The craft must be capable of delivering personnel, vehicles, and uncrewed systems.  

The UK’s Commando Force (CF) has unveiled plans to procure new medium surface Commando Insertion Craft (CIC) for its ‘CF Programme’ (CF Pg), a UK Ministry of Defence sourcing portal notice has revealed.  

Outlining its requirements for the craft, the CF said the platforms must support operations at sea and deployments on, and close to, the shore. Specifically, the CIC must support the CF’s ‘surface manoeuvre’ and the military’s ‘littoral strike’ capabilities. 

To support these operations and capabilities, the craft must be able to embark, transport, disembark, and operate a range of payloads including “commando teams, ultra-light vehicles, fires, offboard uncrewed systems, and medium combat loads”. 

The craft must be difficult to detect and able to “fully integrate” into existing structures in the CF and Royal Navy. The capability must also be delivered with a training solution and ongoing support.  

This is anticipated to be a category B project with an estimated contract value of GBP191 million over 84 months. 

The project will be carried out under the CF Pg, which looks to upgrade the CF’s current amphibious capabilities to build a force that can conduct theatre access operations against “our most demanding adversaries, from the moment a conflict breaks out”. 

Through this notice, the CF Pg seeks to engage with industry and assess its capacity to meet the stated requirements.  

As part of this engagement, industry stakeholders are invited to a ‘CIC Industry Engagement’ event on 19 September, where participants will receive a brief on the project requirements, strategy, and timelines. 

The CF Pg stressed that as this is not currently a call for competition or initiation of procurement, non-participation at this stage will not influence the process or decision of any future procurement.  

Although the industry engagement day is imminent, the notice is still significant as it outlines the CF’s future strategic direction and requirements.