**Challenge Area 1: Low-Cost, Long-Dwell ISR for Counternarcotics Detection and Monitoring** **Background** The DoW Counternarcotics enterprise requires persistent ISR coverage across land, air and maritime drug trafficking corridors to enable timely interdiction by law enforcement partners. Current ISR platforms are too costly, too limited in dwell time, and too few in number to maintain adequate coverage of the vast and dynamic geography traffickers exploit. Semi-submersibles, ultralight aircraft, and remote overland routes increasingly evade detection by legacy systems. A modernized, cost-effective, multi-domain ISR approach is urgently needed. **Challenge Statement** DoW is seeking to prototype, test, and validate low-cost, long-dwell ISR platforms and sensor systems — spanning air, land, maritime, and space domains — capable of identifying, tracking, and cueing interdiction of drug trafficking activity. Solutions must demonstrate operational effectiveness at a significantly lower cost per hour than current legacy systems. This is not a request for kinetic finish capability. **Desired Capabilities** * Long-endurance airborne ISR platforms (manned, unmanned, or hybrid) with minimum 12-hour dwell and multi-sensor payload options (EO/IR, radar, AIS/ADS-B). * Fixed, mobile, or distributed maritime and land-based sensor networks providing persistent detection where airborne ISR is unavailable or cost-prohibitive. * Commercial space-based ISR options (EO, SAR, RF) providing near real-time or high-revisit reporting on trafficking corridors within and beyond U.S. borders. * Government-operated platform configurations requiring minimal training to reach mission-ready status. * Pricing for both Government Owned/Contractor Operated (GO/CO) and Contractor Owned/Contractor Operated (CO/CO) models where applicable. * Options for unclassified data products to support partner nation law enforcement coordination. * Cost per hour of coverage materially lower than current legacy ISR systems. **Challenge Area 2: Deanonymization of Illicit Internet Activities for Counter-Threat Finance** **Background** Foreign organized crime groups and terrorist organizations increasingly exploit anonymized internet infrastructure — including VPNs, Tor, and cryptocurrency mixing services — to evade attribution. DoW's counter-threat finance program requires commercial solutions capable of IP address tracking and deanonymization, crypto wallet identification, and transaction tracing to generate actionable intelligence for law enforcement partners working to disrupt these networks. **Challenge Statement** DoW is seeking to prototype, test, and validate commercial tools and analytical workflows that enable the identification, tracking, and deanonymization of illicit internet activities and cryptocurrency transactions associated with foreign organized crime and terrorist organizations. Solutions must produce information that is accurate, timely, and suitable for sharing with law enforcement partners under applicable DoW legal authorities and intelligence procedures. **Desired Capabilities** * IP address tracking and deanonymization tools correlating anonymized addresses to real-world identities and infrastructure across Tor, VPN, and proxy services. * Behavioral and temporal analysis of IP address patterns to identify threat actor network signatures over time. * Blockchain analytics and cryptocurrency wallet identification supporting Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, and other chains commonly used by criminal or terrorist networks. * De-mixing and de-tumbling capabilities for obfuscated cryptocurrency transactions with confidence-scored attribution outputs. * Real-time alerting for high-value wallet activity linked to known threat actor infrastructure. * Integrated analytical workflows fusing IP and cryptocurrency data into unified threat actor profiles suitable for law enforcement intelligence products. * Demonstrated legal compliance frameworks ensuring intelligence products are shareable with domestic law enforcement partners. **Challenge Area 3: Advanced Geospatial Intelligence Capabilities for Counternarcotics Operations** **Background** The DoW counterdrug enterprise relies on expensive, legacy geospatial detection systems that are insufficient to meet the pace and geographic scope of modern drug trafficking. Traffickers operate across international borders, exploit complex terrain, and employ sophisticated evasion techniques. Recent advances in commercial geospatial technology offer a significant opportunity to modernize the DoW ISR architecture at reduced cost — with near real-time reporting, all-weather multi-phenomenology collection, and unclassified partner nation sharing capabilities. **Challenge Statement** DoW is seeking to prototype, test, and validate advanced geospatial capabilities that provide near real-time reporting on drug trafficking organizations