Replanning for Evasive Autonomy to Counter Threats (REACT) - SBIR Topic SOC26BZ04-DV005

Funding Amount:

Est. $2,600,000

Deadline to Apply:

August 19th, 2026

ITAR:

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 3.5 of the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.

Objective:

The objective of this topic is to develop applied research toward an innovative capability that generates and executes game-theoretically optimized Courses of Action (COAs) for both Blue (swarm) and Red (adversary) forces. The contractor will co-develop realistic operational scenarios with the Government, encode Commander’s Intent into a formal utility function, and iteratively refine the autonomy using simulation environments integrated with a Tactical Assault Kit or another system. The final capability will enable a 200-agent UAS swarm to operate in degraded environments—such as those with EW interference, kinetic threats, or weather events—while achieving mission objectives in alignment with AFSOC’s provided Adaptive Airborne Enterprise (A2E) vision for tiered ISR.

Description:

As a part of this feasibility study, the proposers shall address all viable system design options with respective specifications. This capability will integrate AI-enabled multi-agent planning and adversarial reasoning into a software system that supports resilient, decentralized UAS swarm coordination. The autonomy system must produce and execute game-theoretically optimized Courses of Action (COAs) for both Blue (UAS swarm) and Red (adversarial threat) forces, accounting for the interdependence of their strategies. Blue’s optimal COA depends on Red’s, and vice versa.

The Government seeks scalable autonomy software that produces AI-generated, game-theoretically optimized Courses of Action (COAs) for both Blue (UAS swarm) and Red (adversary threat) forces in contested environments. The capability must be developed using a government-approved modeling framework (e.g. Markov decision process application programming interface) and demonstrated in a simulation environment chosen by the contractor.

The final solution will:

• Incorporate the provided Commander's Intent into a mission utility function.

• Support realistic operational scenarios aligned with AFSOC's Adaptive Airborne Enterprise (A2E) and the FANTOM Futures line of effort.

• Scale to control no fewer than 200 UAS simultaneously.

• Function in degraded conditions, including EW interference, kinetic threats, and adverse weather.

• Include decentralized decision-making, communication-aware planning, and peer-to-peer fallback behaviors for denied environments.

• Be suitable for integration into a maritime Find, Fix, Track, Target, Engage, assess (F2T2EA) demonstration >100 NM offshore against targets defended by notional integrated air defense systems.

PHASE I:

As a requirement of this Direct to Phase II (DPII) proposers must include a feasibility study that assess what is in the art of the possible that satisfies the requirements specified in the above paragraphs entitled "Objective" and "Description."

The objective is to document the results of a thorough feasibility study ("Technology Readiness Level 3") to investigate what is in the art of the possible within the given trade space that will satisfy a needed technology. The feasibility study should investigate all options that meet or exceed the minimum performance parameters specified in this writeup. It should also address the risks and potential payoffs of the innovative technology options that are investigated and recommend the option that best achieves the objective of this technology pursuit.

PHASE II:

Develop, install, and demonstrate a prototype autonomy system based on the most feasible solution identified in Phase I feasibility study. The prototype will support game-theoretic COA generation and execution for a 200-agent UAS swarm and will include decentralized planning, adversarial optimization, and real-time threat response under limited communication.

During the first year, the prototype will be tested in simulation using relevant threat scenarios (e.g., IADS, GPS denial, weather) to validate performance.

The second year will involve iterative improvement and preparation for integration into the A2E FANTOM Futures VANGUARD demonstration, targeting contested maritime operations beyond 100 NM.

The prototype shall meet TRL 6 by end of effort. The contractor shall deliver interim test reports, scenario replay visualizations, and a final demonstration summary outlining performance outcomes and transition path.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS:

This system has broad applicability across both military and commercial domains.

Militarily, it supports any mission set requiring coordinated action by multiple drones against a thinking, adaptive adversary—such as contested ISR, electronic attack, perimeter security, and dynamic targeting in denied environments. The decentralized, threat-aware autonomy can be transitioned to other DoD UAS programs across AFSOC, SOCOM, AFRL, DARPA, and Navy/Marine Corps distributed operations.

In commercial sectors, the same autonomy principles can be adapted for drone swarms used in logistics, infrastructure inspection, search-and-rescue, and disaster response.

For example, delivery drone fleets could benefit from decentralized planning and threat response capabilities when navigating adverse weather or deconflicting airspace shared with competing autonomous delivery services.

The system’s ability to adapt and replan in real time makes it highly valuable for industries operating fleets of autonomous aerial systems in dynamic or competitive environments.

Who will win?

If you can achieve the objective above better than any other company on the market, you have a very high-likelihood of success and should apply.

Who is eligible to apply?

Any company that meets the following criteria:

• For-profit company

• U.S.-owned and controlled.

• 500 or fewer employees (including affiliates)

How Can BW&CO Help?

1) End-to-end support including, strategy, writing of the full proposal, and administrative & compliance support.

2) Proposal strategy and review.

3) Administrative & compliance support.

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