The USSOCOM Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program will soon be accepting for SOCOM244-005: Advanced Manufacturing for Common Launch Container. For a full description click here.
On 20 February, SOFWERX will host a virtual Q&A session for the area of interest.
Submissions Open 21 February 2024 12:00 PM ET (Noon).
To register for the Q&A, visit events.sofwerx.org/sbir24-4r4.
SAN DIEGO – During a series of demonstrations in December 2023, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) worked collaboratively to execute several capability demonstrations as part of the Adaptive Airborne Enterprise (A2E) concept development.
The first demo featured the simultaneous control of three MQ-9A remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) by a single crew using the government-owned AFSOC RPA Control Suite (ARCS). ARCS adds additional capability to the Ground Control Station (GCS), by allowing a standard crew to control multiple UAS platforms. The second demo showed that an MQ-9A can launch a Altius 600 from a launch pod.
“We have established a great partnership with AFSOC,” said David R. Alexander, president of GA-ASI. “We know our RPA will be a key building block for AFSOC to achieve its A2E vision.”
AFSOC is acquiring MQ-9B from GA-ASI for rapid prototyping and will forego a traditional GCS to control the RPA. Rather, AFSOC intends to control both the MQ-9A and MQ-9B aircraft, as well as a family of small UAS, from the ARCS. This event demonstrated the viability of ARCS to control the MQ-9A platform, which will lay the foundation for future work to integrate the MQ-9B aircraft into ARCS. This event also demonstrated the viability to operate the MQ-9 platform as surrogates for small UAS, all of which will be controlled by ARCS.
“These demonstrations were what we needed to really start to make A2E a reality,” said AFSOC Col. Trey Olman. “This was the first time we were able to demonstrate control of multiple RPAs from a single workstation, which is important in reducing manpower requirements.”
The A2E demonstrations took place at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. and Melrose Air Force Range (MAFR), N.M., and utilized Satellite Communications (SATCOM) Launch & Recovery (SLR). AFSOC launched the three MQ-9As using GA-ASI’s Portable Aircraft Control Stations (PACS) and Ground Control Stations. Once airborne, control for the three MQ-9A was handed from the three GCS to a single ARCS workstation. Control of all three aircraft was handed back from ARCS to each GCS and the three aircraft performed SATCOM landings via GA-ASI’s Automatic Takeoff and Landing Capability (ATLC).
The A2E concept envisions AFSOC projecting air power from beyond the horizon, using a family of large, unmanned aircraft along with small, expendable UAS, from permissive to denied environments. MQ-9B is the ideal platform for inserting air-launched effects into potentially hostile environments. The MQ-9B’s combination of range, endurance, reduced manpower footprint, and overall flexibility will key to AFSOC’s future family of advanced UAS systems.
The SOFWERX STEM Showcase 2024 is an opportunity for Government, Academia, and Industry to showcase technology, inspire, and guide the next generation of innovators and problem solvers. SOFWERX, in collaboration with the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), Industry Partners, and local Universities, Colleges, and Trade Schools will host?a 1-day STEM Showcase for high school juniors/seniors and college-age students on 10 May from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM ET at the SOFWERX facility in Tampa, FL (Ybor City).
For more info, visit events.sofwerx.org/sofwerx-stem-showcase-2024.
SOFWERX, in collaboration with USSOCOM’s Directorate of Science and Technology (S&T) Futures and UK Strategic Command, will host the fifteenth Innovation Foundry event (IF15) 17-19 April 2024, in London, England. As the second international event in the series, IF15 aims to bring together military practitioners, industry, academia, national laboratories, and futurists to explore and ideate around future scenarios and missions. This phase of the innovation cycle is being co-sponsored by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD).
The theme of IF15, ‘Smart Cities – Future Challenges for SOF’, will explore the challenges of physical and remote SOF operations in a range of future complex smart city scenarios.
The rapidly changing nature of the future operating environment will increasingly involve operations in smart, interconnected cities. More than 50% of humanity resides in cities, and by 2030 there will be more than 60 cities with populations between 5-10 million. Many are located within global resource hot spots in an increasingly multi-polar world order that challenges hegemonic legacies. These dense urbanities are becoming ever more complex; socially, physically, and technically.
This presents new challenges and opportunities for SOF operations across the full breadth of potential mission sets, in an interconnected environment where access and manoeuvre will be challenging. The confluence of domains and environments amplifies these challenges. Virtual and physical theatre entry, combat operations, sustainment, and partnering will all require novel approaches. From biometrics to autonomy, to remote sensing, future smart cities will present SOF with some of the toughest challenges.
