The Department of Defense has introduced the first batch of 10 projects that will get funding through the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies pilot program.
Heidi Shyu, undersecretary for research and engineering at DOD and a 2022 Wash100 Award winner, said in a statement published Tuesday the APFIT pilot program holds promise in transforming the way the Pentagon buys next-generation platforms and will be a key asset as the department continues to work to address the “valley of death” and help companies speed up the delivery of technologies to warfighters.
APFIT is a merit-based program established through the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. Under this pilot initiative, 10 program offices within DOD will each get $10 million in funding as they purchase technologies from nontraditional defense contractors and small businesses.
The projects to be funded under the APFIT program are:
- Advanced Sensor Package Procurement project of the U.S. Navy and Arete Associates
- Anti-Jam Radio-links for Maritime Operations Resiliency project of the U.S. Marine Corps with Pacific Antenna Systems, Titan Systems and Naval Systems
- Atmospheric Plasma Coating Removal System project of the U.S. Marine Corps and Atmospheric Plasma Solutions
- Augmented Reality Tactical Assault Kit project of U.S. Special Operations Command and Eolian
- Autonomous Unmanned Aerial System – Vertical-BAT project of the U.S. Air Force and Shield AI
- Drop-Glide Munitions project of the U.S. Army and Orbital Research
- Lightfield Directing Array Secure Production effort of the Missile Defense Agency and Bright Silicon Technologies
- Lightweight Wide Field of View Aviation Goggle project of USSOCOM and Aviation Specialties Unlimited
- Rapid Analysis of Threat Exposure, a project of the Defense Innovation Unit and Philips Healthcare
- Real-Time Sensor Data Transformation project of the U.S. Space Force and Meroxa
