Procurement description
The Defence AI Model Arena is opening a new competition for suppliers developing computer vision (CV) capability relevant to UK Defence; this use case is sponsored by the Rapid AI Delivery Taskforce (Taskforce RAID).
We are looking for suppliers who can demonstrate strong model performance against a military object detection use case and who are interested in working collaboratively with Defence to improve that capability using representative data and feedback from live exercise activity.
The competition will use the Model Arena’s “demonstration by doing” approach: suppliers will be assessed on how their models actually perform against the use case, rather than on written proposals alone.
The use case is to develop and deploy the CV – based components for autonomous drones in the land domain, operating within an AI enabled drone swarming system.
This phase is focused on establishing an effective baseline for experimentation and iterative deployment. The intention is to evolve this capability and implement other sensing-specific AI domains and multiple layers of decision-making behaviour; any potential successful supplier would be a core component of an industry co-creation ecosystem.
Why take part:
- The Model Arena gives suppliers an opportunity to demonstrate capability directly against a real Defence requirement and receive evidence-based feedback on model performance.
- For suppliers progressing to Stage 2, it also provides an opportunity to work much more closely with the Defence user community, understand the operational problem in greater depth and develop capability using increasingly representative data.
- For successful suppliers selected for Stage 3, it provides the ability to rapidly develop models and demonstrate suitability for continued co-creation.
- The intent is to create a level playing field for suppliers while helping Defence identify the strongest technical solutions and teams for continued development.
We will hold a supplier drop-in session on:
Wed 9 Sep 2026 at 13:00.
Sign Up: DAIC Model Arena AI Enabled Swarming -
https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=7WB3vlNZS0iuldChbfoJ5QJeL8KOb3JCg77bbCuH5XFURDg2Q0NNTlk0SEkwOTBPNkdCS0hFT0YyWi4u&route=shorturl
The session will provide more detail on:
1. The use case.
2. Stage 1 dataset and evaluation approach.
3. Technical submission requirements.
4. The Stage 2 co-creation activity.
5. Commercial; and
6. Supplier questions.
Suppliers considering entering the competition are strongly encouraged to attend. Please note the session will be recorded and made available on request.
Indicative Key Dates:
- 9 September 2026 - Supplier drop-in session
- 16 September - Stage 1 begins (Suppliers MUST be registered on both the Model Arena and Commercial X dynamic Market – details on how to register are contained within this notice)
- 11 October - Stage 1 Concludes
- 14 October - Stage 2 begins
- 30 October - Stage 2 concludes. Evaluations Begin.
- Early 2027 - Stage 3