{"id":56685,"date":"2020-03-13T20:11:53","date_gmt":"2020-03-13T20:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/13\/small-tech-companies-got-a-combined-1b-at-the-air-forces-virtual-version-of-south-by-southwest\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:11:13","slug":"small-tech-companies-got-a-combined-1b-at-the-air-forces-virtual-version-of-south-by-southwest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/industry\/2020\/03\/13\/small-tech-companies-got-a-combined-1b-at-the-air-forces-virtual-version-of-south-by-southwest\/","title":{"rendered":"Small tech companies got a combined $1B at US Air Force\u2019s virtual version of South by Southwest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Air Force lost its chance to hang out at South by Southwest this week <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2020\/03\/09\/coronavirus-shaking-up-americas-defense-industry\/\" target=\"_blank\">after the new coronavirus known as COVID-10 caused the cancellation of the festival, <\/a>scuttling the service\u2019s heavily promoted plan to interface with startups and small technology firms at the Austin, Texas-based event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the service still awarded nearly $1 billion in contracts during a virtual version of its event held March 12, which included keynotes from Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett, a \u201cPitch Bowl\u201d where companies delivered short pitches in the hopes of receiving small contracts from the Air Force, and other events meant to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/smr\/cultural-clash\/2020\/01\/30\/as-tech-startups-catch-dods-eye-big-investors-are-watching\/\" target=_blank>deepen the Air Force\u2019s connection to small commercial tech firms. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The largest contracts \u2014 worth more than $550 million total \u2014 went to 21 companies to develop \u201cbig bet\u201d technologies. Those companies are Aerial Applications, Analytical Space, Anduril Industries, Applied Minds, Elroy Air, Enview, Edgybees, Essentium, Falkonry, ICON Technology, Orbital Insight, Orbital Sidekick, Pison, Privoro, <a href=\"http:\/\/Shift.org\" target=_blank>Shift.org<\/a>, Swarm Technologies, Tectus Corp., Virtualitics, Wickr, Wafer and one company that the Air Force has not disclosed.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/02\/05\/defense-innovation-experts-to-congress-put-money-where-pentagons-mouth-is\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/drone-net.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Defense innovation experts to Congress: Put money where Pentagon\u2019s mouth is<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">For the Department of Defense to embrace the leap-ahead technologies needed to compete, Congress must use its funding power to make major players out of small, disruptive tech firms.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor all these awardees, you\u2019re on a four-year, fixed-price contract that we believe, if successful, will disrupt part of our mission in a way that will give a huge advantage for our future airmen,\u201d said Will Roper, the Air Force\u2019s acquisition executive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The value of the contracts awarded by AFWERX may seem small compared to the multibillion awards for major defense programs. However, these awards go a long way in helping technology firms overcome the \u201cvalley of death\u201d between technology development and production, when a lot of companies are vulnerable to failure, said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/reagan-defense-forum\/2018\/11\/29\/mccains-staff-director-to-lead-strategy-for-silicon-valley-tech-firm-anduril\/\" target=_blank>Chris Brose, head of strategy for Anduril Industries,<\/a> which specializes in developing artificial intelligence technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor a company like ours or companies of that size, It\u2019s quite significant. It allows us to really kind of do more of the good work that we\u2019re doing, to scale and grow and work with new partners, and it makes a huge difference,\u201d Brose said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brose declined to detail the precise nature of Anduril\u2019s contract with the Air Force, but said that the general objective is to prove that an unmanned aerial system can deliver a mass of swarming drones capable of performing complex missions. While a human would still be \u201cin the loop\u201d overseeing the network, certain tasks \u2014 such as steering the drones, moving their sensors and processing gathered data \u2014 would be automated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Edited on 3\/16\/20 at 11:25 with the correct list of companies receiving awards. The Air Force initially published an incorrect list. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>But unlike SXSW, neither Janelle Monae nor Chris Evans were slated to 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