Company selected for sole-source award after tender fails to attract compliant bids.
Tekever has been selected to provide the British Army with a new fleet of long-range surveillance drones through a sole-source contract after a competitive tender called Project Corvus failed to solicit any compliant bids.
Detailing the decision on 24 July, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it had opted to award a sole-source contract to Tekever, due to be signed by 31 August.
Tender documents indicate that the contract will be worth a total £336 million ($447 million), excluding tax, if all options are exercised.
It says the army initially requires “two task lines” – an undisclosed number of ground stations and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) – with “each able to provide 24 hours of persistent surveillance”.
No quantities have been disclosed, but in last month’s Defence Investment Plan the government said it would acquire up to 24 platforms for delivery by 2029.
Tekever has pitched its AR5 platform for the requirement. Boasting a 180kg (400lb) maximum take-off weight, including a payload of up to 50kg, the UAV has a claimed endurance of 20h.
While the initial agreement is for a five-year period, including in-service support, the notice says there will be contractual options included “to increase the number of task lines and extended years of support should the capability prove its cost effectiveness”. The MoD values the initial five-year deal as worth £136 million.
Although eight bidders had submitted responses by the tender’s closing date of 13 February, “none of these responses were suitable”, says the ministry.
Corvus is designed to replace the British Army’s fleet of obsolete UTacS Watchkeeper WK450 UAVs which will be retired from next March.
Based on that timeline – with the Watchkeeper being drawn down from September – the ministry has “concluded that a further competitive tendering procedure would not be possible in the circumstances, for operational reasons”.
Indeed, the MoD recently told FlightGlobal that its expectation was that Corvus would deliver a “minimum deployable capability before Watchkeeper goes out of service”.
Although a Portuguese-headquartered business, Tekever has been expanding its operation in the UK, including the opening of a factory in Swindon in southwest England. Last year, it also acquired West Wales Airport in Aberporth to serve as its test site.
Thanks to the company’s Project Overmatch activity announced in May 2025, Tekever will invest £400 million and add 1,000 jobs in the UK over a five-year period.
Tekever has also been selected as one of four bidders taken forward under the army’s Project Nyx initiative to develop a ‘loyal wingman’ platform for demonstration alongside its fleet of Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters.
Should it also emerge as the winner of that contest, for which it is offering its newly launched AR6 platform, there would be considerable pressure on a relative newcomer in the UK to rapidly develop and deliver two capabilities in parallel.
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