Map the Gap Phase 3 — Riverine Relief
Supports United Kingdom teams with aerial systems for terrain and river assessments that improve operational safety.
⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.
Map the Gap Phase 3, subtitled Riverine Relief, is a UKDI competition run on behalf of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and the British Army, representing the third iteration of a program that has run since 2020. The competition funds novel sensing technologies deployable from uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAS) to address two specific operational needs: measuring ground bearing capacity (GBC) to determine whether vehicles can safely traverse terrain without physical personnel risk, and conducting underwater river profiling using UAS-deployed sensors to assess wet-gap crossing conditions. The submission deadline is 12:00 midday BST on 16 June 2026. All proposals are submitted via the UKDI Online Submission Service; applicants are strongly advised to submit at least one hour before the deadline. A launch webinar was held on 5 May 2026.
The total available funding is £2.0 million (excluding VAT), with approximately £1 million allocated per challenge area, spread across multiple contracts. All funded projects are required to complete by the end of January 2028. Eligible applicants mirror the standard UKDI competition eligibility: UK-based organizations and individuals including academia, SMEs, large companies, and sole traders. International organizations must have a UK-registered entity at Companies House with project activity in the UK. Technical and administrative contact is accelerator@dstl.gov.uk or 01980 950000 option 3 during weekday mornings.
Phase 3 builds on technology matured in the 2020 and 2021 phases, implying that proposals referencing prior art or demonstrating incremental capability uplift over Phase 2 outputs will be well-positioned. Proposals for Challenge 1 should address specific vehicle mass and soil type parameters relevant to British Army platforms; proposals for Challenge 2 should address riverine conditions relevant to deployed military crossings. The full Competition Document and sample terms and conditions are available on GOV.UK and contain the full scoring rubric and deliverable specifications.
Ground bearing capacity measurement from unmanned aerial systems and underwater river profiling via UAS-deployed sensors to reduce risk to British Army personnel during terrain reconnaissance.
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