As part of a new program to bridge the “valley of death” for military technology, The Defense Department (DoD) recently announced 11 new projects: “The…projects range from commercial satellite communications terminals for the Marine Corps to integrated air defense cameras for the Defense Innovation Unit to network enhancements in contested environments for the Navy.”
The Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) Program
- The Defense Department [in May] announced more than $140 million in contracts for the latest batch of “Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies” programs, or APFIT, ranging from new unmanned capabilities to training simulators to commercial weather satellites.
- The purpose of the pilot APFIT program, which Congress established in the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, is to “expeditiously transition technologies from development into production, and to accelerate the fielding of those technologies to the warfighter,” according to DOD. (1)
- This year, the department was allocated $150 million, and, according to the DoD, APFIT funding is helping to deliver war-winning capability one to two years earlier than scheduled, while contributing to the health of the U.S. industrial base through investments in small business and nontraditional defense developed capabilities.
The Latest APFIT Projects (May 2023)
The National Defense Authorization Act of FY22 established APFIT as a competitive, merit-based program for innovative and mature technologies and products that can meet warfighter demands but currently lack the necessary funding to field. Individual funding awards are limited to $10M-$50M for each defense program. Eleven DoD program offices will receive FY23 APFIT funding. These program offices will in turn use that funding to procure innovative technologies from small businesses or nontraditional defense contractor vendors, as listed below.
The 11 projects range from commercial satellite communications terminals for the Marine Corps to integrated air defense cameras for the Defense Innovation Unit to network enhancements in contested environments for the Navy.
- Commercial Satellite Communications Terminals, U.S. Marine Corps, $15.0M, Bascom Hunter Technologies, Louisiana
- Establishes a fully automated production line and initial procurement of transportable satellite terminals to provide assured Naval capability to leverage the latest Low Earth Orbit and Mid Earth Orbit satellite communication constellations.
- Common Air-Launched Munitions Radio, U.S. Air Force, $10.0M, Integrated Solutions for Systems, Inc., Alabama
- Initial low-rate procurement of software-defined munitions radios and Technical Data Package to support the integration of weapons data links in future USAF weapons.
- Integrated Air Defense Cameras, Defense Innovation Unit, $16.77M, Teleidoscope, California
- Procurement of initial upgraded electro-optical/infrared cameras with enhanced capabilities to improve airspace awareness.
- Minuteman III Code Wheel Replacement, Defense Logistics Agency, $10.0M, BC Engineering Products, New Jersey
- Procurement of new code wheels for replacement of units in the Minuteman III Missile that are ~40 years beyond planned service life using advanced manufacturing techniques and processes to retain form, fit, and function.
- Mixed Reality Pilot Training Devices, U.S. Marine Corps, $10.0M, Bowhead Professional & Technical Solutions, LLC, Virginia
- Procurement of affordable, smaller, mixed-reality T-45C flight training simulators to augment legacy full-size flight simulators.
- Modern Commercial Weather Satellites, U.S. Space Force, $10.3M, Tomorrow.io, Massachusetts
- Procurement and launch of two affordable commercial weather sensing satellites to augment the existing commercially owned, managed, and sustained weather constellation to support weather data-as-a-service use by the military.
- Multi-Platform Anti-Jam Global Positioning System Antennas, U.S. Army, $19.97M, Mayflower Communications, Inc., Massachusetts
- Accelerated procurement of sufficient quantities to achieve optimum price break of anti-jam antennas for fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft.
- Network Enhancements for Contested Environments, U.S. Navy, $10.0M, Adaptive Dynamics Inc, California and Caliola Engineering, Colorado
- Procurement and integration of software into existing joint tactical radio systems that leverage modified software techniques for enhancing communications in contested environments.
- Tactical Passive Radar for Counter Unmanned Air Systems (UAS), U.S. Army, $10.0M, Hidden Level, Inc., New York
- Procurement of platform agnostic, day/night, modular passive radar capability for small UAS detection and tracking.
- Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) Range Extension using Beyond-Line-of-Sight Communications, U.S. Navy, $10.0M, Maritime Applied Physics Corp., Maryland
- Initial low-rate procurement of USVs and supporting communication systems to enable beyond-line-of-site operations.
- Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) Capable Fixed-Wing Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance Small UAS, U.S. Special Operations Command, $20.0M, Quantum-Systems Inc., California
- Accelerated procurement of Fixed-Wing Small UAS with integrated VTOL capabilities. (3)
The Initial APFIT Pilot Projects (July 22, 2022)
- Advanced Sensor Package Procurement, U.S. Navy, Arete Associates, California, Arizona, and Florida.
