Enhancing Efficiency in ISO Loading and Securing
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), via Support Capability Strategic Command, aims to enhance the loading, securing, and unloading of front-loaded ISO containers using standard NATO pallets.
Opportunity Details
When
Registration Opens
11/12/2024
Registration Closes
30/01/2025
Award
The opportunity to work on this critical MoD project with the potential for a global multi-year contract rollout across all three military services and expansion into the wider NATO ecosystem. Second phase trials, across seven sites in UK and Germany.
Organisation
UK Government
About the challenge
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), through Support Capability Strategic Command, is seeking to enhance the loading, securing, and unloading of front-loaded ISO containers using standard NATO pallets, aligning with Defence and Industry regulations. The current approach relies on manual loading and bespoke wooden dunnage, resulting in a labour-intensive and time-consuming process.
Dstl invites suppliers to propose innovative methods to reduce manpower, loading times, and overall costs. Proposals should consider training needs, environmental impacts, and waste management and provide rough cost estimates. Solutions must be scalable and either currently deployable or nearing readiness for deployment.
Key considerations include:
- Maximum weight supported
- Potential sizes of ‘voids’ to be filled
- Speed of load securing
- Product lifespan and reusability
- Compliance with regulations (UK movement of dangerous good regulations)
- A low training burden for a solution is required
- Solutions should be low-cost and can be disposable or reusable
Currently, the MoD cannot meet the capability targets for the efficient movement of energetic materials to operational global locations at speed. There is a need to do this faster and with fewer people. Making the systems more efficient and cost-effective with a desire to scale at orders of magnitude.
Promising solutions will be invited to demonstrate their products at a showcase event.
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This challenge is open to sole innovators, industry, academic and research organisations of all types and sizes. There is no requirement for security clearances.
Solution providers or direct collaboration from countries listed by the UK government under trade sanctions and/or arms embargoes are not eligible.
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MoD would like to team up with organisations to develop solutions for the rapid loading and transport of energetic material to global locations at speed. The solution will have to work with existing ISO containers and needs to be compatible with standard NATO pallets.
The product needs to remain stable within the ISO container under various extreme conditions, offering monitoring solutions, if streamlined and not overly invasive, would be seen positively, and some form of inspection is required.
Solutions sought should be at a TRL level of 8-9.
Successful solutions should be fully deployable for prototype testing immediately and commercially deployable as soon as possible.
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Project Duration 12 weeks
- Competition opens: 11th December 2024
- Deadline for clarifying Questions: 13th December 2024
- Clarifying questions published: 18th December 2024
- Competition closes: 30th January 2025
- Applicant notified: 14th January 2025
- Pitch day: 6th February 2025
- Demonstration day: TBC