Leonardo’s Vision: Securing £41M Contract to Safeguard Explosive Disposal Forces Digitally

Leonardo, spearheading a consortium of small and medium-sized enterprises (“Team Endure”) from across the UK, has secured a contract exceeding £40M to provide Army personnel with digital safeguards against remotely-activated explosives. This cutting-edge technology will be utilized when Army specialists respond to civil crises within the UK, collaborating with police and other governmental bodies. The advanced equipment functions by scanning frequencies for remote control signals aiming to trigger an explosive device and disrupting these communications using state-of-the-art digital methodologies.

The contract was awarded by the Ministry of Defence’s Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) organization on behalf of the Army. Leonardo’s team comprises pioneering UK SMEs such as CommsAudit, Elma Electronic, Kirintec, and Waymont Consulting, along with defense specialists Marshall Land Systems and training aficionado EWS. Approximately 50% of the contract’s value will be sourced from domestic SME businesses, and Leonardo has already pinpointed potential overseas market opportunities for the innovative technology.

The initial shipments of the new gear, which encompasses both vehicle-mounted and portable modules, are anticipated to commence in Autumn 2024. The deployment will occur in 2025 by the British Army’s 11 EOD & Search Regiment of the Royal Logistic Corps, the elite unit tasked with explosive device and munitions neutralization.

Leonardo is serving as the systems integrator for the new technology, mostly manufactured by specialized SMEs across the UK. This represents the inaugural application of the MOD’s Land Cyber and ElectroMagnetic Architecture (CEMA), developed explicitly to fulfill the requirements for Electronic Counter Measure (ECM) applications. This serves as the foundational component for upcoming ECM ventures and aligns with defense policies aimed at designing systems with open architectures, allowing for versatile deployment, upgrades, and the continuous enhancement of both hardware and software capabilities throughout the system’s lifecycle.

Under the terms of the contract, Leonardo will also extend in-service support services to the Ministry of Defence. This support is initially contracted for a duration of two years, with options available to prolong the agreement.

To maintain the relevance of this new capability and ensure enduring value for investment, the hardware is designed to be future-proof, allowing for upgrades. Leonardo anticipates that future capabilities will be introduced digitally via software enhancements, although the open architecture standards framework simplifies any necessary hardware upgrades and obsolescence management.

With 45 years of experience in the counter-explosives field, Leonardo has previously supplied the ‘Guardian’ jamming system to the UK’s Armed Forces, safeguarding vehicle crews and dismounted patrols against Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) during missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. This new contract also leverages the company’s collaborative efforts with the Ministry of Defence to establish open standards such as the Land CEMA (cyber-electromagnetic activities) Architecture and OpenCPI (Open Component Portability Infrastructure), among others. Complementing its expertise in this domain, Leonardo employs several former counter-terror bomb disposal specialists who are contributing to the program.