DAF SBIR DAF26BX06-DV026: Ground and Air Launched Drone Swarms Create a Self-Protecting Perimeter Using Autonomous AI
Quick Answer
DAF26BX06-DV026 is a Department of the Air Force SBIR Direct to Phase II topic under the DAF 2026 SBIR Commercial Solutions Opening, Release 6. The Air Force wants to take autonomous drone swarm technology that already works in the commercial world, adapt it to launch from high-altitude mobility aircraft such as the C-130 and KC-135, and prove it can establish an autonomous monitoring and defense perimeter on the ground. Awards are up to $2,000,000 for a period of performance up to 24 months, with a 35 page technical volume limit. The topic opens September 23, 2026 and closes October 21, 2026, submitted only through the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal.
This is a Direct to Phase II topic, which means no Phase I awards will be made and you cannot bootstrap your way in. You must already have a working swarm system deployed in demanding real-world environments, and you must be able to document that with deployment records, autonomous coordination metrics, and sensor integration data. The Air Force says so directly: traditional Phase I feasibility studies investigating the basic principles of swarm networking or autonomous flight are considered redundant. Your baseline technology needs to sit at Technology Readiness Level 5 or higher at project start, and the target at the end of Phase II is TRL 7.
Topic At a Glance
Topic number: DAF26BX06-DV026
Title: Ground and Air Launched Drone Swarms Create a Self-Protecting Perimeter Using Autonomous AI
Solicitation: Department of the Air Force 2026 SBIR Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO), Release 6, Direct to Phase II
Program type: Direct to Phase II (D2P2), no Phase I awards for this topic
Award maximum value: $2,000,000
Award maximum duration: 24 months
Technical volume page limit: 35 pages or slides
OUSD (R&E) Critical Technology Area: Applied Artificial Intelligence (AAI)
Component Technology Priority Areas: Trusted AI and Autonomy; Integrated Network System-of-Systems; Advanced Computing and Software
Projected CMMC level requirement: Level 2 (Self)
Export control status: Restricted under ITAR 22 CFR Parts 120-130 and EAR 15 CFR Parts 730-774
Starting technology maturity expected: TRL 5 or more
Target technology maturity at Phase II completion: TRL 7
Topic open date: September 23, 2026
Proposal deadline: October 21, 2026, at the time stated in the DoW FY26 SBIR CSO
Selection timeline: Evaluations and selections finalized within approximately 90 calendar days of solicitation close, meaning on or about January 19, 2027
Submission portal: DSIP at dodsbirsttr.mil
Keywords: autonomous drones, AI-driven swarm, air-launched effects, perimeter defense, secure communications, mobility asset protection, Agile Combat Employment, high-altitude deployment, mobility launch platforms, dual-use, swarm technology, force protection
Note on the deadline time. The DAF instructions direct applicants to the DoW FY26 SBIR CSO for the proposal submission deadline date and time rather than restating it. DoW SBIR CSO deadlines are ordinarily 12:00 p.m. Eastern on the close date. Confirm the exact time on the live DSIP topic posting before you plan your final day, and do not assume you have until midnight.
What the Air Force Is Actually Looking For
The operational problem
Mobility Air Forces aircraft are the logistical backbone of the Department of War. They are also high-value, relatively vulnerable assets that operate in contested environments. Separately, forward operating bases need to improve their security posture. The Air Force sees one technology that addresses both: a drone swarm that can be launched from a mobility aircraft, survive the launch, fly autonomously, and then establish a monitoring and defense perimeter on the ground.
The framing matters for how you write. This is not a drone development topic. It is an adaptation and integration topic. The Air Force states plainly that the fundamental scientific and technical merit of coordinating multiple uncrewed aerial systems through artificial intelligence has already been established by the private sector. What has not been done is making that work at operational altitudes, off a mobility airframe, over encrypted military communications, to Air Force operational standards.
The immediate Phase II objective
The stated immediate objective is to propose methods for and demonstrate the deployment and autonomous operation of a multi-agent swarm from high-altitude mobility launch platforms, while simultaneously demonstrating the swarm's dual-use capability to establish an autonomous monitoring and defense perimeter.
A critical research and development component of this phase focuses on proposing and developing secure, encrypted military communication architectures that meet Department of the Air Force operational standards. Read that as a hard requirement rather than a nice-to-have. Replacing your existing commercial data links with secure military communications is named as one of the three specified technical goals.
The three specified technical goals
The topic lists three capability demonstrations that validate the functional requirements:
First, the system should integrate secure, encrypted military communications, replacing readily available data links to ensure secure command and control that aligns with Department of the Air Force standards.
Second, the swarm should demonstrate the capability to safely deploy from mobility platforms at operational altitudes.
Third, the artificial intelligence software should be adapted to seamlessly transition from aerial deployment into a coordinated flight pattern and autonomously execute a perimeter defense monitoring route.
What is deliberately out of scope
This is unusual and worth reading twice. The Air Force says the approach deliberately avoids prescribing specific end-state payloads, so that flexible, innovative integration of various electronic or advanced sensing effects can happen in subsequent operational phases based on evolving warfighter requirements.
In other words, do not build your proposal around a specific kill chain, jammer, or exotic sensor package. The Air Force wants the foundational architecture proven: high-altitude deployment, secure networking, and autonomous baseline behavior. A proposal that spends its pages on a novel payload is answering a question the Air Force did not ask.
Proposed methods named in the topic
The topic names two proposed method areas: upgrading readily available communication links to integrate secure military protocols, and developing the autonomous behaviors necessary to seamlessly transition from aerial deployment to ground-based perimeter defense.