- Accelerates procurement of a multi-sensor payload for use in unmanned underwater vehicles. Enables safe passage of U.S. and Allied Naval forces with advanced mine-hunting capabilities.
- Anti-Jam Radio-links for Maritime Operations Resiliency, U.S. Marine Corps, Pacific Antenna Systems, Titan Systems LLC, and Naval Systems, Inc., California and Maryland.
- Initial procurement of small antennas for resilient comms that conform to tactical aircraft outer mold lines. Provides high data rate capacity scalable to support multi-mission needs and connects the National Technical Means to the tactical edge.
- Atmospheric Plasma Coating Removal System, U.S. Marine Corps, Atmospheric Plasma Solutions, North Carolina.
- Initial procurement of next-generation coating removal systems reduces repair person hours by ~94%.
- Augmented Reality Tactical Assault Kit, USSOCOM, Eolian, New Jersey.
- Initial procurement of augmented and virtual reality kits to enable more effective, networked, distributed immersive mission planning and rehearsing operations in a realistic environment. Significantly reduces risk during mission execution.
- Autonomous Unmanned Aerial System – Vertical-BAT, USAF, Shield AI, California, and Texas.
- Initial procurement of semi-autonomous, long-loiter, vertical takeoff, and landing-capable UASs with modular payload capability. Can provide resilient data transport and locate and provide weapon quality targeting information as part of the Joint Sensing Grid to JADC2. VBAT VTOL can operate in high-wind conditions.
- Glide Munitions, U.S. Army, Orbital Research, ODrophio.
- Initial procurement of low-cost, weaponized Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) featuring drop-glide projectiles. Enables the squad to have standoff, survivable, precision strike capability to defeat enemy armor.
- Lightfield Directing Array Secure Production, Missile Defense Agency, Bright Silicon Technologies, California.
- Establishes full-rate manufacturing capacity to produce optical communications antenna arrays at scale. This next-generation RF communications alternative provides resilient Position/Navigation/Timing, optical tracking, laser communications, and sensor protection.
- Lightweight Wide Field of View Aviation Goggle, USSOCOM, Aviation Specialties Unlimited, Idaho.
- Initial procurement of next-generation widened field-of-view night vision goggles for aircrew with increased resolution and reduced weight.
- Rapid Analysis of Threat Exposure, DIU, Philips Healthcare, Massachusetts.
- Initial procurement of 3,800 smartwatches loaded with algorithms that afford 2+ days of earlier detection of infectious disease, enabling early treatment and quarantine of infected individuals.
- Real-Time Sensor Data Transformation, U.S. Space Force, Meroxa, California.
- Procurement of a data architecture for automated transfer and integration of U.S. and allied sensor data. Enables access to 90 operational sources to provide a more complete picture to USSF analysts. (3)
What Next?
- “I am thrilled to see the increased support from Congress for the APFIT program,” said Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu. “This flexible funding is helping to transform the way the department quickly pivots to procure and field warfighting capability across the military services and defense agencies.”
- DOD said APFIT funding is helping to deliver capabilities one to two years earlier than scheduled.
- Shyu said the program will be key to helping small companies bridge the “valley of death” between development and production.
- “The companies being funded will fill crucial capability gaps,” she said. “Without APFIT funding, these capabilities could take years longer to field.” (1)
- The idea of APFIT is to give a slight spending bump to technologies that have already proven they might be useful in a military setting but don’t have enough funding to field in big quantities. This is what agencies often call “the valley of death” – that seemingly uncrossable chasm between early prototyping of new technology and getting it into the hands of government users.
- According to the DoD, each of the projects will get an influx of $10 million to $50 million to field technologies from small and non-traditional defense contractors.
- House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert, R-Calif., said, “With the announcement of a second round of APFIT projects, the Defense Department is realizing the program’s goal of delivering innovative tools to our warfighters in an accelerated timeline.”
- “I fought to establish APFIT to ensure that new ways to succeed on the battlefield are not held back by old ways inside the Pentagon,” Rep. Calvert continued. “I believe my colleagues in Congress, Defense Department officials, and our industry partners recognize the value of the APFIT program, and I look forward to its continued growth.” (2)
Part I: DARPA, The Valley of Death and Answering the Crucial Project Questions Upfront
Deep Tech, the “Valley of Death” and Innovative Technologies for the Warfighter
OODA Senior Advisor and Network Member Chris Ward on Startups, SMBs, Innovation and the DoD Other Transaction Authority
Department of Defense Establishes Office of Strategic Capital
DoD’s Office of Strategic Capital Assesses “Impacts to National Security” of the Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank
The DoD Office of Strategic Capital Will Focus on Expanding Capital for Small Business
Designing, Quantifying, and Measuring Exponential Innovation
