Next deadline nears for UK Apache ‘loyal wingman’ acquisition
Four bidders have until mid-November to respond to latest phase of Project Nyx tender ahead of year-end downselect.
Developers vying for the next stage of the British Army’s Project Nyx to develop a ‘loyal wingman’ drone to fight alongside the service’s Boeing AH-64E Apache fleet have until 17 November to submit their bids.
No details of the latest procurement phase have been publicly disclosed by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), but FlightGlobal understands that the four bidders remaining in the contest following a May downselect were issued with an invitation to tender (ITT) in late October, giving them a month in which to respond.
The arrival of the ITT followed the conclusion of a series of demonstration flights by the four firms – Anduril Industries, BAE Systems, Tekever and Thales – in early October.
Based on the 17 November deadline, it gives the MoD little time in which to review the submissions if it is to meet its own fourth-quarter target to select one or two bidders to progress to the project’s next phase.
Adhering to this timeline is particularly critical if the MoD is to realise its ambition of having a Nyx platform participate in the NATO Steadfast Defender exercise in May or June next year.
No significant changes have been made in the ITT to the aircraft requirements, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
Earlier outline performance characteristics called for a platform capable of carrying a 250kg (550lb) payload and matching the Apache’s speed in combat.
Additionally, the MoD has placed emphasis on a modular open systems architecture that is capable of being rapidly upgraded and the sovereign nature of the underlying autonomy software.
Most of the bidders have been clear on the aircraft they are proposing: BAE is offering the co-axial rotor-equipped Capstone platform developed by UK firm Certo Aerospace; Tekever is pitching the AR6, a modified version of an existing design from recent acquisition Flowcopter; and Thales is working with long-term partner Schiebel and its Camcopter S-300.
What Anduril is developing is less certain, however, with the company having revealed scant details of its design, nor indeed what air vehicle it used for the recent demonstration flights.
While it unveiled its Thunder uncrewed tiltrotor at the Farnborough air show in July, this is unrelated to the Nyx effort. The rotorcraft will also not fly before next year, it said at the time.
In June’s Defence Investment Plan the MoD laid out an ambition to field up to 24 systems acquired through Nyx by 2030 for a total of £220 million ($296 million).
However, given the ratio to the 50-strong Apache fleet and the attritable nature of the platform this figure is likely to increase.
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