Operating parameters that the Air Force wants demonstrated include secure communication integration and deployment capabilities under operational conditions, deployments at operational altitudes that simulate operational Mobility Air Forces scenarios, and validation of the swarm's ability to autonomously monitor and defend a designated perimeter using onboard visual and thermal sensors.
The desired R&D outcome
A military-adapted prototype capable of demonstrating dual-use capabilities in an operational environment at TRL 7. The named use cases are organic intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance plus self-protection for Mobility Air Forces operating in contested airspace, and providing forward operating locations with an instantly deployable, autonomous perimeter monitoring system.
The Feasibility Requirement, Which Is Where Most Proposals Will Fail
Direct to Phase II inverts the usual SBIR sequence. Instead of proposing to establish feasibility, you must prove you already did, outside the SBIR program. The Air Force will not review a proposal that fails this test, and it applies the test before technical merit is considered.
The two absolute rules
Rule one: the feasibility work must have been substantially performed by the applicant or the principal investigator. Work someone else did does not qualify.
Rule two: feasibility documentation cannot be based upon, or logically extend from, any prior or ongoing federally funded SBIR or STTR work. This authority exists specifically for companies that matured technology outside the SBIR pipeline. If your swarm capability came out of a previous SBIR or STTR award, you are not eligible to use it as your feasibility basis here.
The DAF states it will not consider the proposal if the applicant fails to demonstrate technical merit and feasibility have been established, or if the feasibility documentation does not support substantial performance by the applicant or the principal investigator. Note that feasibility documentation can be included as part of Volume 5.
What this specific topic accepts as proof
The topic is more concrete than most about what feasibility looks like, which is a gift. Use their categories as your section headings.
Readily available deployment records. Verifiable data or reports detailing active use of the proposed swarm software and hardware in relevant environments. The examples given are testing or use alongside state or federal fire agencies and municipal police departments. This documentation should indicate the system has progressed from controlled laboratory testing to validation in relevant environments.
Autonomous coordination metrics. Technical reports or system logs demonstrating the software's capability to autonomously control a multi-agent swarm without continuous, manual piloting of individual nodes. Named examples include data on mesh network stability, dynamic task allocation among drones, and collision avoidance algorithms operating in chaotic environments such as airspace obscured by smoke or complex urban terrain.
Sensor integration and tracking data. Documentation showing integration of visual and thermal (EO/IR) payloads, and the software's ability to autonomously use those sensors to detect, track, and relay data on designated targets or points of interest.
The Air Force says that providing this documentation demonstrates the baseline technology sits at a minimum TRL of 5 or 6, establishing that the foundational feasibility traditionally explored in Phase I has already been achieved through iterative development.
The practical read
The ideal applicant for this topic has flown swarms for wildland firefighting or law enforcement, has logs and after-action data from those deployments, and has EO/IR integration already working. If you have that, you are in a strong position and the writing job is largely documentation. If you do not, no amount of proposal quality will fix it, and your effort is better spent elsewhere.
Funding Allowance and Cost Structure
Award ceiling
Up to $2,000,000 across up to 24 months. The topic index carries an unambiguous warning: proposals in excess of this amount will not be considered for evaluation or award, and proposals in excess of this duration will not be considered for evaluation or award.
One nuance the DAF adds that is worth understanding. In the evaluation section, the DAF states that any per-award or per-topic funding caps are budgetary estimates only, and more or less funding may become available. It also states that multiple procurements are planned and anticipated, each proposal is a separate procurement evaluated on its own merit, and the Government may award all, some, or none of the proposals. Funding decisions are made with complete disregard to the other awards under the same topic. Do not calibrate your proposal against an imagined competitor.
Contract type and fee
Generally firm-fixed-price contracts are appropriate for Phase II awards. In accordance with the SBA SBIR/STTR Policy Directive, Phase II contracts must include profit or fee. This differs from how some applicants approach cost-type work, so build fee in.
Technical and Business Assistance
The DAF will provide up to $50,000 per Phase II award for TABA, in addition to the per-topic award total, identified in the Volume 3 Cost Proposal. Applicants may elect to use half of the allocation, $25,000, on a first SBIR Phase II award and the other half on a sequential SBIR Phase II award.
TABA funding can only be used for the activities and purposes in 15 U.S.C. 638(q)(1)(A) through (E). Eligible activities include access to a network of scientists and engineers, assistance with product sales, intellectual property protections, cybersecurity assistance, market research, market validation, development of regulations and manufacturing plans, and access to technical and business literature through online databases. Those activities must serve one of these purposes: making better technical decisions, solving technical problems arising during the project, minimizing technical risks, developing and commercializing new commercial products and processes including IP protections, and screening for potential foreign involvement in technology development or commercialization activities.
The compliance trap is specific and unforgiving. A TABA request creditable to a provider must include the provider name, the provider point of contact with email and phone, an explanation of the provider's unique qualifications, the tasks the provider will perform including purpose and objective, and total provider cost with hours and labor rates. Blended or average rates are acceptable. The task milestone list must track to the milestone payment schedule otherwise provided by the applicant. If instead you are using TABA to hire new staff, augment staff, or direct staff into training, you must provide names and positions, the business need or training to be provided, the number of employees involved, and their qualifications or the detailed need for training, plus total staff or training cost, hours, and labor rates.
Most important: the detailed TABA request must appear in Volume 5 Supporting Documents. TABA requests that only specify a value in the Volume 3 Cost Proposal will not be considered.
Cost volume requirements
The DAF wants a detailed cost proposal broken out by individual cost element and by contractor fiscal year, in sufficient detail to determine the basis for estimates and the purpose, necessity, and reasonableness of each. Cost proposal attachments do not count toward page limits.
