Funded by the British Army, the investment of £15 million over three years will enable Dstl to deliver the follow-on phase of the successful Icarus Technology Demonstrator Programme (TDP). The Icarus TDP, through Chief Scientific Advisor (CSA) funding, developed and demonstrated the Modular Integrated Protection System (MIPS) Open Architecture Standard (the MIPS standard) to Technology Readiness Level 5 (TRL 5).

This new investment will exploit and build on the MIPS standard to demonstrate a modular, flexible Active Protection System (APS) at high maturity (TRL 7).

The next stage of MIPS will enable the UK to continue to develop future capabilities, with advances through to 2040 to include:

• Improved sensors – multi-spectral devices are combined with increasingly sophisticated fast signal processing
• Improved information processing – including data fusion and artificial intelligence (AI)
• Improved effectors – current counter-munition and directed energy technology projects deliver precise effects to defeat a wider range of threats
• Improved high-speed directors – compact and affordable energy storage and motor drive technologies
• Improvements in electronic infrastructure component technologies – exploiting safety and security features being developed elsewhere for industrial robotic and autonomous systems

Minister for Defence Procurement, Alec Shelbrooke said:

“Our Armed Forces keep us safe around the clock and it’s incumbent upon us to do all we can to protect them and adapt to future threats.

“The war in Ukraine has highlighted the importance of well protected armoured vehicles. We are supporting the Army to modernise and remain at the forefront of cutting-edge capabilities.

“This is an important step forward in researching the latest technology to improve protection for armoured vehicles, helping them prevent and repel attacks from the ground and air.”

Advanced APS is a critical enabler to achieving operational advantage and is a key function to enable survivability of the Army’s fleet of vehicles. MIPS provides a modular framework to exploit high maturity APS components and/or systems into a sovereign-designed solution that can be procured at pace, be supported through life, and be effectively integrated into mission systems.

The new activity will:

• Exploit previous CSA investment of £10 million into MIPS development
• Be an essential step towards developing an enduring approach for vehicle protection Research and Development (R&D)
• Boost UK industry by securing UK industrial capability in APS. It promotes Land APS activity with Industry as part of the Land Industrial Strategy
• Seek to build a UK industrial partnership in MIPS that increases exploitation opportunities and enables Army to benefit from the delivered capability options
• Work with a range of industry partners, including the UKACIA group (the UK APS Community of Interest and Action).

Dstl’s Active Protection expert Tom Newbery said:

“This is such an exciting opportunity for Dstl and Industry to work together to deliver a step change in vehicle survivability by taking MIPS to the next level of maturity. MIPS has the potential to open up a range of capability options for Army, improving vehicle survivability against the most challenging threats now and in the future.”

The Prime Minister met the President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, at the UN General Assembly in New York today.

The leaders agreed on the value of the UK-Lithuania defence relationship and welcomed our close cooperation through NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force.

They underscored the importance of likeminded countries working together to counter malign threats, increase our energy independence and end economic coercion by authoritarian states.

The Prime Minister stressed the UK’s support for Lithuania in its ongoing trade dispute with China.

The Prime Minister and President Nauseda welcomed the recent news of gains by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. These demonstrate, once again, that Ukraine’s counter-offensive can succeed with proper international – economic and military – support.

Today (21 September 2022) the Regulator of Social Housing published the outcome of its consultation on tenant satisfaction measures. As a result, from 1 April 2023 all registered providers of social housing will need to collect and publish a range of comparable information on areas such as repairs, safety checks and complaints.

The new TSMs will enable tenants to scrutinise their landlord’s performance, give landlords insight about where they can improve, and provide a source of intelligence to RSH about whether landlords are meeting regulatory standards. They are part of the regulator’s wider programme of work to develop proactive consumer regulation of the social housing sector, following the introduction of draft legislation in Parliament earlier this year.

The TSM consultation received over 1,000 responses, including around 600 from social housing tenants. The majority of respondents across the sector supported the TSM proposals and considered that the measures would provide rounded information about landlord performance in the sector. RSH has refined the TSMs following feedback to improve some of the measures and increase the transparency they will provide about landlords’ performance.

Alongside its decisions RSH has published the technical requirements providers will need to follow on the management information and tenant perception surveys. These requirements aim to strike a balance between ensuring consistency between providers and allowing flexibility to maximise tenant participation in surveys and ensure the measures are deliverable across the wide range of social housing providers.

The new requirements apply to both housing associations and local authorities and will come into force through the new Tenant Satisfaction Measures Standard. All registered providers will need to collect TSM data. Landlords with more than 1,000 homes will have to submit their data to RSH every year. In response to consultation feedback, RSH will carry out a voluntary data submission pilot with smaller providers.

Fiona MacGregor, Chief Executive of RSH, said:

The launch of TSMs is an important step in the move to proactive consumer regulation. The new measures will provide a valuable source of data to help ensure social housing landlords provide safe homes of a decent standard and a quality service to tenants.

Local authorities and housing associations now need to make sure they have the systems and processes in place to start collecting data from April 2023.

Notes to editors

1. The complete suite of Tenant Satisfaction Measures documents published as an outcome to the consultation is available on the TSM consultation page.

2. The Tenant Satisfaction Measures consultation was launched on 9 December 2021 and closed on 3 March 2022.

3. The Regulator of Social Housing promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a range of needs. It does this by undertaking robust economic regulation focusing on governance, financial viability and value for money that maintains lender confidence and protects the taxpayer. It also sets consumer standards and may take action if these standards are breached and there is a significant risk of serious detriment to tenants or potential tenants.