ASCA announces counter-SUAS Mission Syracuse Stage 1

The Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator, ASCA, has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Mission Syracuse, a two-stage search for technologies to enhance Defence’s Counter Small Uncrewed Aerial Systems (C-sUAS) capabilities. The Mission is encapsulated in a simple problem statement: “How might we provide viable sovereign effector options for the ADF optimised to mitigate the threats posed by sUAS?”

Submissions for Stage 1 are due by 6 June, 2025

This RFP seeks to identify effector technologies currently at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6/7 that can be matured to TRL 8/9 by December 2027. The outcomes of this RFP will be released on 7 July; the exact timeline for Stage 2 Submission and Evaluation has not been disclosed as yet, but they will take place between July and September of this year and Mission Delivery will commence on 30 September,

Mission Syracuse aims to deliver cSUAS protection for dismounted troops, land vehicles, littoral manoeuvre vessel, Forward Operating Bases (FOBs), and logistics modes. The C-sUAS capabilities ASCA seeks are designed to protect against swarms of Group 1 and 2 UASs and Group 3 UASs. Group 1 UAS weight 0-9kg and fly at 100kt or less; Group 2 UAS weigh less than 24kg and fly at less than 250kt; and Group 3 UAS weigh less than 600kg and fly at less than 250kt.

This RFP runs in parallel with the Request for Tender (RFT) for Defence’s existing Project LAND156, which seeks a Systems Integration Partner (SIP) who can develop a Command and Control (C2) system that will operate with current and future C-sUAS effectors to detect, track, identify and neutralise adversary sUAS. The LAND156 capabilities will be used to protect deployed forces (in Australia and overseas) and secure infrastructure, ADF bases, dismounted personnel and all classes of ADF vehicles.

Mission Syracuse is seeking options for future Defence capability and a family of effectors that can be integrated with the ADF’s broader C-sUAS capability – and respondents should note that Mission Syracuse will not provide a guaranteed pathway for inclusion in Project LAND156. The documentation also uses the term ‘sovereign’ and defines it as “a capability that the Commonwealth of Australian can access at a time of need, including when international trade may be disrupted.”

ASCA says it is looking for advanced effectors that can neutralise swarms of Group 1 and -2 UASs with a high degree of precision, by day and night. Effectors could include but aren’t limited to Directed Energy Weapons such as laser-based systems, high power electro-magnetic and microwave systems that could dazzle or disrupt on-board cameras or sensors of sUAS, and/or damage sensitive components and disable the UAS’s flight control or navigation capabilities.

ASCA is also looking for Electronic Attack systems that disrupt, manipulate, interfere with or spoof sUAS navigation, operating and/or communication systems using electromagnetic spectrum effects; and Kinetic effectors that impact, capture or entangle drones using nets, projectiles, interceptor UAS, munitions or other physical means.

All effector technologies must be integratable with a Common Control System that provides the system-level sensing and detection function. Effector technologies may incorporate inbuilt sensors for target acquisition, tracking and guidance purposes, says ASCA.

Defence has published three Capability Target States (CTS):

• CTS 1 – by March 2026: TRL 6-7 – demonstration of interoperability and a development pathway
• CTS 2 – by December 2026: TRL 7-8 – testing of effectors for integration with appropriate C2 systems
• CTS 3 – December 2027: TRL 8-9 – mature effector options suitable for procurement at production volumes in FY27/28

The documentation states: “Successful respondents will be required to deliver a small number of TRL 8/9 systems for potential subsequent capability development activities. There is no guarantee of an acquisition contract following the completion of Mission Syracuse.”