This is a BAA of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Munitions Directorate (AFRL/RW) under the provisions of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) paragraph 6.102(d)(2), which provides for competitive selection of research proposals. Proposals submitted in response to the BAA that are selected for award are considered to be the results of full and open competition and in full compliance with the provisions of PL 98-369, the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984. This acquisition is unrestricted. Small businesses are encouraged to propose on all or any part of this solicitation. The NAICS Code for this acquisition is 541715, Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology), and the small business size standard is 1,000 employees.
For purposes of this announcement, research is defined to be scientific study and experimentation directed at increasing knowledge and understanding in relation to long term national security needs. It is an enhancement to related exploratory and advanced development programs. A program should be designed to demonstrate well-defined and substantive research results, should not be overly ambitious or open-ended, and should not be a paper study that inherently requires a substantial testing effort. Any significant testing is unlikely; however, there is a possibility of experimental testing to support battle lab experiments proposed under this BAA. Programs to support Team Eglin Technology Demonstration Programs may also be considered under this BAA.
AFRL/RW awards to educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and private industry for research in Air Delivered Effects. This BAA is intended to cover, in general nature, all research areas of interest under this Directorate. Offerors contemplating a submission to AFRL/RW are strongly encouraged to contact the AFRL/RW technical POC for the research area to ascertain the extent of interest AFRL/RW may have in a specific research project.
AFRL/RW is the primary Department of the Air Force (DAF) organization concerned with conventional munitions technology development. AFRL/RW plans and executes research, development, and test of conventional munitions, and supports conventional munitions Weapons Program Offices. There are three product divisions within the Munitions Directorate that conduct research and development (R&D). They are the Ordnance Division (RWM), Weapon Engagement Sciences Division (RWW), and Strategic Planning and Integration Division (RWP).
This BAA will remain open 5 years from the BAA posting date or until amended or superseded. It may be reissued and/or amended periodically, as needed. This BAA is set up in two parts: (1) Basic Open BAA, in which white papers may be submitted at any time during the open period, and (2) Call BAA, in which white paper/proposal Call announcements may be issued by the Government in beta.sam.gov and grants.gov under FA8651-22-S-0001. This BAA is intended to cover Basic Research (6.1), Applied Research (6.2), and Advanced Technology Development (6.3).
Closing Date: March 21, 2027
RESEARCH AREA 1 - WEAPON AIRFRAME SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH (RWWN)
RESEARCH AREA 2 - BIOPRINCIPIC SENSORS, INFORMATION PROCESSING, AND CONTROL (RWWI)
RESEARCH AREA 3 - AUTONOMOUS TARGET RECOGNITION (RWWI)
RESEARCH AREA 4 - HARDWARE-IN-THE-LOOP SIMULATION TECHNOLOGIES (RWWG)
RESEARCH AREA 5 - ADVANCED SCENE GENERATION (RWWG)
RESEARCH AREA 6 - EO/IR/LADAR/SAL SYSTEM RESEARCH (RWWI)
RESEARCH AREA 7 - NAVIGATION AND ESTIMATION TECHNOLOGY (RWWN)
RESEARCH AREA 8 - MODELING, SIMULATION, & ANALYSIS (MS&A) OF ADVANCED WEAPON CONCEPTS (RWWG)
RESEARCH AREA 9 - LETHALITY, VULNERABILITY, AND SURVIVABILITY (RWMA)
RESEARCH AREA 10 - WARHEAD RESEARCH (RWMRW)
RESEARCH AREA 11 - FUZE RESEARCH (RWMRF)
RESEARCH AREA 12 - MUNITIONS ENERGETIC MATERIALS (RWME)
RESEARCH AREA 13 - FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT ENABLING ORDNANCE TECHNOLOGIES AND ADVANCED ENERGETICS (RWM)
RESEARCH AREA 14 - MULTI-FUNCTION, MULTI-MODE RADAR RESEARCH (RWWI)
RESEARCH AREA 15 - MODULAR OPEN SYSTEMS RESEARCH (RWWG)
RESEARCH AREA 16 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) FOR EDUCATION OUTREACH (RW)
RESEARCH AREA 17 - WEAPONS AUTONOMY TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH (RWWN)
RESEARCH AREA 18 - TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER INVOVATIVE COLLABORATION (RWPB)
RESEARCH AREA 19 - CYBER RESILIENCY SECURITY RESEARCH FOR PRECISION-GUIDED MUNITIONS (RWWI)
RESEARCH AREA 20 - STRATEGIC PLANNING, PROTOTYPING, AND EXPERIMENTATION (RWP)
This CALL is open to U.S. Universities only. The purpose of this CALL is to solicit leading-edge research from academic collaborators that currently do not have a relationship with AFRL/RW via existing contract/grant. However, AFRL/RW will consider all U.S. Universities’ proposals. AFRL/RW
intends to award short-term seedling projects in two research areas. Offerors shall propose against ONE research area topic only. Only those Offerors who meet the highly selectable and/or selectable categories
will be invited to the virtual pitch day. The Government is anticipating Distribution A (Publicly releasable) classification for this call; proposals with other classification levels must be marked appropriately.
Research Area Topics:
• RA 2 – BIOPRINCIPIC SYSTEMS (SENSORS, PROCESSING, CONTROL, AND MATERIALS) (RWTCA) with Research Title: Collective Swarming Resulting from Emerging Behavior by Autonomous Biological (Attachment 3).
• RA 17 – WEAPON AUTONOMY AND CONTROL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH (RWTA) with Research Title: Computationally Efficient, Intelligent Guidance and Control Algorithms (Attachment 3).
Proposal Due Date and Time: 14 May 2025 at 3:00 PM. Central Standard Time
Deadline: June 13, 2022