HTX Labs, Inc.

HTX Labs, Inc., a Houston-based software developer, delivers virtual reality and augmented reality training content creation, assessment tools, and immersive learning platforms to the Department of Defense as a prime contractor on full-and-open and small-business-set-aside SBIR programs, with 100 percent of recent awards held as a prime.

HTX Labs operates almost exclusively within Air Force training transformation initiatives. The Department of the Air Force accounts for 16 awards valued at $140.5 million combined potential value, with the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) contributing 15 awards at $112.2 million. The Air Force Materiel Command Research Laboratory funds 13 awards ($16.9 million), while the Naval Air Warfare Center and Missile Defense Agency round out the active customer set. AETC and the broader Air Force dominate both volume and dollars—the two organizations together represent the vast majority of HTX Labs' contract workload.

HTX Labs holds a $90 million SBIR Phase III Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract with AETC effective through September 2026, the single largest parent vehicle. Under this IDIQ, the company has placed 24 task orders valued at $36.3 million combined potential value covering VR content creation, training assessment tools, and rapid playback-and-analytics capabilities across multiple aircraft platforms. Representative task orders include a $3.5 million firm fixed-price delivery order for immersive academics development covering F-15, F-22, B-1, and B-52 munitions training (awarded January 2024), a $5.2 million order for C-130 Hercules fuels and propulsion immersive learning (October 2023), and multiple $595 thousand to $935 thousand orders for high-fidelity T-6 Texan II maintenance training systems covering fuel, electrical, hydraulics, pneumatics, and egress subsystems (September–November 2023). HTX Labs also operates under two $60 million Basic Ordering Agreements for Live, Virtual, and Constructive training environment development, with 3 task orders under one BOA yielding $3.3 million combined potential value and 2 task orders under a second generating $3.1 million. Recent SBIR Phase II awards from the Air Force Research Laboratory include a $5.8 million firm fixed-price definitive contract titled "STRATFI SBIR Phase 2 - EMPACT: AI-Enabling the EMPACT XR Training Platform" (June 2025, completion November 2026) and a $1.5 million total-small-business-set-aside purchase order for digital twin creation leveraging OEM technical data (July 2023). The company was recently awarded a $151 billion multiple-award IDIQ by the Missile Defense Agency under the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) program (December 2025), though the initial delivery order carries only a $500 ceiling.

Activity has grown from three awards in 2022 to eleven in 2025, with two awards valued at $6.8 million combined potential value reaching ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. HTX Labs competes predominantly on full-and-open basis with respect to the primary $90 million AETC IDIQ, though SBIR Phase II and Phase III research contracts typically carry total-small-business set-aside designations. Work is performed primarily at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas and at the company's Houston headquarters, with supporting efforts at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex. The vendor's capability portfolio concentrates on VR content creation tools, immersive training platform architecture, instructional design for military aircraft systems, and analytics-enabled learning management across maintenance, pilot, and mission-planning domains. The EMPACT platform represents the company's flagship product—a cloud-based immersive training environment supporting rapid content creation, playback, and performance analytics across multiple military aircraft and operational mission types.