within and beyond U.S. borders. Solutions must support go-fast vessel detection, HVT surveillance, all-weather collection through multiple phenomenologies, and options for unclassified coordination with partner nations — at materially lower cost than current legacy systems. **Desired Capabilities** * Near real-time or high-revisit commercial geospatial reporting on drug trafficking corridors within and beyond U.S. borders, including maritime and remote land environments. * AI-enabled change detection and anomaly alerting for trafficking-relevant signatures with operationally meaningful latency. * All-weather collection through multi-phenomenology integration (EO, SAR, thermal, RF) to maintain persistence through adverse conditions. * Go-fast vessel detection in maritime environments and HVT pattern-of-life surveillance in remote land areas. * Unclassified intelligence products and sharing mechanisms compatible with partner nation law enforcement and military platforms. * Cost-competitive pricing compared to current legacy detection and monitoring systems, with options for scalable coverage expansion. **Challenge Area 4: Illicit Drug Crop Estimation: Novel Multi-Modal Detection and Yield Modeling Solutions** **Background** Accurate global estimates of illicit drug crop cultivation — primarily coca, opium poppy, and cannabis — are critical to assessing the effectiveness of USG and partner nation counternarcotics strategies and informing policy decisions on resource allocation and interdiction prioritization. Current estimation methodologies are slow, expensive, and increasingly inadequate to keep pace with expanding and adaptive cultivation by drug trafficking organizations. DoW requires innovative, cost-effective solutions leveraging commercial imagery, AI-enabled analytics, and multi-source data fusion to modernize global illicit crop estimation. **Challenge Statement** DoW is seeking to prototype, test, and validate new approaches to illicit drug crop estimation that improve detection accuracy, spatial coverage, temporal frequency, and yield confidence compared to current legacy methodologies. Solutions may combine commercial satellite imagery, AI/ML spectral analysis, airborne sensing, and ground survey data. The goal is a scalable, cost-effective methodology capable of producing annual global crop estimates with defensible confidence intervals. **Desired Capabilities** * AI/ML-enabled detection and mapping of coca, opium poppy, and cannabis cultivation from commercial multispectral and hyperspectral imagery, including canopy-concealed and high-altitude growing areas. * Automated cultivation area estimation at national and regional scales with defined spatial accuracy and confidence intervals. * Multi-source yield modeling integrating remote sensing, climate/soil inputs, agronomic models, and market price indices to produce production and market value estimates. * Demonstrated performance in cloud-covered tropical and adverse environmental conditions through multi-phenomenology integration. * Ground verification integration compatible with partner nation field survey workflows in regions where access is feasible. * Scalable global coverage with sub-annual reporting cadence sufficient to detect crop cycle changes within a growing season. **Challenge Area 5: Multi-Modal Wide Area Persistent Surveillance (WAPS) Payload for Group 3 UAS** **Background** Tactical commanders require continuous, multi-layered intelligence from Group 3 UAS platforms, but current SWaP constraints limit these systems to single-modality payloads. The absence of a low-SWaP payload that natively fuses EO/IR Wide Area Motion Imagery (WAMI) with SIGINT and enables autonomous sensor cross-cueing at the edge forces costly multi-sortie coordination or reliance on larger, more vulnerable platforms. A single integrated multi-modal payload would fundamentally improve tactical ISR efficiency and reduce operator burden. **Challenge Statement** The Government is seeking to prototype, demonstrate, and validate a fully integrated, multi-modal WAPS payload for Group 3 UAS architectures that combines EO/IR WAMI and broadband SIGINT with onboard edge compute capable of autonomous SIGINT-to-EO/IR cross-cueing without ground station intervention. The payload must weigh less than 20 lbs, draw less than 250 W peak, and fit within standard Group 3 modular payload bays. **Desired Capabilities** * Integrated EO/IR WAMI providing minimum 2x2 km footprint from 4,000–8,000 ft AGL with daylight and MWIR capability. * Broadband SIGINT with RF detection, direction finding, and high-accuracy geolocation (CEP) across VHF/UHF/SHF frequency ranges. * Onboard edge compute enabling autonomous SIGINT-to-EO/IR cross-cueing without ground station intervention, with AI/ML ATR and RF classification prior to downlink. * Total integrated payload weight \< 20 lbs; peak power draw \< 250 W; form factor compatible with standard Group 