{"id":32022,"date":"2022-11-01T16:17:56","date_gmt":"2022-11-01T16:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/11\/01\/us-air-force-launches-autonomy-prime-program-in-hunt-for-new-tech\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:47:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:47:44","slug":"us-air-force-launches-autonomy-prime-program-in-hunt-for-new-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/newsletters\/2022\/11\/01\/us-air-force-launches-autonomy-prime-program-in-hunt-for-new-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"US Air Force launches Autonomy Prime program in hunt for new tech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The future of defense technology is in autonomy, the Air Force says, and the service wants to find out what industry can bring to the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2022\/06\/16\/us-air-forces-flying-car-coming-to-an-exercise-near-you\/\" target=\"_blank\">AFWERX<\/a>, the Air Force office in charge of finding new and innovative ways to use technology, has set up a new program called Autonomy Prime to learn about the autonomous technologies companies have under development \u2014 and how the military could adapt them for its missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Autonomous systems use technologies such as artificial intelligence to manage them and make decisions normally handled by a human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several of Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall\u2019s top priorities would rely on greater use of these capabilities. In an Oct. 28 interview with Defense News, Lt. Col. Tom Meagher, chief of AFWERX\u2019s Prime division, said Kendall\u2019s emphasis makes clear how important this technology will be to the service in coming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So far, the Air Force and industry\u2019s work on autonomy has mostly focused on small unmanned aerial vehicles. Think the \u201ccollaborative combat aircraft\u201d program to create drone wingmen flying alongside fighters or Golden Horde\u2019s research into swarming drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eventually, Meagher said, the Air Force wants to get autonomy into larger platforms and other kinds of vehicles. This could include using autonomous technologies to steer spacecraft or ground vehicles, he said, or to control other programs and systems such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe exciting and interesting thing about autonomy is that there are many, many different applications,\u201d Meagher said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we said hey, what are these core functions that could apply across these mission areas? It could be \u2026 there\u2019s a lot of stuff [commercial companies are] doing out there in the sensing piece that could help us out with that ISR mission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said AFWERX\u2019s Prime model can provide a low-risk, low-cost way for the Air Force to hone autonomous technology and pave the way for new uses for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA lot of stuff we\u2019re going to do, right off the bat, will benefit multiple Air Force programs down the line,\u201d Meagher said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are Prime programs?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prime programs don\u2019t work like a traditional acquisition program, where the government says what it wants and then awards a contract to a company to build it. Instead, this approach asks companies \u2014 often firms outside of the typical defense industrial base \u2014 what capabilities they\u2019re already working on, and how they could be adapted to the military\u2019s needs. AFWERX has already used this model to advance electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicle technology under its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2021\/03\/31\/us-air-force-proves-it-can-transport-a-flying-car-on-a-c-130-now-for-the-fun-part\/\" target=\"_blank\">Agility Prime program<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In September, AFWERX released a <a href=\"https:\/\/sam.gov\/opp\/34d079fa1e5b4a1f8cf09113188205d0\/view\" target=\"_blank\">request for information<\/a> for Autonomy Prime; it closed Oct. 31. Meagher said interest was high, and attracted proposals from big companies, small firms, and everything in between, though he would not identify any of the companies that submitted pitches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s not just small business,\u201d Meagher said. \u201cWe want<b> <\/b>to cast a wide net across all of industry and have an ability to work with all sizes of business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And AFWERX can provide testing infrastructure, airspace, or other government resources that could help industry with their efforts, Meagher said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The RFI said the Air Force plans to create \u201ca purpose-built autonomy testing and development facility,\u201d dubbed the AFWERX Proving Ground, which will let firms demonstrate, test and develop their technologies side-by-side with Air Force personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the RFI, AFWERX hopes to refine its transition pipeline to speed the process for fielding these technologies, whether as part of larger programs of record or directly provided to warfighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">DARPA, NASA, FAA may join autonomy drive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AFWERX has contacted other Air Force organizations, as well as the Navy, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, NASA, and the FAA, to discuss how to work together on autonomous projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next, AFWERX will go through the submissions and figure out where industry\u2019s offerings might line up with something the Defense Department is working on. AFWERX expects to have finished reviewing the submissions and to send companies solicitations in early 2023, Meagher said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AFWERX plans to release solicitations in phases, with each phase focusing on specific capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But AFWERX wants this program to move fast. Meagher said the plan is to have autonomous capabilities in hand in 2023, so the office can start testing and maturing the technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meagher declined to detail Autonomy Prime\u2019s budget, but said it operates within Agility Prime\u2019s budget. He said the cost of individual programs could range from thousands of dollars to low millions. And because the government can offer valuable in-kind resources such as testing infrastructure, Meagher said some companies may not charge AFWERX and simply take advantage of the opportunity to test their technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And Meagher is confident a company will bring a fresh and innovative idea no one has thought of before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe will be surprised,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want our socks to be knocked off.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlike traditional acquisition, Prime contracts seek companies outside of the established defense industrial base to find out what they\u2019re working on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":111851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":33,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[12,33,6],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3314],"class_list":["post-32022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-govcon","category-newsletters","category-acquisition"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"AQT7VF4CQJHGHILW53IDSA47LQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/unmanned\/2022\/11\/01\/us-air-force-launches-autonomy-prime-program-in-hunt-for-new-tech\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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