The UK National Protective Security Authority (NPSA), in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are inviting expressions of interest to participate in the next Capability Optimisation Research Environment (CORE) event, scheduled to take place in the U.K. between 19-23 October 2026.
“CORE provides a collaborative test and experimentation environment for organisations developing counter-uncrewed aerial systems (C-UAS) technologies,” according to an NPSA press statement. “It enables participants to research, trial and refine capabilities alongside UK Government and international partners.
“This year NPSA is seeking expressions of interest from technology vendors who can support efforts to make a dismounted guard force more effective at detecting, tracking, identifying, locating and responding to UAS activity – without relying solely on fixed infrastructure or large static C-UAS systems. Temporary events, crowded places, public spaces, dispersed estates, infrastructure-light sites and mobile operations often depend on guards, patrols and temporary security teams.
“The question is whether emerging technology can make them more effective in responding to the potential risk and threat posed by Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s). This CORE R&D challenge will explore how guards, portable sensors, wearable devices, rapidly deployable nodes, existing resources and novel operator interfaces can be combined into a distributed UAS sensing, localisation, alerting and decision-support network.
“The event is not looking for one type of technology. We are interested in any technology or concept that could help a frontline security team detect, locate, understand, communicate or respond to UAS activity more effectively. Areas of interest may include:
- Portable, wearable or rapidly deployable sensors
- Use of and repurposing of existing device sensors, including IMU, camera, microphone, GNSS, compass, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or other capabilities
- Mesh networking and peer-to-peer situational awareness
- Distributed detection and collaborative geolocation
- Augmented reality, haptics, audio cueing or other novel operator interfaces
- AI-assisted triage, alerting and decision support
- Integration with command-and-control systems
- Privacy-preserving and cyber-secure portable technologies
- Rapidly deployable systems for temporary or infrastructure-light sites
“The key concept is a distributed guard force working with devices, sensors and temporary nodes to create wider coverage, better location accuracy, faster reporting, improved situational awareness and more effective response.
“Expressions of interest with a brief description of the solution you wish to bring and how it aligns with this year’s CORE event should be submitted to Core2026@npsa.gov.uk by Monday 6th July 2026.”
For more information
Expression of Interest: CORE 2026 – C-UAS Force Multiplier | Blog | NPSA
(Image NPSA)
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