while remaining open to other credible approaches.
- Phase 1 is an initial screening to accelerate existing tech, Phase 2 will invite detailed bids and offer short maturation contracts up to roughly £5 million, and later scaling phases depend on future funding decisions.
- The programme aims to give deployed forces a lower‑cost way to defeat massed small drones without exhausting missile stocks, with planned scalability to uncrewed ground vehicles, joint GBAD, and possible export markets.