Direct labor: identify key personnel by name where possible, and labor category otherwise, with direct labor hours, labor overhead or fringe, and actual hourly rates for each individual.
Direct cost materials: itemized list of types, quantities, prices and purpose. For planned computer or software purchases, expect to provide manufacturer, price quotes, proposed use, and support for the need.
Other direct costs: specialized services such as machining or milling, special test and analysis, and temporary use or lease of specialized facilities or equipment, with usage hours, rates, sources, and justification. Leased hardware requires a lease versus purchase rationale.
Special tooling, special test equipment, and material: must be advantageous to the Government in the Contracting Officer's opinion and relate directly to the effort, and should not be items an applicant would ordinarily possess in the normal course of business.
Subcontracts: supported with copies of subcontract agreements that adequately describe the work and cost bases, including a statement of work, assigned personnel, hours and rates, materials, and proposed travel. A letter from a subcontractor agreeing to perform at a fixed price is expressly not sufficient. The prime must accomplish price analysis of proposed subcontractor costs.
Consultants: a separate agreement letter for each stating the service, hours required, and hourly rate, plus a short resume.
Travel: each effort should include at a minimum a kickoff or interim meeting. Justify destinations, trips, travelers, airfare, per diem, lodging, and ground transportation against the Joint Travel Regulation.
Indirect costs: indicate proposed rate bases, identify the specific rates and allocation bases, and provide rates and applications per fiscal year across the anticipated performance period. Do not propose composite rates.
Non-SBIR governmental or private investment is allowed but not required, and will not be a proposal evaluation factor.
A significant procedural point: if no exceptions are taken to an applicant's proposal, the Government may award a contract without exchanges. Your initial proposal should therefore contain your best terms from a cost, price, and technical standpoint. Do not hold anything back for a negotiation that may never happen.
The two work-performance rules, and a tension worth asking about
The DAF instructions contain two statements about how much work you must perform yourself, and they do not obviously agree.
In the Consultants and Subcontractors section, the instructions state that in accordance with the SBA SBIR Policy Directive, a minimum of 50 percent of the R/R&D must be performed by the proposing firm unless otherwise approved in writing by the Contracting Officer.
In the Performance of Work Requirements section, the instructions state that for Phase II, a minimum of one-third of the research or analytical effort must be performed by the awardee, measured by both direct and indirect costs, not including profit.
Separately, the instructions cap the proposed total of all consultant fees, facility leases or usage fees, and other subcontract or purchase agreements at one-half of the total contract price unless approved in writing by the Contracting Officer.
The conservative course is to plan on performing at least half the R/R&D in house and keeping all outside costs under half the contract price, which satisfies every reading. If your teaming structure cannot meet that, note the deviation process: requests for Performance of Work deviations must be made twice, first prior to submission during the topic open period, and again as part of the initial proposal submission. The DAF will not consider these requests before proposal submission opens. Given the ambiguity, this is a good question for the DAF SBIR/STTR One Help Desk early in the open period.
Where the work must be performed
All R/R&D must be performed in the United States by the small business and its team members. Based on rare and unique circumstances, the DAF may approve a particular portion of the work to be performed or obtained outside the United States, and the awarding Funding Agreement officer must approve each specific condition in writing. Applicants seeking that approval must request it with the initial proposal submission.
Export Control, Which Is Not Optional on This Topic
The technology in this topic is restricted under ITAR 22 CFR Parts 120-130 and EAR 15 CFR Parts 730-774. That has direct staffing consequences.
Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their countries of origin, the type of visa or work permit held, and the statement of work tasks intended for accomplishment by those individuals. The topic warns that foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under U.S. export control laws.
The instructions define a foreign national as any person who is not a citizen or national of the United States, not a lawful permanent resident, and not a protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b. All applicants proposing to use foreign nationals must follow the FY26 SBIR CSO and disclose regardless of whether the topic is subject to ITAR.
Where the topic area is subject to export control, foreign national individuals who are permitted to participate are limited to work in the public domain. Further, tasks assigned must not be capable of assimilation into an understanding of the project's overall objectives, which the instructions note prevents foreign persons from acting in key positions such as Principal Investigator or Senior Engineer.
For projects with military or dual-use applications developing beyond fundamental research, the contractor must comply with all U.S. export control laws, is responsible for obtaining appropriate licenses or approvals including for deemed exports of hardware, technical data, and software, must obtain export licenses before using foreign persons including where work is performed on-site at a Government installation, is responsible for regulatory record keeping associated with licenses and exemptions, and must ensure these provisions apply to its subcontractors.
If you are asserting export-controlled status, a certified DD Form 2345 Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement, or evidence of application submission, belongs in Volume 5. DD Form 2345 approval will be required if the proposal is selected for award.
Proposal Structure: The Seven Volumes
Formatting rules
Type no smaller than 11-point on standard 8.5 by 11 paper, one-inch margins, pages consecutively numbered. Note this differs from Army SBIR instructions, which permit 10-point, so do not reuse an Army-formatted document without checking.
Proposals should be direct, concise, and informative. Applicants are discouraged from including promotional and non-programmatic items, and if included, such material counts toward the page limit. Marketing material will not be evaluated and should not be included.
The technical volume limit for this topic is 35 pages or slides. Pages in excess of that count will not be considered by the Government in evaluations. Preferred submission format is PDF, and graphics must be distinguishable in black and white. Virus-check all submissions.
Volume 6 Fraud, Waste, and Abuse training must be completed before proposal submission. DSIP will not allow submission until the training is complete and certified. The DAF recommends completing submission early, since site traffic is heavy prior to solicitation close and causes system lag. The DAF will not be responsible for proposals not completely submitted prior to the deadline due to system inaccessibility unless advised by DoW, and will not accept alternative means of submission outside DSIP.
