Kacey Roberts
The Department of Defense has unveiled the second group of projects selected to receive funding from the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies pilot program.
DOD said Monday Congress approved a total of $150 million in funding for 11 projects for APFIT’s fiscal year 2023.
Established through fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, the merit-based program looks to support innovative and mature technologies that lack the financial capacity for deployment.
The first batch consisting of 10 projects was announced in July 2022, with each awardee receiving $10 million.
“This pilot program is a critical tool to help us bridge the ‘valley of death’ and transition capabilities to the warfighter quicker than previously planned. The companies being funded will fill crucial capability gaps,” said Heidi Shyu, undersecretary for research and engineering at DOD and a three-time Wash100 awardee.
Awards range from $10 million to $20 million for the new projects, which are listed below:
- Commercial Satellite Communications Terminals of the U.S. Marine Corps and Bascom Hunter Technologies ($15 million)
- Common Air-Launched Munitions Radio of the U.S. Air Force and Integrated Solutions for Systems ($10 million)
- Integrated Air Defense Cameras of the Defense Innovation Unit and Teleidoscope ($16.8 million)
- Minuteman III Code Wheel Replacement of the Defense Logistics Agency and BC Engineering Products ($10 million)
- Mixed Reality Pilot Training Devices of the U.S. Marine Corps and Bowhead Professional and Technical Solutions ($10 million)
- Modern Commercial Weather Satellites of the U.S. Space Force and Tomorrow.io ($10.3 million)
- Multi-Platform Anti-Jam Global Positioning System Antennas of the Army and Mayflower Communications ($20 million)
- Network Enhancements for Contested Environments of the U.S. Navy with Adaptive Dynamics Inc. and Caliola Engineering ($10 million)
- Tactical Passive Radar for Counter Unmanned Air Systems of the Army and Hidden Level ($10 million)
- Unmanned Surface Vehicle Range Extension using Beyond-Line-of-Sight Communications of the Navy and Maritime Applied Physics Corp. ($10 million)
- Vertical Take-off and Landing Capable Fixed-Wing Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Small UAS of the U.S. Special Operations Command and Quantum-Systems ($20 million)
