SBIR

Small Business Innovation Research 

AFNWC regularly supports Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Direct-to-Phase II technology development, facilitating opportunities for small businesses to enter the Air Force technology industry.

For more information, contact the AFNWC SBIR office at AFNWC.SBIRSTTR@us.af.mil.

Links

• Active SBIR Broad Agency Announcements: https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/baa-schedule/active-baa-announcements

• About the Air Force SBIR program: https://afwerx.com/divisions/afventures/overview/

Creating Tomorrow's Air Force Today

Long Range Standoff Weapon

The LRSO weapon is the follow-on the aging AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile. The current Air Launched Cruise Missile was first fielded in the early 1980s with a 10-year design life and will continue to face increasingly significant operational challenges against emerging threats and reliability challenges until replaced. The Air Force plans to start fielding LRSO in the late 2020s. The LRSO will ensure the bomber force continues to hold high-value targets at risk in an evolving threat environment, including targets deep within an area-denied environment.


The Air Force will deliver an innovative and highly reliable nuclear cruise missile that takes advantage of competition and mature subsystem technologies. Most critically, the initial acquisition phase is incorporating an extensive Design for Reliability and Manufacturing (DfR&M) approach to mitigate the risk (cost and schedule) of extensive design changes during follow-on phases. The DfR&M approach enables the program to achieve economical ordering quantity sooner than a traditional approach, thereby reducing required production lots (i.e., from nine to five). 

Sentinel ICBM

The LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is the follow-on to the aging LGM-30G Minuteman III ICBM, which first became operational in the mid-1960s. (Note: It was formerly known as the "Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent" earlier in its development.) While some components and subsystems have been upgraded over the years, most have supported over 50 years of continuous operation. It no longer makes financial sense to continue to upgrade or extend the life of existing Minuteman III ICBMs, so the Air Force is modernizing the ICBM nuclear capability to maintain a deterrence edge over our adversaries. It will be adaptable and responsive to the challenges posed by the pace of technological change and new threat environments. The Air Force plans to start deploying the Sentinel ICBM in the late 2020s.

Innovative activities include: 

• Building modular, human-centric design to meet the challenges of technological change, budget uncertainties and new threat environments for the next 60 years

• Leveraging model-based systems engineering and digital engineering to design and sustain the weapon system, ensuring safe, secure and effective operation through its service life

• Owning the technical baseline so the Air Force will be able to sustain and update the weapon system through its lifecycle, increasing its long-term capability and reducing program costs and risks

• Partnering with Secretary of the Air Force's AFWERX program, which solves some of the toughest challenges the Air Force faces through innovation and collaboration amongst the nation’s top subject-matter experts