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Tactical Missile Innovation Challenge is sponsored by Department of Defense - Navy. Overview Modern tactical missile systems are a force multiplier on the battlefield, but they have become increasingly difficult and expensive to develop, produce, and sustain at scale.
Traditional product development practices, which optimize a single design to tightly specified requirements to assure performance and reliability, have produced world-class systems. However, in some contexts, these practices can reduce design flexibility, increase unit and lifecycle costs, and constrain scaling in production and sustainment.
This Challenge seeks alternative missile product development approaches that, at the design stage, use modern tools and linked models to explore coupled trade spaces across performance, cost, schedule, and production, producing concepts that are affordable, adaptable, and producible at scale. This Challenge invites participants to rethink the development of tactical missile systems from a clean sheet.
Using modern design tools, modeling and simulation, and structured exploration of design and production trade spaces, participants should submit a methodology and development approach intended to underpin a new all-up-round (AUR) missile concept that is: Affordable: significantly lower development, production, and sustainment costs than current systems.
Adaptable and scalable: designed for growth in production capacity and mission capability. Operationally relevant: aligned with near-term force needs, including countering small to medium unmanned aerial threats. Rather than requiring a complete missile design, each submission should present a clear, structured design methodology and execution plan.
Proposals should explain how the method will reduce technical and programmatic risk, manage cost drivers, and provide a credible path to production and fielding by traversing the coupled trade space. Teams are encouraged to describe the enabling capability stack that executes the method, such as model-based design environments, linked mission and subsystem
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Or search similar grants →According to the current listing, eligibility includes: A Challenge Participant may be a group or individual representing a for-profit business or a U.S. academic institution. A for-profit business refers to any legal entity that is organized for the purpose of generating profit, is duly incorporated or otherwise lawfully organized under the laws of a State, Commonwealth, or Territory of the United States, and has its principal place of business within the United States. The term includes corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and other business entities operating on a for-profit basis. Preference will be afforded to Challenge Participants with Submissions that clearly demonstrate a credible business case and commercially viable plan for implementation. This includes evidence of cost discipline, production scalability, and a roadmap that translates technical methodology into sustainable business outcomes. Submissions that integrate affordability strategies and demonstrate readiness for market adoption will be viewed favorably. Additional eligibility criteria: Participants must provide evidence of their entity’s legal formation. Participants must provide their entity’s Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code. All participating individuals (either as part of a team or solely representing an entity) must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the United States and be 18 years of age or older. Federal government employees and federal entities are not eligible to participate. Support contractors acting within the scope of their contracts are not eligible to participate. Participants may not use Federal funds to support participation in this Challenge. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The current listing shows $200,000. Verify award ceilings, matching requirements, and allowable costs in the official notice.
The published deadline was February 27, 2026, which has passed. Check the official notice for any future application windows before investing time in a proposal.
Yes — Tactical Missile Innovation Challenge is offered by Department of Defense - Navy and this listing comes from Challenge.gov, an official U.S. federal source. Federal applications generally require registrations (for example SAM.gov or an agency submission portal), so allow extra lead time.
Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.
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