To tackle these problems SOF will need to:
• Develop a vision for the future challenges posed by operating in smart cities.
• Identify, understand, and combat smart city risks and vulnerabilities.
• Develop plans and policies to enable operational advantage in smart cities and exploit dual-use capabilities.
• Develop capabilities to understand and characterize adversarial actions in smart cities.
• Develop new concepts of operation with partners and allies to operate in a range of heavily constrained smart cities scenarios.
• Identify, recruit, and train for the skillsets required to operate in future smart cities.
Submit NLT 04 March 2024 11:59 PM ET.
events.sofwerx.org/ussocom-innovation-foundry-if-15-event
The USSOCOM Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program will soon be accepting submissions Handheld Kinetic Defeat of UAS. Submissions Open 31 January 2024.
The objective of this topic is to develop a handheld defeat capability to defeat Unmanned/Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS). Low size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) solutions that can kinetically defeat Group 1-3 UAS (DoD defined) are desired. Defeat range is important, but reliability and a high probability of kill (Pk) are higher priority.
Visit events.sofwerx.org/sbir24-4r3 for details.
AIR FORCE SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND —
Members of the 371st Special Operations Combat Training Squadron Mobile Training Team (MTT) brought the new Special Operations Task Unit-192 course to a mission sustainment team assigned to Cannon Air Force Base last quarter.
Over the course of a month, 371st SOCTS executed two iterations of SOTU-192, training fifty Air Commandos for deployment. This specialized ground combat training included instruction in land navigation, combatives, practical weapons training, tactical combat casualty care, and active shooter/care under fire scenarios. Additionally, they covered Special Operations Task Group and Joint Task Force awareness in preparation for operations in each echelon’s respective future operating environment.
“The planning for this course, which started in November 2022, provided learning through realistic hands-on training and adaptive scenario-based exercises to reinforce learning,” said Colonel Robert Johnston, Air Commando Development Center-Provisional commander. “The training objectives are designed to sharpen their skills and encourage critical thinking to adapt to operations before the adversary can react.”
The 371st SOCTS, which falls under the ACDC-P, is the formal training unit responsible for conducting Programmed Ground Training of Air Force Special Operations Forces on behalf of all core-SOF and non-core SOF personnel.
The SOTU-192 is one of several formal training courses offered by 371st SOCTS that uses an attribute and scenario-based training model to deliver combat ready airmen who can think and operate in all domains.
“Our goal is to provide the training our Air Commandos need to operate competently and confidently,” said Johnston. “By bringing this training to Cannon, we’re developing empowered leaders with the skills to impose dilemmas for our adversaries and ultimately deliver the lethality needed to win.”
The mission of 371st SOCTS is to enable AFSOC Force Generation development by providing SOTU, Special Operations Task Group, Mission Sustainment Teams, and Theater Air Operations Squadron elements combat ready airmen who can think and operate in the air, land, and human domain. Contact the Air Commando Development Center for more information concerning Education, Training, and Experiential opportunities.
By 1st Lt. Cassandra Saphore
Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs
CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. —
The 27th Special Operation Wing’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) community and industry partners completed several capability demonstrations throughout December 2023 as part of Air Force Special Operations Command’s Adaptive Airborne Enterprise (A2E) development.
As directed in the 2022 U.S. National Defense Strategy, AFSOC has shifted its priority from Counter-Violent Extremist Organization operations to also being capable of countering near-peer and peer adversaries in contested or denied environments. A2E is a result of that shift, marking an evolution beyond using the MQ-9 exclusively for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and strike operations.
“Adaptive Airborne Enterprise is vital to thickening the Joint Force kill web throughout the spectrum of conflict and continues to be AFSOC’s #1 acquisition priority,” said Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, AFSOC commander. “Our Air Commandos are incredibly innovative, capable, and driven…they are bringing A2E to life. We will continuously develop the concept to full capability through multiple demonstrations over the next few years.”
A2E is broken into five phases, with the first three phases currently underway.
In phase one, AFSOC aims to transition to a government-owned Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) command and control interface, replacing the stationary RPA control system. The new A2E interface will shrink a traditional RPA crew’s deployed footprint and provide operators with the flexibility and mobility to fly various aircraft from austere locations – whether operating from the back of an AC-130, home station, or even urban environments.
“In the future, we’d like to take this from where we’ve fought in the past, a more permissive environment, to contested and denied spaces,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Lindsay Scott, AFSOC Headquarters Rapid Capabilities Development Chief of Autonomous Capabilities. “Our goal is to ensure we are always bringing effects to the battle space.”
