ROME, N.Y. – U.S. Air Force researchers are asking industry to find new ways to apply artificial intelligence (AI) technology to command and control applications.
Officials of the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate in Rome, N.Y., issued a broad agency announcement (FA8750-23-S-7006) last week for the Artificial Intelligence and Next Generation Distributed Command and Control project.
The project has 10 technical areas: command and control of AI systems; federated, composable autonomy and AI toolbox; advanced wargaming agents; interactive learning for C4I; C2 complexity dominance; generative AI C4I; software defined distributed C2; tactical AI; mission planning for autonomous collaborative platforms (ACP); and AI decision support for battle management command and control (BMC2).
Command and control of AI systems, also called battle management of AI, seeks to develop control for adapting AI to enable operators to select AI components that are compatible with tactics and evolving battlefield conditions. The technical contact is Nicholas Del Rio, whose email address is [email protected].
Common standards
Federated composable autonomy and AI toolbox seeks to develop common standards for data, algorithm, model, evaluation, and deployment of AI and machine learning to enable third party development of AI and machine learning components. The technical point of contact is Lt. Andrew Porter, whose email address is [email protected].
Interactive learning for C4I involves how to deploy AI and machine learning to command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) -- especially in any situation where a user’s intuition is necessary to solve a problem. The technical contact is Daniel Carpenter, whose email address is [email protected].
C2 complexity dominance seeks new approaches to develop, model, deploy, and assess techniques to impose complexity on human and AI agents on the adversary’s side to shape the adversary’s decisions and actions. The technical point of contact is Nathaniel Gemelli, whose email address is [email protected].
Generative AI C4I seeks to use AI in C4I and Air Force applications. Generative AI seeks to create content such as text, images, videos, audio, or code-based on patterns learned from vast training data. The technical contact is Edward Verenich, whose email address is [email protected].
Planning with AI
Software-defined distributed C2 seeks to develop, model, and assess ways to coordinate Air Force planning across distributed C2 nodes. The technical point of contact is Ryan Hilliard, whose email address is [email protected].
Tactical AI seeks to develop efficient command and control, as well as intelligent central control processes, to enable distributed signal detection and geolocation. The technical point of contact is Sunshine Stacy, whose email address is [email protected].
Mission planning for autonomous collaborative platforms seeks to develop ways to enable re-tasking of autonomous collaborative platforms like uncrewed jet aircraft if and when team members are killed or disabled. The technical point of contact is Damien Dablain, whose email address is [email protected].
AI for tactical forces
AI decision support for battle management command and control (BMC2) seeks to provide AI-enabled decision support to dispersed tactical forces in contested environments. The technical point of contact is Andre Beckus, whose email address is [email protected].
Companies interested should email white papers to the technical points of contact in each technical area no later than 15 March 2026 for 20227 projects, and no later than 15 March 2027 for 2028 projects. Those submitting promising white papers may be invited to submit full proposals.
Email questions or concerns to the technical points of contact in each technical area, or to Gennady Staskevich at [email protected]. Email business questions to Amber Buckley at [email protected]. More information is online at https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/29a0da130f334eda9063efe42c9ea163/view.