Volume 1, Cover Sheet
Completed per DSIP instructions. The technical abstract should include a brief description of program objectives, a description of the effort, anticipated benefits, and commercial applications of the proposed research, plus a list of keywords and terms. The technical abstract of each successful proposal will be submitted to the Office of the Secretary of War for publication, so it must not contain proprietary or classified information. If selected for funding, the technical abstract and discussion of anticipated benefits will be publicly released.
Volume 2, Technical Volume
Include the following items in the order provided.
Table of contents, located immediately after the cover sheet.
Glossary of acronyms and abbreviations used in the proposal.
Milestone identification: a program schedule with all key milestones identified.
Identification and significance of the problem or opportunity: briefly reference the specific technical problem or opportunity to be pursued.
Phase II technical objectives: detail the specific objectives of the Phase II work and describe the technical approach and methods to be used in meeting them, including an assessment of potential commercial application for each objective.
Work plan: a separate and distinct part of the proposal package, divided from the technical proposal by a page break, beginning on a new page. It must contain a summary description of the technical methodology and task description in broad enough detail to provide contractual flexibility. Do not include proprietary information, because if the proposal is selected the work plan will be incorporated into the resulting contract by reference. The recommended format is 1.0 Objective, a brief overview of the specialty area explaining purpose and expected outcome; 2.0 Scope, a concise description of the work including technology area, goals, and major milestones, with task development and deliverables as the key elements, consistent with section 4.0; 3.0 Background, identifying applicable specifications, standards, and other documents, constraints to understanding requirements, relationships to previous, current, or future operations, and techniques previously determined ineffective; and 4.0 Task/Technical Requirements, detailed individual task descriptions developed in orderly progression with sufficient detail to establish overall program requirements and goals, segregated into major tasks in separately numbered paragraphs. Each numbered major task should delineate work by subtask. The work plan must contain every task to be accomplished in definite, realistic, and clearly stated terms. Use "shall" for binding provisions, "should" or "may" for a declaration or purpose, and "will" when no contractor requirement is involved.
Deliverables: clearly describe the specific sample or prototype hardware and software to be delivered, plus data deliverables, schedules, and quantities. Be aware of the possible unique item identification requirement under DFARS 252.211-7003 for hardware. If hardware or software will be developed but not delivered, provide an explanation. At minimum, all Phase II contracts require Scientific and Technical Reports. Rights in technical data including software developed under a SBIR contract generally remain with the contractor, and the Government obtains SBIR/STTR data rights in all data developed or generated under the contract for 20 years commencing at contract award, after which the Government has Government purpose rights to the SBIR data. The Final Report's first page is a single-page project summary identifying the work's purpose, briefly describing the effort accomplished, and listing potential result applications; that summary may be published by DoW and must contain no proprietary or classified information. Status reports are due quarterly at a minimum. The Air Force may require additional reporting including software documentation and users' manuals, engineering drawings, operation and maintenance documentation, safety hazard analysis when the project results in partial or total development and delivery of hardware, and updates to commercialization results.
Related work: describe significant activities directly related to the proposed effort, including previous programs conducted by the principal investigator, proposing firm, consultants, or others, and their application to the proposed project. Describe how these activities interface with the proposed project and discuss planned coordination with outside sources. List any applicant-identified subject matter experts regardless of affiliation, with comments regarding the applicant's knowledge of the state of the art in the specific approach proposed. Describe previous work not directly related but similar, giving a short description, the client for whom the work was performed including an individual to be contacted and phone number, and the date of completion.
Commercialization potential: the DoW requires a commercialization plan with the Phase II proposal, specifically addressing what the first planned product to incorporate the proposed technology is, who the probable customers are and the estimated market size, how much money is needed to bring the technology to market and how it will be raised, whether the firm has the necessary marketing expertise and if not how it will compensate, and who the probable competitors are and what price or quality advantage is anticipated. The plan should briefly describe commercialization potential for the project's anticipated results and plans to exploit it. Commercial potential is evidenced by the existence of private sector or non-SBIR governmental funding sources demonstrating commitment to Phase II efforts and results, the existence of Phase III follow-on commitments for the research subject, and other indicators of commercial technology potential including the firm's commercialization strategy. If awarded, the awardee must periodically update commercialization results via SBA, at completion of the effort and when submitting a new SBIR/STTR proposal to DoW; firms not submitting a new proposal will be asked for annual updates after completion. Note that the Commercialization Plan and the Company Commercialization Report are distinct documents.
Relationship with future R/R&D efforts: state the anticipated results of the proposed approach, specifically addressing plans for Phase III if any, and discuss the significance of the D2P2 effort in providing a basis for the Phase III effort if planned.
Key personnel: identify all key personnel with information directly related to education, experience, and citizenship. A technical resume for the principal investigator including publications must be included. Concise resumes for subcontractors and consultants are useful. Identify all non-U.S. citizens expected to be involved as direct employees, subcontractors, or consultants, and for those individuals provide countries of origin, type of visa or work permit held, and the tasks they are anticipated to perform. The principal investigator's primary employment must be with the small business at the time of award and during the entire period of performance, where primary employment means more than one-half of the PI's time is spent in the small business's employ, which precludes full-time employment with another entity. Only one principal investigator or project manager can be designated per proposal.
Facilities and equipment: describe instrumentation and physical facilities necessary and available to carry out the effort. Justify equipment to be purchased, with detail in the cost proposal. State whether proposed performance locations meet environmental laws and regulations of federal, state, and local governments for airborne emissions, waterborne effluents, external radiation levels, outdoor noise, solid and bulk waste disposal practices, and handling and storage of toxic and hazardous materials.