3 modular payload bays (10" diameter turret or conformally mounted pod). * Open Mission Systems (OMS) compliance; CoT data output for SIGINT targets; STANAG 4609 FMV metadata for EO/IR video. * Compatibility with existing DoD GCS platforms and tactical dissemination systems (ATAK, ROVER) without custom middleware. **Challenge Area 6: Open-Architecture GOTS Group 3 UAS for Tactical Edge Adaptability** **Background** Current Group 3 UAS platforms are hampered by closed, proprietary architectures that create vendor lock-in, require FSR presence for modifications, and impose unacceptable logistics burdens in distributed operations. DoW requires a Group 3 UAS that service members can repair, reconfigure, and adapt at the tactical edge — swapping payloads in under 30 minutes, manufacturing replacement parts organically, and operating without ever calling back to an OEM. This is a critical imperative for future contested, austere, and communications-degraded environments. **Challenge Statement** The Government is seeking to prototype, demonstrate, and validate a GOTS Group 3 UAS (56–330 lbs MTOW, below 18,000 ft MSL) built on a true Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) with zero proprietary lock-in, zero FSR requirements, and demonstrated tactical edge repairability and payload adaptability. Service members must be able to integrate new payloads, perform complex maintenance, and manufacture replacement components without vendor support. **Desired Capabilities** * MOSA-compliant airframe with openly documented flight control software (e.g., MAVLink) and non-proprietary GCS communication protocols. * Standardized hardware interfaces across all mounting points, power distribution, and data buses (Picatinny/NATO mounts, USB-C, Ethernet, CAN bus) — no proprietary connectors. * Payload agnosticism: standardized SWaP bays capable of integrating new, uncharacterized payloads using standard hand tools and open-source software in under 30 minutes without OEM firmware updates or permission keys. * Zero FSR requirement: all routine maintenance, complex repair, and payload integration completable by trained service members without vendor representative presence. * Field repairability: high-attrition components replaceable with COTS parts or organically manufactured (3D printed/CNC milled) from open-format design files at the tactical edge. * Minimum 12-hour endurance with standard payload; runway-independent launch and recovery; packable and transportable by a small tactical team. **Challenge Area 7: Beyond Line of Sight PACE Communications Architecture Without pLEO Infrastructure** **Background** Dismounted tactical elements operating in remote and contested environments require multi-layered BLOS communications to maintain C2, PLI, and data connectivity. Current solutions rely on GEO SATCOM or HF systems with significant SWaP and bandwidth limitations, or on commercial LEO constellations with prohibitive lifecycle costs. DoW requires a modernized, cost-effective BLOS PACE architecture providing four distinct communication pathways — without relying on pLEO infrastructure — man-portable or vehicle-mountable, with LPI/LPD/LPE consideration and ATAK/WINTAK interoperability. **Challenge Statement** The Government is seeking to prototype, test, and validate a complete BLOS PACE communications package providing four distinct pathways (Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency) using a blend of legacy and emerging COTS/GOTS technologies. The architecture must support voice, PLI, and data; demonstrate automated failover where possible; and operate within a man-portable or light tactical vehicle SWaP-C envelope in contested electromagnetic environments. **Desired Capabilities** * Primary: high-reliability daily operational voice and data over a non-pLEO government BLOS solution (e.g., non-LEO/MEO SATCOM, TSAT). * Alternate: seamless or rapid-transition backup to the Primary using a distinct physical domain or constellation, supporting critical voice and data. * Contingency: lower-bandwidth, high-survivability C2 and PLI using survivable technology (e.g., HF/ALE, L-Band SATCOM, troposcatter, meteor burst). * Emergency: ultra-low-baud-rate last-resort capability for extraction, exfiltration, or immediate threat warnings (e.g., PLB-grade SATCOM, distress beacon). * Modality diversity across physical domains — the architecture cannot be 100% reliant on a single domain. * LPI/LPD/LPE consideration across all pathways for operation in contested electromagnetic environments. * ATAK/WINTAK interface compatibility for PLI and data messaging without custom middleware. * Man-portable across a small team or mountable on a light tactical vehicle (MRZR, ISV) within defined SWaP-C limits. * pLEO solutions will be immediately disqualified.

ASW-SO/LIC: INDUSTRY DAY JULY 2026

ASW-SO/LIC: INDUSTRY DAY JULY 2026

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