In phase two, AFSOC’s objective is creating the capability for a single crew to fly multiple MQ-9s. According to the director of the 27th Special Operations Group’s RPA Operations Center, U.S. Air Force Maj. Joshua Radford, AFSOC plans to evolve past the historical standard of one crew operating one aircraft, the status quo for MQ-9 operations.
“We’re moving towards a crew or a single operator controlling multiple aircraft,” Radford said. “And it doesn’t necessarily need to be the same platform.”
Phase three entails a single crew controlling multiple types of UASs, ranging from Group 1 small uncrewed aerial systems (sUAS) like the RQ-11B Raven, to larger Group 5 UASs like the MQ-9A Reaper.
In phase four, a single crew will control formations of UASs from mobile and austere locations, leading into the final phase: creating new effects-based ISR units. These units could be comprised of UASs, forward deployed ground forces, cyber operators and space operators that can collaboratively employ UAS capabilities in permissive, contested or denied environments.
The A2E demonstrations conducted in 2023 at Cannon AFB successfully validated many of the capabilities described in phases one through three. In June, the 27th SOW hosted Exercise Talon Spear, AFSOC’s first A2E sUAS collaboration exercise.
“The goal of Talon Spear was to build a continuous improvement exercise,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Mitch, the exercise coordinator assigned to the 27th SOG. “Throughout the exercise, several industry and DOD partners integrated various systems, to include weapon systems, specific cameras, onboard computer systems and tactical situational awareness tools.”
During December’s demonstrations, a single 27th SOW RPA crew successfully exhibited two novel capabilities: controlling three MQ-9s utilizing a single common control interface and attaching and air-launching a Group 2 sUAS from an MQ-9A. The next A2E demonstration is planned for Summer 2024.
As the MQ-9 and its crews acquire the capability to direct sUASs carrying standoff sensor payloads, crews will be able to control swarms of air vehicles from anywhere. Additionally, AFSOC aims to continue developing and procuring A2E-compatible platforms, allowing the MQ-9 to act as a “mothership” for sUAS and loitering munition command and control, as well as a data transport node for mesh networks.
These mesh networks, in concert with Artificial Intelligence technologies and an advanced Human Machine Interface, will allow AFSOC crews to operate multiple large and small UASs simultaneously, covering more terrain and prosecuting more targets in environments that are not currently accessible.
“We depend on our innovative Air Commandos and industry experts to develop, experiment and grow this concept,” said Bauernfeind. “AFSOC is committed to advancing this capability and we appreciate the support of our defense partners and decision makers in prioritizing this acquisition.”
By collaboratively pathfinding alongside defense industry partners and innovative Air Commandos, A2E will transform the current AFSOC MQ-9 enterprise into the robust UAS architecture required to deliver specialized airpower to current and future fights: any place, anytime, anywhere.
By Senior Airman Alexcia Givens
27th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
USSOCOM leverages the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program for a variety of innovative capabilities. SBIRs strengthen the role of innovative Small Business Concerns (SBCs) in federally-funded research or research and development (R/R&D).
Currently, SOCOM is seeking an innovative capability to improve water surveillance at point-of-need. The goal is to develop a field instrument that is rugged, compact, and able to provide microbiological and metal detection capabilities as far forward as possible to reduce both short- and long-term health risks to personnel.
This capability will incorporate a durable and small-scale piece of equipment that is able to withstand travel and ground movement while simultaneously providing rapid results on microbiological health threats and metal exposures. As a part of this feasibility study, the proposers shall address all viable overall system design options with specifications on the following key equipment attributes:
Able to complete analysis for total coliforms and Escherichia coli.
The capability to receive a result in less than 4 hours for total coliforms and Escherichia coli.
Able to complete analysis for arsenic, lead, copper, and cyanide.
The capability to detect arsenic, lead, copper, and cyanide is not limited to presence and absence, but will provide a definitive numerical result (milligrams per Liter).
Results must be accessible to allow for future processing within the Defense Occupational and Environmental Health Readiness – Industrial Hygiene (DOEHRS-IH) system of record.
Equipment (water tester) must be compact and able to fit in a carry-on piece of luggage for transport.
Equipment (water tester) must not exceed 25 pounds.
Equipment (water tester) must be durable to withstand transport on aircraft, rucks, tactical boxes, ground movement.
Equipment item must be dual voltage with battery pack capability.
Equipment item water resistant and able to withstand temperature fluctuations for heat (minimum 100o Fahrenheit (F) and cold (minimum 32o F).
Optional: Able to test for Cryptosporidium species.
Interested parties must submit by 06 February 2024. For full details visit events.sofwerx.org/sbir24-4r2.
