The Dutch Ministry of Defense is calling on industry to develop solutions to protect against drones. Companies with a good idea or a viable product can now officially register for the so-called “Counter Strikedrone Challenge”.
The companies’ proposals must meet a clearly defined operational objective of the Dutch armed forces correspond. So it’s not about a specific type of product, but about solutions that work in practice. These include new methods for detecting, identifying or disabling drones.
Enemy territory
This has a special aspect. With this challenge, the Ministry is focusing on disabling an enemy drone as quickly as possible, even if it is in enemy territory. In other words, it does not wait until such a drone is over the territory of the Netherlands or one of its allies.
The aim of the innovation competition is to help find and implement existing solutions on the market more quickly. Companies with a good plan can count on long-term cooperation with the Ministry of Defense. The Ministry wants to build a long-term partnership with the companies in order to develop further together.
Cooperation with the market
The challenge is organized together with Defport – a public-private platform of the Ministries of Defence and Economic Affairs. Within Defport, government, industry, financial institutions and knowledge institutes work closely together. Among other things, they discuss how innovative products can be developed and financed more quickly.
The Ministry of Defense would like to further strengthen this cooperation. So-called Mindbases are therefore being opened alongside the Challenge. These are places where the Ministry of Defense and companies can meet. In addition, a cooperation agreement will be concluded with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) to facilitate cooperation for companies.
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