---
title: "UK5 NOTICE - DDAITF/011 Project CARRION Mission Software and Integration Services"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-078564"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-078564"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078564.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078564.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "Ministry of Defence"
published: "2026-10-12"
---

# UK5 NOTICE - DDAITF/011 Project CARRION Mission Software and Integration Services

Buyer: Ministry of Defence  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-078564

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## Summary

The Ministry of Defence is buying software development and integration services for Project CARRION, to mature autonomous swarm mission capabilities across different types of uncrewed system. The work covers mission autonomy, swarm coordination, mission planning and control software, simulation and test environments, platform integration, software licences, compute modules, engineering, testing, technical support and assurance. The aim is to validate a sovereign, open-architecture capability that can support later development and operational use. Delivery is in the United Kingdom. The scope excludes air vehicles, effectors, sensors, communications equipment, launch and recovery infrastructure, range and safety services, and airworthiness or certification work. It also excludes production, fleet-wide deployment and long-term support. This is a specialist defence software and systems-integration requirement, rather than a purchase of uncrewed vehicles or their wider equipment.

The procurement is complete and has resulted in a direct award to Applied Intuition UK Ltd. The award is recorded as pending; a contract signature was scheduled for 27 October 2026. The contract period runs from 27 October 2026 to 31 March 2028. The awarded price is £4,977,790 excluding VAT (£5,973,348 including VAT). There is one lot, covering the software and integration development requirement. The Ministry used a direct award because Applied Intuition is the existing supplier of proprietary products, interfaces, simulation models and assurance materials from Project LOW; changing supplier was judged likely to cause incompatibility and disproportionate technical difficulty, cost, risk and delay. The work is also a prototype and development phase, evaluated around testing military suitability, assessing scalability and further research and development.

For suppliers preparing for comparable future work with the Ministry of Defence, this award shows demand for specialist mission-autonomy software and integration across heterogeneous uncrewed systems. Credible competitors would need to demonstrate capability in swarm coordination, mission planning and control, simulation, software and hardware integration, testing, safety assurance and technical support in a defence context. Experience integrating with an established technical baseline and producing reliable interfaces, simulation models and assurance evidence would be particularly relevant. The buyer’s stated objective is a sovereign, open-architecture capability that supports interoperability and future competition, so suppliers should be able to show how their approach avoids dependence on a single proprietary environment. The work is a limited prototype and development activity, not a production deployment or enduring support contract; suppliers focused only on vehicle manufacture, sensors, communications or certification would not match this requirement.

## Notice

Project CARRION will procure software products and integration services from Applied Intuition to develop and mature autonomous swarm mission capabilities across heterogeneous uncrewed systems, building on the test and evaluation undertaken through Project LOW, which was competivily tendered through Dstl. The contract will include mission autonomy, swarm coordination, mission planning and control software, simulation and test environments, platform integration and related technical support. It excludes air vehicles, effectors, sensors, communications equipment, launch and recovery infrastructure, range and safety services, and airworthiness or certification activities. The intended outcome is a validated, MOD-sovereign, open-architecture capability that supports future competition and further development towards operational use.

### Procurement Information

The contract will extend mission-autonomy capability created under Project LOW following Dstl's competitive procurement. It will further develop, integrate, test and assure the existing technical baseline as a prototype capability for heterogeneous uncrewed systems. Direct award to Applied Intuition is justified because it is the existing supplier of the proprietary products, interfaces, simulation models and assurance artefacts that form the Project LOW baseline. Changing supplier at this stage would result in an incompatible solution and require integration, testing, training and assurance activity to be recreated, causing disproportionate technical difficulty, cost, risk and delay. Applied Intuition's continued involvement is therefore necessary to complete this limited development phase and support the required testing at NATO Exercise STEADFAST DEFENDER 2027 in February 2027. The requirement also concerns novel goods and services being developed at MOD's request to test suitability for military use, assess potential scalability and undertake further research and development. The award is confined to the software, integration, testing, technical support and assurance needed for this prototype and development phase; it does not cover production, fleet-wide deployment or enduring support. Evidence generated will inform MOD's future requirements and procurement strategy, supporting interoperability, MOD ownership and future competition while avoiding technological or commercial lock-in. Applicable direct award grounds: Schedule 5, paragraph 7 - Additional or repeat goods, services or works Applied Intuition is the existing supplier of the Project LOW mission-autonomy baseline, including its proprietary Axion and Acuity products, compute modules, swarm behaviours, interfaces, simulation models and assurance artefacts. Project CARRION is an extension to, and partial replacement of, those existing goods and services. Changing supplier would result in MOD receiving a different and incompatible autonomy and mission-control environment. It would require interfaces to be redesigned, integration and simulation work to be recreated, testing and user training to be repeated, and safety, assurance and configuration evidence to be rebuilt. This would cause disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance, materially increasing cost, risk and delay. The conditions in Schedule 5, paragraph 7 are therefore met: the requirement is an extension to, or partial replacement of, existing goods and services supplied by Applied Intuition; a change of supplier would produce an incompatible solution; and that incompatibility would create disproportionate technical difficulties. Direct award to the existing supplier is necessary to complete the limited development phase without duplicating work or creating unacceptable technical, safety and schedule risk. Any production, fleet-wide deployment or enduring support requirement will be subject to a separate commercial assessment and procurement strategy. Schedule 5, paragraph 2 - Prototypes and development The conditions in Schedule 5, paragraphs 2 and 3 are met. The contract concerns novel goods and services designed and developed at MOD's request to produce a prototype mission-autonomy capability for heterogeneous uncrewed systems; it is not the routine purchase of a mature, production-ready solution. The work is for the statutory purposes in paragraph 2: to test the capability's suitability for military use through simulation, software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop and live trials; to assess the viability of developing and supplying it at scale; and to undertake further research, experiment and development of swarm behaviours, platform interfaces, mission control, safety and assurance. Further development and validation are necessary because integration, regulatory and technical dependencies remain unresolved. The capability is therefore experimental and requires evidence to determine its suitability, scalability and route towards operational use. The scope is limited to the software licences, compute modules, engineering, integration, testing, technical support and assurance necessary for this prototype and development phase. It excludes production, fleet-wide deployment, enduring support, air vehicles and wider enabling equipment, infrastructure and certification activities. The contract therefore falls within Schedule 5, paragraph 2 because it concerns a prototype and novel goods and services supplied for testing, scale-viability assessment and further research and development. Any subsequent production, deployment or enduring support requirement will be subject to a separate commercial assessment and procurement route.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/095965-2026 |
| Notice type | UK5 - Transparency Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Direct |
| Procurement method details | Direct award |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 12 Oct 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 27 Oct 2026 - 31 Mar 2028 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £4,977,790 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Pending |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | Ministry of Defence |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Postcode area | South West London |
| Postcode | SW1A 2HB |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London |
| Local authority | Westminster |
| Electoral ward | St James's |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | APPLIED INTUITION UK LTD |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

### Codes

- 72231000 - Development of software for military applications

## Release History

- 12 Oct 2026 at 10:56 - Award - UK5 - Transparency Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/095965-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/095965-2026
  12th October 2026 - Transparency notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-078564. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078564.json.