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DAYTON, Ohio — Modernized software has the capability to transform existing military hardware into agile systems that bolster Department of the Air Force missions. However, commercial companies often encounter barriers within the acquisition process, limiting opportunities for software modernization and allowing capability gaps to persist.

Traditionally, Commercial Solutions Openings (CSOs) served as an alternative and specialized competitive pathway. CSOs were typically confined to specific agencies and used sparingly to seek rapid prototypes through Other Transaction Authority (OTA).

On March 6, 2025, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth underscored the importance of shifting the acquisition framework from a hardware-centric model to a software-centric approach. The initiative focuses on performance-based outcomes that deliver capabilities to the warfighter at speed and scale.

Innovation and prototype development remain a top priority for senior government leaders seeking to strengthen warfighter capabilities. Delivering those modernized advancements into operational use is the greatest barrier to mission capacity. Many technologies never progress beyond development because the software delivery process cannot keep pace with operational demands.

As threats continue to evolve across air, space, and cyber domains, streamlining access to emerging technologies will enable Airmen and Guardians to rapidly adapt, improve decision-making and maintain a competitive advantage against United States adversaries.

Rise8 Software Delivery Organization (SDO)  

With support from AFWERX, Rise8, a Tampa, Florida-based digital transformation and software development firm, is supporting software delivery efforts focused on autonomy, software transition programs and other government initiatives.

Rise8’s AFWERX Software Delivery Organization (SDO) SBIR began with a Phase I award in November 2022. The efforts were geared toward validating how Rise8’s modern software delivery methods, DevSecOps practices, cloud-native engineering approach, and enablement model could be adapted for government.

In 2023, Rise8 worked with AFWERX Autonomy Prime to derive, extend and complete the proposal through a SBIR Phase III Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract (IDIQ) with an initial $100 million ceiling.

In 2024, Rise8 developed the Blitzar satellite communication resource request portal under an open topic, Direct-to-Phase II SBIR contract. Blitzar works across multiple spectrum bands and provides support to combatant commands globally, allowing their personnel to request satellite communications resources. Rise8 later received a Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) to continue maturing the capability, and the effort ultimately transitioned into a Phase III task order under Rise8’s AFWERX SDO IDIQ.

In 2025, Rise8 secured an increase from $100 million to $499 million for the AFWERX SDO Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle. Rather than waiting months or years for major software releases, program managers can deploy incremental updates based on operational feedback and changing mission requirements. The SDO contract vehicle helps transition prototypes into production software through funded task orders and interactive software delivery. Organizations that have issued task orders through the IDIQ include:

• United States Air Force Kessel Run
• United States Air Force Unified Platform
• United States Air Force 309th Software Engineering Group
• United States Air Force AFWERX
• United States Space Force System Delta 84 Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution
• United States Space Force System Delta 88 Enterprise Management and Control
• United States Space Force Combat Forces Command Space Operations Command/Combat Force Enhancement
• United States Space Force Mission Delta 2 15th Space Surveillance Squadron
• United States Space Force Space Launch Delta 45
• Department of Veteran Affairs OIT Lighthouse

The collaboration between AFWERX and Rise8 illustrates one approach to transitioning software capabilities from prototype development into operational use. This partnership has guided ideas across the “valley of death” and into operational impact. Both organizations recognized that one of the biggest barriers to DoW software innovation is not a lack of ideas. It’s the inability to deliver software into production at speed and scale.

Rise8 is currently working on refining the vehicle to ensure it remains useful to the government. Future work under the contract is expected to support government efforts related to responsible artificial intelligence adoption, enablement, and implementation.

*Disclaimer: References to non-federal entities do not constitute or imply Department of War or Air Force endorsement of any company or organization.

DAYTON, Ohio — On June 1, 2025, Ukrainian forces launched Operation Spiderweb, a coordinated drone attack targeting Russia’s long-range military aircraft at several airbases in Russian territory. According to public reporting, the complex operation involved launching 117 drones from wooden containers carried on flatbed trucks. Individual pilots, each using open-source software, guided their assigned drone to its target, damaging or destroying 40 aircraft, including bombers and a large transport plane. While effective, this approach required the Ukrainian military devoting one pilot per vehicle.

Command and control software developed by Autonodyne, a Boston, Massachusetts tech company, with support from AFWERX and the Department of Defense, turns the ‘one pilot, one drone’ approach on its head, expanding efficiency and lethality wielded by a warfighter.

Autonodyne’s software allows a single warfighter to simultaneously control multiple drones from different manufacturers, working with different datalinks, sensors and handheld devices.

The company took this approach on purpose, said Steve “Jake” Jacobson, Autonodyne’s founder and chief executive officer.

“We are a software company,” Jacobson said. “We’re not an OEM maker. We’re not making vehicles. The world isn’t going to bend to our designs. Our designs have to support this universe of different combinations of protocol, datalinks and user devices, computer environments, all kinds of stuff.”

The software’s agnostic nature fosters private-sector competition and innovation by allowing the Department of the Air Force to work with various OEMs without being locked into a single platform.

The company’s technology also allows users to pair unmanned vehicles with crewed forces to plan and conduct successful missions. The software has also been used to conduct Red Team testing of drone defenses at U.S. military bases.