Consultants and subcontractors: private companies, consultants, or universities may be involved and all should be described in detail and included in the cost proposal. Signed copies of all consultant or subcontractor letters of intent must be attached, briefly stating the contribution or expertise being provided. Include statements of work and detailed cost proposals, and information regarding unique qualifications. Subcontract copies and supporting documents do not count against the page limit. Identify any subcontractor or consultant foreign citizens.
Prior, current, or pending support of similar proposals or awards: while it is permissible with proper notification to submit identical proposals or proposals containing a significant amount of essentially equivalent work for consideration under numerous federal program solicitations, it is unlawful to enter into contracts or grants requiring essentially equivalent effort. Any potential for that situation must be disclosed before award. If this proposal is substantially the same as another submitted previously, currently, or in the process of being funded by another federal agency, DoW component, or the DAF, indicate so on the cover sheet and provide the agency names and addresses, submission or award dates, proposal titles, PI names and titles, solicitation titles and numbers and dates, contract numbers if awarded, and the applicable topics for each proposal or award. If the section does not apply, state so in the proposal and certify on the cover sheet, "No prior, current, or pending support for proposed work."
Volume 3, Cost Volume
Covered above under funding. Cost proposal information will be treated as proprietary.
Volume 4, Company Commercialization Report
Completion of the CCR in DSIP is required. Note a meaningful difference from Army SBIR practice: information contained in the CCR will not be considered by the DAF during proposal evaluations. It is a compliance item here, not a scoring input.
Volume 5, Supporting Documents
May be required if applicable: DD Form 2345 for export-controlled topics, which applies to this topic; Verification of Eligibility of Small Business Joint Ventures, which is Attachment 3 to the DoW SBIR FY26 CSO; and Technical Data Rights Assertions if asserting data rights restrictions.
Required of all proposal submissions: feasibility documentation. D2P2 proposals require a comprehensive, detailed effort description and should demonstrate sufficient technical progress or problem-solving results to warrant more extensive RDT&E. Developing technologies with commercial and military potential is described as extremely important, and the DAF is particularly seeking proposals emphasizing dual-use applications and commercialization. The applicant must provide information enabling the agency to make the 15 U.S.C. 638(cc) determination of scientific and technical feasibility and merit. Feasibility efforts detailed must have been substantially performed by the applicant or the PI. If technology in the feasibility documentation is subject to intellectual property rights, the applicant must provide IP rights assertions, and must provide a short summary for each item asserted with less than unlimited rights describing the restriction's nature and the intellectual property intended for use in the proposed research.
If appropriate, include a reference or works cited list as the last page. Do not include marketing material.
Volume 6, Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Training
Material is in the Volume 6 section of the DSIP proposal submission module and must be thoroughly reviewed once per year to proceed with submission. Complete this before you need it.
Volume 7, Disclosures of Foreign Affiliations or Relationships to Foreign Countries
Small business concerns must complete the webform in Volume 7 of the DSIP proposal submission. The webform version will not be accepted as a PDF supporting document in Volume 5, and previous versions of the form must not be uploaded to Volume 5.
How Your Proposal Will Be Evaluated
The process
D2P2 proposals are evaluated on a competitive basis by subject matter expert scientists, engineers, or other technical personnel. Confidential proposal and evaluation information will be protected to the greatest extent possible. Proposals will be disqualified and not evaluated if the Phase I equivalency documentation does not establish the proposed technical approach's feasibility and technical merit.
Selections are based on a determination of the overall technical value of each proposal and an evaluation of the cost volume, for selection of the proposals most advantageous to the Government. Where technical evaluations are essentially equal in merit, cost or price will be considered in determining successful applicants. All evaluation criteria other than cost or price, when combined, are significantly more important than cost or price.
The criteria for this topic
DAF26BX06-DV026 is evaluated under the criteria set that applies to DV026, DV511, DV512, and DV513, in descending order of importance.
Criteria A, most important: the soundness, technical merit, and innovation of the proposed approach and its incremental progress toward topic or subtopic solution, and the qualifications of the proposed principal and key investigators, supporting staff, and consultants. This includes whether the proposed cost elements are realistic for the work to be performed, reflect a clear understanding of the requirements, and are consistent with the unique methods of performance and materials described in the technical proposal.
Criteria B, second: the degree of mission impact and the urgency of the identified need, the specificity of the defense requirement addressed, and the adequacy of the proposed effort in fulfilling the research topic or subtopic solution.
Criteria C, third: the potential for commercial application in the Government or private sector and the benefits expected to accrue from that commercialization.
Two things follow. First, cost realism is inside Criteria A, the most heavily weighted factor, not a separate cost evaluation. A technically strong proposal with a cost volume that does not match the described methods will be marked down on the top criterion. Second, mission impact and urgency sit above commercialization here, which is the reverse of the Army rubric weighting. Your Criteria B argument should be specific: which Mobility Air Forces problem, whose problem it is, and why now.
Foreign risk evaluation
The DAF will evaluate all small business concerns submitting under this release on whether the concern presents a security risk, using the due diligence process required under 15 U.S.C. 638(vv), disclosures required under 15 U.S.C. 638(g) and (o), and coordination with the intelligence community as defined in section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947, federal law enforcement, and other counterintelligence capabilities.
The risk-based assessment covers cybersecurity practices, patent analysis, employee analysis, foreign ownership of the concern including financial ties and obligations covering surety, equity, and debt obligations of the concern and its employees to a foreign country, person, or entity, foreign affiliations of a covered individual, owner, or other key personnel with an entity in a foreign country of concern, investment relationships with an individual or entity in a foreign country of concern, technology licensing agreements or joint ventures including joint venture like agreements with an individual or entity in a foreign country of concern, and business relationships between a covered individual, owner, or other key personnel and an individual or entity in a foreign country of concern.
