British Army to launch data management competition as part of HMT

As part of the broader British Army's human machine teaming (HMT) programme, the Future Capability Group (FCG) will launch a competition this year for the ‘Data Management Service', Lieutenant Colonel Iain Lamont, SO1 Robotics & Autonomous Systems (RAS), British Army, informed Janes at the HMT launch event in Salisbury on 10 March.

The official competition is yet to be released, while the key requirements are matured. Once awarded, the contracted organisation will help manage governance, regulation, curation, and the storage of data supporting and enabling RAS, Lt Col Lamont said.

The effective running of the data management service will be essential for the HMT programme, as data will fundamentally power the whole enterprise, Lt Col Lamont noted.

All of the RAS projects will create and utilise vast amounts of data, therefore the army needs to create a ‘data lake', with artificial intelligence (AI) helping to collate and augment the information. However, to do this, the army needs to determine the provenance of the data, he added.

The chosen provider of this data management service may also be asked to establish a highly secure network and an effective storage system, he said.

A separate competition for a Systems Integrator function for the HMT project is also potentially scheduled to be launched this year. Once awarded, this function will be tasked with cohering the integration between original equipment manufacturers and front-line commands and handle the required technical integration of platforms and systems.

The accompanying HMT framework, proposed on 27 February, has a financial headroom of approximately GBP300 million (USD390 million), until 31 March 2025, pending approval, the proposal stated.