Autonodyne and AFWERX

Drones have been and will remain a critical piece of Air Force efforts to increase survivability and generate combat power by quickly deploying and operating from dispersed locations, rather than relying only on a few main bases.

Drones such as the MQ-9 Reaper and the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) align with this strategy by providing Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), rapid deployment, Manned/Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) and Counter (C-UAS) capabilities.

As part of the DAF’s efforts to gain a strategic edge with unmanned systems, Autonodyne began working with AFWERX in December 2019 when it received a Phase I contract. The agreement called for the company to look for ways to adapt its commercial common control station software, adding more autonomy behaviors that are optimized for Air Force Special Operations Command warfighters.

That work led to the company landing a Phase II SBIR worth nearly $3 million. The July 2021 contract called for Autonodyne to continue working with its common control station and autonomy behaviors, rapidly expanding the capabilities available to the Air Force, other military service branches and commercial users.

In February 2023, AFWERX awarded Autonodyne a $521,150 Phase III contract focused on using drone swarms to check military bases for vulnerabilities in their UAS defenses.

Several months later, in August 2023, the company received a $687,000 Phase III contract from Kessel Run, formally known as the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) Detachment 12. The contract from Kessel Run, a software development enterprise located in Boston and at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, funded Project Free Flight, an effort focused on autonomous scouting.

The following year, in March 2024, AFWERX awarded Autonodyne a Phase III contract totaling $4 million to work on autonomous system integration and development as well as software development for human interfacing with the control systems.

Under the contract, Autonodyne developed a library of autonomy behaviors that could be accessed manually, or in more advanced scenarios, be automatically stitched together with a set of high-level automation tasks for real-time autonomous control of dynamic system behaviors.

In May, AFWERX awarded the company a $1.5 million Phase III contract, funded by the Advanced Aircraft Division, part of the AFLCMC Fighters and Advanced Aircraft Directorate. The agreement could reach $17.5 million. It calls for Autonodyne to deliver ‘software vehicle control integration and development’ to the division.

Autonodyne’s success demonstrates how AFWERX’s approach directly supports broader national priorities. By investing in a small, domestic business, AFWERX not only delivered a critical military capability but also bolstered the nation’s defense industrial base. The agnostic nature of the software promotes competition among U.S. manufacturers, preventing vendor lock-in and ensuring the DAF has access to the best technology on the market. This case study is a testament to the power of public-private partnerships, illustrating how targeted government investment can accelerate innovation, drive economic growth and strengthen the military to meet future challenges.

*Disclaimer: References to non-federal entities do not constitute or imply Department of War or Air Force endorsement of any company or organization.

DAYTON, Ohio — U.S. Air Force missions depend on Airmen’s ability to receive and retain skills as they advance in their career fields. Extensive training hours, equipment and funding have historically been vital to building confidence and qualifying warfighters before they perform live mission operations.

Traditional training methods face challenges that limit engagement, hands-on experience and the knowledge retention required to achieve optimal force readiness without extensive spending. Instructors also experience constraints because of location requirements, scheduling and asset availability. For specialized career fields, these delays can affect the Air Force’s ability to maintain mission readiness.

Limited access to aircraft and airspace for pilot training can restrict opportunities for pilot training, while damaged aircraft reduces fleet availability and disrupt operations supporting U.S. defense missions worldwide. For maintainers, diagnosing system faults and repairing complex aircraft requires technical proficiency, and errors can result in additional damage or extended maintenance timelines. Medical personnel and first responders also must develop and maintain critical skills to perform effectively in high-stress environments where mistakes can have operational consequences.

With support from AFWERX and the Department of the Air Force, Enduvo, a Peoria, Illinois-based company that develops immersive content creation software, is working to address these challenges by leveraging an AI-native no-code, collaborative virtual classroom.

Enduvo develops immersive training software used to support military training initiatives. The company’s platform enables trainers to develop immersive training content using no-code authoring environments. With this platform, users can develop interactive training scenarios for collaborative instruction that help warfighters retain information.

In 2019, Enduvo received an AFWERX Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award to evaluate and adapt its augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) content authoring platform. It was designed to help military teams train pilots, medical practitioners, and maintenance crews with the goal of reducing training costs.

In 2022, Enduvo was awarded AFWERX Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) contract to scale its immersive, no-code AR/VR authoring platform.

In 2023, the company received an AFWERX SBIR Phase III contract to be a core element of the U.S. Air Force’s Discovery Analysis and Reporting Platform (DARP)/ Member Operations Training Analysis and Reports (MOTAR) program of record. Air Force trainers gained the ability to build immersive content within their digital classroom and connect with the MOTAR ecosystem.

Later that year, Enduvo won a $10 million enterprise wide Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract from the U.S. Air Force for an immersive learning platform. The company is currently engaged in a second TACFI effort to deploy generative AI to the platform to decrease the time it takes instructors to create and modify training content.

This effort illustrates how AFWERX works with industry through the SBIR/STTR program to evaluate, mature and transition commercial technologies that address DAF mission needs. By incorporating an immersive training platform, the U.S. Air Force is refining the education and training process and supporting Airmen’s readiness.

*Disclaimer: References to non-federal entities do not constitute or imply Department of War or Air Force endorsement of any company or organization.