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This DoD SBIR Phase I topic seeks runtime monitoring systems that detect and mitigate errors in AI-driven autonomy for unmanned aerial platforms, ensuring safe flight and mission execution. The system must identify faulty autonomous decisions in real time and trigger corrective actions to maintain operational safety.
As autonomous unmanned platforms become central to Air Force operations, ensuring that AI decision-making remains reliable and recoverable during mission execution is a critical safety requirement. The runtime assurance system should monitor AI outputs against defined safety boundaries, detect anomalous autonomy behavior, implement graceful degradation when AI systems malfunction, and provide real-time logging for post-mission analysis.
This technology is essential for building the trust and reliability needed to deploy autonomous systems in contested and complex environments. Part of DoD SBIR Release 26. 2, this topic addresses the Air Force's need for verified and validated autonomy that can be trusted for operational deployment.
Successful Phase I performers may compete for Phase II prototype development funding.
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Or search similar grants →According to the current listing, eligibility includes: U.S.-based for-profit small businesses with 500 or fewer employees. Must be organized for profit, independently owned and operated, not dominant in the field, and with principal place of business in the United States. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The current listing shows phase I award of approximately $140,000 for feasibility study. Phase II follow-on awards up to $1,700,000 for prototype development. Verify award ceilings, matching requirements, and allowable costs in the official notice.
The most recent published deadline was June 3, 2026, which has passed. This is an annual program, so a new cycle should follow. Check the funder's website for the next application window.
DoD SBIR Runtime Assured Autonomy for AI-Driven Unmanned Platforms is funded by Department of the Air Force. Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.
Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.
DoW SBIR SPECIFIC TOPIC 26.BZ RELEASE 2 is sponsored by Department of the Air Force (managed by AFWERX and SpaceWERX). This solicitation seeks innovative solutions to particular problem sets defined by Department of the Air Force (DAF) end-users or customers. The solicitation topic outlines specific defense use cases and clearly defines the DAF requirements to achieve a solution. This is part of the broader AFWERX and SpaceWERX SBIR/STTR programs.
Three axis stabilized environmentally sealed infrared search and track payload is sponsored by Department of the Air Force. This topic seeks a three-axis stabilized sealed IRST (Infrared Search and Track) payload suitable for use on Group 2/3 UAS to detect, track, and identify small UAS threats. It specifies the need for hardware and software approaches to provide a complete pointing and stabilization sealed payload package and mentions that traditional detection, tracking, and identification methods include acoustics, RF, and IR cameras.
DoD SBIR 26.BZ Release 2 is a grant from the Department of the Air Force (AFWERX) that funds small business research and development of dual-use technologies supporting U.S. Air Force and Space Force missions. AFWERX manages this Small Business Innovation Research solicitation, which addresses specific Air and Space Force capability gaps. Eligible applicants are U.S.-based for-profit small businesses with 500 or fewer employees, with the principal investigator primarily employed by the small business. Phase I awards focus on technical feasibility, Phase II on prototype development (up to 24 months), with STRATFI growth awards ranging from $3 million to $15 million. The pre-release date was May 6, 2026, with the deadline on June 24, 2026.
The Department of Defense FY2026 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) provides funding for U.S. universities to acquire research equipment and instrumentation in areas important to national defense, including AI and machine learning hardware. The program is administered jointly by the Army Research Office (ARO), Office of Naval Research (ONR), and Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), with approximately $34 million available and 95 awards anticipated. DURIP funds the acquisition of specialized computing hardware for AI/ML research (GPU clusters, TPUs, neuromorphic processors), robotics and autonomous systems testbeds, sensor arrays and data collection systems for machine learning training, high-performance computing infrastructure for defense-relevant AI research, and laboratory equipment for human-AI interaction studies. The program specifically supports equipment that enhances research-related education in DoD-priority disciplines. While general-purpose computing is not eligible, computing equipment directly supporting DoD-relevant AI research programs qualifies. No cost sharing is required.
Vinnova, Sweden's national innovation agency, funds projects developing applied AI solutions for Swedish industry through its Advanced Digitalization Programme. Each project can apply for between 2 and 10 million SEK (approximately $190,000 to $950,000 USD) covering up to 50% of eligible project costs. The total call budget is 60 million SEK. Projects run for 12-24 months and focus on two key areas: Intelligent Edge (AI for real-time application in the sensor chain) and AI-based decision support. All projects must address industrial needs and integrate gender equality and climate change perspectives. Scientific publications must be open access. A parallel call also funds AI and cybersecurity projects at 1-10 million SEK per project with a 50 million SEK total budget.
The FY2026 COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force program funds statewide opioid-interdiction task forces with awards up to $4 million and no local match. But eligibility is narrower than most agencies assume, and there are two deadlines — July 23 and July 29. Here's the deep dive on who qualifies and how to build a competitive application.
Read articleThe DSO DPA26BZ03 drop pairs a wearable closed-loop sleep system and a host-pathogen interactome predictor with a brutal Rydberg-sensor manufacturing topic and air-independent high-density batteries. All four open June 24 and close July 22, 2026. Here is what each topic is really asking for, and which small businesses are positioned to win.
Read articleThe Department of the Navy pre-released FY26 Release 3 SBIR/STTR on June 3, 2026 — 12 BAA topics and one Commercial Solutions Opening for Counter-Unmanned Air Systems. Topics span adaptive sensor management, anomalous behavior detection, satellite imagery optimization, real-time zero-trust data for combat systems, and gun weapon systems modernization. Technical questions cut off June 23. Proposals open June 24 and close July 22. NAVAIR and NAVSEA co-host a Counter-UAS webinar June 16. Phase I funding tops out at $315,000. The CSO open topic for AI-powered drone defense is the structural news: it's the first time NAVAIR has used a CSO vehicle to fund counter-drone work outside the conventional Phase I/II structure, and it changes how small businesses can engage with the Navy's most urgent capability gap.
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