Air Force hires 13 more companies for enabling technologies in open-architecture command and control

Aug. 22, 2023
This program will develop air, land, sea, space, cyber, and electromagnetic spectrum capabilities in open-architecture military systems.

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio – U.S. Air Force researchers are enlisting the help of 13 additional technology companies to mature, demonstrate, and proliferate enabling technologies for military forces eventually to respond to global threats in 15 minutes or less under terms of contracts collectively worth nearly a billion dollars.

Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, announced the 13 additional companies late last month in the potential $950 billion Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) program.

This program seeks to develop and operate systems across air, land, sea, space, cyber, and electromagnetic spectrum military domains in an open-architecture family of systems that integrates several platforms to enable new warfighting capabilities.

Related: Navy turns to Spectranetix for SOSA-aligned open-systems-standards command-and-control computer system

The 13 additional companies selected last month that will share the $950 million are:

-- Applied Research Associates Inc. in Albuquerque, N.M.;

-- Armaments Research Co. Inc. in Bethesda, Md.;

-- BadVR Inc. in Pacoima, Calif.;

-- CGI Federal Inc. in Fairfax, Va.;

-- Flosum Corp. in San Ramon, Calif.;

-- Management Services Group Inc., doing business as Global Technical Systems, in Virginia Beach, Va. (FA8612-23-D-B005);

-- Convergent Solutions Inc., doing business as Exiger Government Solutions in McLean, Va. (FA8612-23-D-B006);

-- Odyssey Systems Consulting Group LTD. in Wakefield, Mass.;

-- Steeple Group LLC, doing business as Peregrine Defense, in Oklahoma City, Okla.;

-- Picogrid Inc. in Hawthorne, Calif.;

-- Rescue Rover LLC, doing business as AlphaBravo, in Gaithersburg, Md.;

-- Rafael Systems Global Sustainment LLC in Bethesda, Md. (FA8612-23-D-B011); and

-- Spotible Labs LLC in New York.

Related: IS4S to use open-systems standards like SOSA for battlefield positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT)

The 26 companies announced for this contract last summer are: ADDX Corp. in Alexandria, Va.; Capella Space Corp. in San Francisco; AT&T Corp. in Oakton, Va.; Applied Information Sciences Inc. in Reston, Va.; Atmospheric & Space Technology Research Associates LLC in Louisville, Colo.; Credence Management Solutions LLC in Vienna, Va.; Edge Technologies Inc. in Arlington, Va.; EOS Defense Systems USA Inc. in Huntsville, Ala.; Exfo America Inc. in Richardson, Texas; Hermeus Corp. in Atlanta; Ierus Technologies Inc. in Huntsville, Ala.; Cyberspace Solutions LLC in Herndon, Va.; Labelbox Inc. in San Francisco; Nalej Corp. in New York; OST Inc. in McLean, Va.; Praeses LLC in Shreveport, La.; Real-time Innovations Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif.; Riverside Research Institute in New York; Saber Astronautics LLC in Boulder, Colo.; Shared Spectrum Co. in Vienna, Va.; Shield AI Inc. in San Diego; Skylight Inc. in Sarasota, Fla.; Sparkcognition Government Systems Inc. in Austin, Texas; Tenet 3 LLC in Dayton, Ohio; Trace Systems Inc. in Vienna, Va.; Ultra Electronics Advanced Tactical Systems Inc. in Austin, Texas; and BrainGu in Grand Rapids, Mich.

In 2020, 24 additional companies were named to the program. They are: Altamira Technologies Corp. in McLean, Va.; Amergint Technologies Inc. in Colorado Springs, Colo.; Carahsoft Technology Corp. in Reston, Va.; Geosite Inc. in Stanford, Calif.; Lyteworx Automation Systems LLC in Alexandria, Va.; MarkLogic Corp. in San Carlos, Calif.; Rebellion Defense Inc. in Washington; Rhombus Power Inc. in Moffett Field, Calif.; Soar Technology Inc. in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Vidrovr Inc. in New York; Advanced Simulation Research Inc. in Orlando, Fla.; Borsight Inc. in Ogden, Utah; Datanchor Inc. in New Albany, Ohio; Paste link hereDigital Mobilizations Inc. in Warrenton, Va.; Elbit Systems of America in Fort Worth, Texas; F9 Teams Inc. in Seattle; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. in Reston, Va.; Infinity Labs LLC in Dayton, Ohio; Radiant Solutions in Herndon, Va.; Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Wash.; Ortman Consulting LLC in Alexandria, Va.; Peraton Inc. in Herndon, Va.; Orbital Effects in Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Sierra Nevada Corp. in Sparks, Nev.

Related: STR moves to advanced development in DARPA project to develop battle management software and communications

All of these companies will share as much as $950 million over the next three years to mature, demonstrate, and proliferate capability across military systems and domains; as well as capitalizing on open-systems design, modern software, and algorithm development to enable JADC2.

These contracts provide awardees the opportunity to compete for efforts to develop and operate systems as a unified force across military air, land, sea, space, cyber, and electromagnetic spectrum domains in an open-architecture family of systems.

The Joint All Domain Command & Control (JADC2) -- formerly referred to as Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) -- seeks to develop technologies for multi-domain operations designed for real-time data collection, validation, and analysis; artificial intelligence (AI)-based human-augmented decision making; data security, identity, and trusted access; and real-time communications via decentralized network automation to speed-up military decision support, decision making, and communications.

On these contracts, the companies will do the work at locations to be determined at the contract direct order level, and should be finished by May 2025. For more information contact the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at www.aflcmc.af.mil.

About the Author

John Keller | Editor-in-Chief

John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.

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