The DAF will also assess proposals using open-source analysis and analytical tools for nondisclosures of information set forth in 15 U.S.C. 638(g)(13) or 15 U.S.C. 638(o)(17), and examine any relationship of the concern to any entity or individual on the lists in 15 U.S.C. 638(g)(16)(D) and 638(o)(20)(D).
If the DAF assesses that a concern has security risks, it may either create a plan to mitigate them or decide not to select the proposal based on a totality of the review.
Award denial is mandatory under 15 U.S.C. 638(g)(16) or 638(o)(20) if the DAF determines the concern has an owner or covered individual who is party to a malign foreign talent recruitment program; has a business entity, parent company, or subsidiary located in the People's Republic of China or another foreign country of concern; has an owner or covered individual with a foreign affiliation with a research institution located in the PRC or another foreign country of concern; or has a security risk connecting the concern, including any affiliates, to an entity or individual on the UFLPA Entity List, the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List, the Section 889 Prohibition List, the Section 1260H list of Chinese Military Companies, the Military End User List, the Entity List, the FCC List of Equipment and Services, or the Withhold Release Orders and Findings List. The DAF also will not award if the concern has a security risk with a primary source that is classified, or a security risk the DAF determines warrants denial.
Applicants must disclose under penalty of perjury the representations, attestations, and certifications required under 15 U.S.C. 638(g)(13) and 638(o)(17), fulfilled by completing Volume 7. A written statement with any substantial changes to the foreign disclosure form must be provided to the awarding agency within 30 days of any changes while on a project for the DAF.
If an award is denied on these grounds, the DAF will as appropriate and in a manner that does not compromise security provide notification advising the small business of the determination, the basis for it, and a statement that denial does not prohibit eligibility for an award in a subsequent cycle.
Ownership and support contractors
Small business concerns owned in majority part by multiple venture capital operating companies, hedge funds, or private equity funds are eligible to submit applications or receive awards for DAF topics.
Proposals may be handled for administrative purposes only by support contractors, which may include APEX, Peerless Technologies, Engineering Services Network, HPC-COM, Mile Two, REI Systems, MacB (an Alion company), Montech, Oasis, Astrion/Oasis, and Infinite Management Solutions. Only Government employees and technical personnel from the FFRDCs MITRE and Aerospace Corporation working under contract to provide technical support to Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and Space Force may evaluate proposals. All support contractors are bound by non-disclosure agreements. Concerns about any of these contractors go to the DAF SBIR/STTR Contracting Officer.
Status, feedback, and protests
The principal investigator and the Corporate Official indicated on the cover sheet will be notified by email regarding selection or non-selection. Small businesses receive a notification for each proposal submitted, so read each carefully and note the proposal number and topic number referenced.
Automated feedback will be provided for proposals designated Not Selected. Additional feedback may be provided at the sole discretion of the DAF.
Proposals submitted to the DAF are received and evaluated by different organizations, handled by topic, and each organization operates within its own schedule for evaluation and selection, so notification timeframes will vary. If contacted regarding one proposal submission, it is not necessary to request information about additional submissions.
The DAF anticipates that all proposals will be evaluated and selections finalized within approximately 90 calendar days of solicitation close. Refrain from contacting the DAF for proposal status before that time. Protests after award should be submitted, as prescribed in FAR 33.106(b) and FAR 52.233-3, to the Air Force SBIR/STTR Contracting Officer and to the individual procuring contracting officer listed on your firm's selection notification.
Final reports go to the awarding DAF organization per contract instructions. Companies do not submit final reports directly to the Defense Technical Information Center.
Timeline and What to Do When
The dates
Topic opens: September 23, 2026
Proposal deadline: October 21, 2026, at the time specified in the DoW FY26 SBIR CSO, ordinarily 12:00 p.m. Eastern. Confirm on DSIP.
Selections finalized: within approximately 90 calendar days of close, on or about January 19, 2027
Period of performance: up to 24 months from award
A working backward plan
Before September 23. This window is for assembling feasibility evidence, not writing. Pull your deployment records from fire agency or law enforcement work into a usable form. Extract the autonomous coordination logs: mesh stability, dynamic task allocation, collision avoidance in degraded visual environments. Package your EO/IR integration and tracking data. Confirm which of your people are U.S. persons under the definition in the instructions and identify any export control constraints on your team. Start the DD Form 2345 process if you do not already hold one, since approval will be required at award. Complete Volume 6 training. Verify SAM registration and DSIP account alignment. Contact the DAF SBIR/STTR One Help Desk with clarifying questions, and note the DAF explicitly encourages early questions because late ones constrain its ability to respond.
September 23 through October 3. Draft Volume 2 in the required order. The work plan is a separate document with a page break, written in contract language with shall, should, may, and will used deliberately, and with no proprietary content since it becomes part of the contract by reference. Build the milestone schedule first, because the TABA task milestone list must track to your milestone payment schedule.
October 4 through October 12. Build the cost volume by element and by fiscal year. Collect signed letters of intent from every consultant and subcontractor, with statements of work and detailed cost proposals. Check your work-performance percentages against the 50 percent R/R&D and one-half subcontract cost thresholds. Write the detailed TABA request into Volume 5 if you are requesting TABA.
October 13 through October 16. Assemble Volume 5, complete the Volume 7 webform, confirm the CCR in Volume 4, and run a compliance pass: 35 page limit, 11-point minimum type, one-inch margins, consecutive page numbers, graphics legible in black and white, PDF virus-checked, no marketing material, no proprietary information in the abstract or the work plan.
