Adaptive Warfighting Architectures

Amendment 02: The purpose of this Amendment is to: 1) extend the due dates for abstracts and proposals; 2) Updated the U.S.C. reference in Section II, “Award Information,” (A); 2) Updated the U.S.C. reference in Section III, “Eligibility Information,” (A)(c); (3) Added paragraph under Section III “Eligibility Information,” (1)(c)(2); 4) Updated the link for international entities under Section IV “Application and Submission Information” (B)(11); 5) Updated the U.S.C. reference in Section IV “Application and Submission Information” (C)(3)(a); 6) Added “Countering Foreign Influence Program” paragraph under Section V “Application Review Information” (B)(4); and 7) Updated electronic reporting system within Section VI, “Award Administration Information,” (D)(3).

Amendment 01: The purpose of this Amendment is to: 1) extend the due dates for abstracts and proposals; 2) provide updates to Section I, “Funding Opportunity Description,” (A) to revise the descriptions of the relevant technical areas of interest to ACO; 3) Update Section III, “Eligibility Information,” (A)(1)(c) to remove subparagraph (A)(1)(c)(2) and move to Section IV, “Application and Submission Information,” (B)(4)(d); 4) Make updates to Section IV, “Application and Submission Information” to add in clarifying proposal format instructions and to include required CUI guidance/requirements; and 5) provide clarifying instructions within Section VI, “Award Administration Information,” (B)(4).

The Adaptive Capabilities Office (ACO), working in close partnership with the military services, develops adaptive warfighting architectures that combine emerging technologies with new warfighting constructs to address the challenges faced by military forces in contested environments. Over the past few decades, the effective projection of military power has become increasingly dependent on complex combinations of capabilities resident in all domains in order to achieve combined effects not possible from individual platforms or services. The combination of effects created by systems in or delivered through all domains, from the seafloor to space, including those via cyber and the electromagnetic spectrum, dictates a different approach to concept development. While in the past the delivery of effects could be described by linear ‘kill chains’ with a single execution path, this new level of complexity demands an understanding of ‘kill webs’- complex representations of effect chains with multiple possible paths that require adaptive architectures that can handle the rapidly changing context of modern combat. These adaptive architectures must be developed through a coherent campaign of study and analysis, constructive modeling and simulation (M&S), and live, virtual, and constructive experimentation that support concept and doctrine development in response to rapidly changing conditions. ACO is seeking innovative ideas and disruptive technologies that support this process and that focus on increasing the lethality and freedom of movement of U.S. military forces in increasingly less permissive environments against peer and near peer adversaries.

The Adaptive Capabilities Office (ACO), working in close partnership with the military services, develops adaptive warfighting architectures that combine emerging technologies with new warfighting constructs to address the challenges faced by military forces in contested environments. Over the past few decades, the effective projection of military power has become increasingly dependent on complex combinations of capabilities resident in all domains in order to achieve combined effects not possible from individual platforms or services. The combination of effects created by systems in or delivered through all domains, from the seafloor to space, including those via cyber and the electromagnetic spectrum, dictates a different approach to concept development. While in the past the delivery of effects could be described by linear ‘kill chains’ with a single execution path, this new level of complexity demands an understanding of ‘kill webs’- complex representations of effect chains with multiple possible paths that require adaptive architectures that can handle the rapidly changing context of modern combat. These adaptive architectures must be developed through a coherent campaign of study and analysis, constructive modeling and simulation (M&S), and live, virtual, and constructive experimentation that support concept and doctrine development in response to rapidly changing conditions. ACO is seeking innovative ideas and disruptive technologies that support this process and that focus on increasing the lethality and freedom of movement of U.S. military forces in increasingly less permissive environments against peer and near peer adversaries.