ONR - Innovation Enabler
Challenge ended
Description
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is seeking an industry partner to serve as an Innovation Enabler, accelerating the prototyping of advanced Unmanned Systems (UxS) through flexible manufacturing and streamlined procurement support. Government teams working on UxS development face persistent delays due to long procurement cycles, constrained in-house manufacturing capacity, and integration bottlenecks. This effort aims to unlock faster innovation cycles by partnering with a non-traditional vendor who can fabricate custom parts, rapidly procure critical components, and serve as an agile extension of government-led UxS prototyping. The selected partner will deliver fabrication services, provide access to industrial-grade additive and subtractive manufacturing, and support procurement strategies that accelerate prototype iteration. All activities will be conducted on an as-needed basis over a 12-month period in close coordination with government engineers and program leads.
Overall Objective
The objective is to enable rapid prototyping of UxS platforms by embedding an agile, industry-based manufacturing and procurement partner into government development workflows. The partner will deliver: · Fabricated components, enclosures, and sub-assemblies using in-house or partner-based manufacturing resources · Rapid-turn machining, additive manufacturing (metal/polymer), and composite fabrication · Integrated sub-assembly builds including wiring harnesses and mechanical assemblies · Streamlined procurement of electronics, COTS hardware, and specialty materials · Ongoing collaboration with government engineers to troubleshoot build issues and reduce turnaround time This project will provide the enabling infrastructure and expertise needed to support evolving mission requirements in the UxS domain.
Problem Statement
Traditional procurement and prototyping cycles cannot keep pace with the operational tempo or technical complexity of modern UxS requirements. Delays in component acquisition, limited access to manufacturing equipment, and bottlenecks in systems integration undermine the government's ability to field novel capabilities quickly. This Innovation Enabler effort directly addresses those constraints by embedding flexible, surge-ready support into government UxS workflows, enabling parts to be built, sourced, and delivered on an operationally relevant timeline.