October 17 through October 19. Submit in DSIP and certify. The DAF explicitly warns about system lag from heavy traffic near close and disclaims responsibility for incomplete submissions caused by inaccessibility.
October 20 through October 21. Buffer only.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is DAF SBIR topic DAF26BX06-DV026?
DAF26BX06-DV026 is a Department of the Air Force SBIR Direct to Phase II topic titled "Ground and Air Launched Drone Swarms Create a Self-Protecting Perimeter Using Autonomous AI," released under the DAF 2026 SBIR Commercial Solutions Opening, Release 6. It seeks to adapt mature commercial autonomous drone swarm technology for launch from high-altitude mobility aircraft and for autonomous ground perimeter defense.
How much funding is available under DAF26BX06-DV026?
Up to $2,000,000 for a period of performance up to 24 months. Proposals exceeding either limit will not be considered for evaluation or award. Up to $50,000 in Technical and Business Assistance may be requested in addition to that ceiling.
When is the proposal deadline?
The topic closes October 21, 2026. The DAF instructions point to the DoW FY26 SBIR CSO for the exact submission time, which is ordinarily 12:00 p.m. Eastern on the close date. Confirm the time on the live DSIP topic posting rather than assuming an end-of-day deadline.
When does this topic open?
September 23, 2026, giving a 29 day submission window.
Can I submit a Phase I proposal for this topic?
No. This is a Direct to Phase II topic and no Phase I awards are anticipated. You must document that a prior Phase I type effort established feasibility, and that effort cannot have been performed under a prior or ongoing federally funded SBIR or STTR award.
What feasibility documentation does this topic require?
Three categories are named. Readily available deployment records showing verifiable active use of your swarm software and hardware in relevant environments, such as work alongside state or federal fire agencies or municipal police departments. Autonomous coordination metrics from technical reports or system logs showing autonomous control of a multi-agent swarm without continuous manual piloting, including mesh network stability, dynamic task allocation, and collision avoidance in chaotic environments. Sensor integration and tracking data showing EO/IR payload integration and autonomous detection, tracking, and data relay.
What technology readiness level do I need to start?
The Air Force expects the core readily available technology to sit at TRL 5 or more at project start, and states that the feasibility documentation demonstrates a minimum TRL of 5 or 6. The target at the end of the Phase II effort is TRL 7, a military-adapted system prototype demonstrated under operational conditions.
Can I use a prior SBIR award as my feasibility basis?
No. Feasibility documentation cannot be based upon or logically extend from any prior or ongoing federally funded SBIR or STTR work. The Direct to Phase II authority exists for companies that matured technology outside the SBIR pipeline.
Does the Air Force want me to propose a specific payload?
No. The topic deliberately avoids prescribing specific end-state payloads so that electronic or advanced sensing effects can be integrated in later operational phases based on evolving requirements. Focus your proposal on high-altitude deployment, secure military communications integration, and autonomous baseline behavior.
Is this topic export controlled?
Yes. The technology is restricted under ITAR 22 CFR Parts 120-130 and EAR 15 CFR Parts 730-774. You must disclose any proposed foreign nationals with their countries of origin, visa or work permit type, and assigned statement of work tasks, and the topic warns those individuals may be restricted from performing. A certified DD Form 2345, or evidence of application, belongs in Volume 5, and DD Form 2345 approval will be required if selected for award.
Can foreign nationals work on this project?
Only in limited ways. Where the topic area is subject to export control, permitted foreign national participants are limited to work in the public domain, and assigned tasks must not be capable of assimilation into an understanding of the project's overall objectives. The instructions note this prevents foreign persons from acting in key positions such as Principal Investigator or Senior Engineer.
How long can my technical volume be?
35 pages or slides for this topic. Pages in excess will not be considered during evaluations. Type must be no smaller than 11-point on 8.5 by 11 paper with one-inch margins and consecutively numbered pages. Cost proposal attachments and subcontract copies do not count toward the limit.
How is my proposal evaluated?
Under three criteria in descending order of importance. Criteria A covers soundness, technical merit, and innovation of the approach, incremental progress toward a solution, the qualifications of key personnel, and whether the proposed cost elements are realistic and consistent with the technical proposal. Criteria B covers degree of mission impact, urgency of the identified need, specificity of the defense requirement, and adequacy of the effort. Criteria C covers commercial application potential. All criteria other than cost or price, combined, are significantly more important than cost or price.
Is cost evaluated separately?
Cost realism sits inside Criteria A, the most important factor, so a cost volume inconsistent with your described methods hurts your top-weighted score. Separately, where technical evaluations are essentially equal in merit, cost or price will be considered in determining successful applicants.
How much of the work must my company perform?
The instructions state two thresholds. The Consultants and Subcontractors section requires a minimum of 50 percent of the R/R&D be performed by the proposing firm unless the Contracting Officer approves otherwise in writing. The Performance of Work Requirements section states a minimum of one-third of the research or analytical effort for Phase II must be performed by the awardee, measured by direct and indirect costs excluding profit. Separately, all consultant fees, facility leases, and other subcontract or purchase agreements together may not exceed one-half of the total contract price without written Contracting Officer approval. Planning to perform at least half the R/R&D in house satisfies every reading; if you cannot, ask the DAF SBIR/STTR One Help Desk early and follow the deviation request process.
How do I request a performance of work deviation?
Requests must be made twice, first prior to submission during the topic open period, and again as part of the initial proposal submission. The DAF will not consider these requests before proposal submission.
Does the Company Commercialization Report affect my score?
No. Completing the CCR as Volume 4 is required, but the DAF states that information contained in the CCR will not be considered during proposal evaluations. This differs from Army SBIR practice, where the CCR is considered.
What is TABA and how do I request it?
Technical and Business Assistance is up to $50,000 per Phase II award, in addition to the per-topic ceiling, identified in the Volume 3 Cost Proposal. You may split it, using $25,000 on a first SBIR Phase II and $25,000 on a sequential SBIR Phase II. The detailed request must be in Volume 5, including provider name, point of contact, unique qualifications, tasks with purpose and objective, and total cost with hours and labor rates, and the task milestone list must track to your milestone payment schedule. TABA requests that only specify a value in Volume 3 will not be considered.
Who owns the data and software I develop?
Rights in technical data including software developed under a SBIR contract generally remain with the contractor. The Government obtains SBIR/STTR data rights in all data developed or generated under the contract for 20 years from contract award, after which the Government has Government purpose rights to the SBIR data.
Do Phase II contracts include profit?
Yes. Generally firm-fixed-price contracts are appropriate for Phase II awards, and in accordance with the SBA SBIR/STTR Policy Directive, Phase II contracts must include profit or fee.
Will I be able to negotiate after submitting?
Possibly not. If no exceptions are taken to your proposal, the Government may award a contract without exchanges. Your initial proposal should contain your best terms from a cost, price, and technical standpoint.
Are venture-backed companies eligible?
Yes. Small business concerns owned in majority part by multiple venture capital operating companies, hedge funds, or private equity funds are eligible to submit applications or receive awards for DAF topics.
When will I hear about selection?
The DAF anticipates all proposals will be evaluated and selections finalized within approximately 90 calendar days of solicitation close, meaning on or about January 19, 2027. The principal investigator and Corporate Official on the cover sheet are notified by email, with a separate notification for each proposal submitted.
Will I get feedback if not selected?
Automated feedback is provided for proposals designated Not Selected. Additional feedback may be provided at the sole discretion of the DAF.
What is the commercial market for this technology?
The topic names several. Interagency partners including NOAA seek high-altitude deployment capability to safely launch swarms into hurricanes and atmospheric rivers for real-time weather data collection. Commercially, the ruggedized secure swarm capability can be expanded for advanced disaster response, large-scale search and rescue, and commercial aviation monitoring. The Air National Guard application for Domestic Operations, including rapid wide-area sensor coverage to locate survivors during natural disasters and persistent autonomous border surveillance, is also named.
Who do I contact with questions?
For general information about the DAF SBIR/STTR program and proposal preparation instructions, contact the DAF SBIR/STTR One Help Desk at usaf.team@afsbirsttr.us. The DAF encourages applicants to request clarifying information as early as possible, since late requests constrain its ability to respond. For DSIP electronic submission system issues, contact dodsbirsupport@reisystems.com. The Air Force SBIR/STTR Contracting Officer is Mr. Daniel J. Brewer at Daniel.Brewer.13@us.af.mil. If your company mailing address, email addresses, or points of contact change after submission, notify the One Help Desk with the subject line "FY26 SBIR CSO Address Change."
Positioning Advice for Startups Considering This Topic
Qualify yourself honestly on feasibility first. This topic has a narrow ideal applicant: a company with a fielded autonomous swarm, real deployment history in a demanding civil mission, EO/IR already integrated, and no SBIR lineage on that technology. If any of those four is missing, read the other four topics in this release before you commit a proposal team.
Lead with the deployment record, not the vision. The single strongest asset you can put in front of these evaluators is verifiable operational data from fire or law enforcement work. Quantify it: number of sorties, swarm sizes, environmental conditions, autonomy percentage, intervention rates. Vague claims of maturity read as absence of evidence.
Treat secure military communications as the core R&D. Of the three specified technical goals, this is the one most likely to be genuinely hard and most likely to separate serious proposals. Name the approach, the encryption and waveform path, the standards you are targeting, and the risks. If you have a partner for this, get their letter of intent and statement of work in early.
Do not propose a payload. The Air Force said explicitly that it is avoiding end-state payload prescription. Respect that boundary and spend the pages on architecture, launch survivability, and autonomous transition behavior.
Make the launch problem concrete. High-altitude release from a C-130 or KC-135 involves surviving the launch environment, achieving controlled autonomous flight after release, and doing it at operational altitudes. Address the airworthiness and integration path, and note that the topic mentions Phase III involves finalizing airworthiness certifications with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Mobility Directorate.
Use the transition evidence the topic hands you. The topic states transition planning is actively underway, that the project team is engaging AMC Futures and the Chief Scientist to champion an Initial Capabilities Document based on Phase II capability demonstration data, and that ARCWERX is assisting in identifying follow-on acquisition vehicles. That is a named transition pathway. Reference it and show how your Phase II deliverables feed an Initial Capabilities Document.
Write Criteria B as a mission argument, not a technology argument. Mission impact and urgency outrank commercialization in this rubric. Contested logistics, Agile Combat Employment, and base defense are the operative concepts. The topic cites AMC Commander statements on contested logistics and adaptive capabilities. Ground your urgency claim in that language.
Get the cost volume consistent with the technical volume. Cost realism is inside the top-weighted criterion. If your work plan says you will run flight test campaigns at operational altitudes, your travel, test range, and airframe integration costs need to show up and be justified.
Build the dual-use case around the named analogs. NOAA hurricane sampling, disaster response, large-scale search and rescue, commercial aviation monitoring, and Air National Guard Domestic Operations are all in the topic text. Commercialization is Criteria C, so it is not where you win, but a thin answer here is an unnecessary loss.
