Defense Unicorns, Inc.

Defense Unicorns, Inc., a service-disabled veteran-owned small business headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, delivers advanced software development, cybersecurity solutions, and cloud computing services to the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies as a prime contractor on $4.58 billion in combined potential value across 31 prime awards (76% of its footprint) and as a subcontractor on 10 named sub awards.

The vendor operates predominantly under full-and-open competition on research and development vehicles and defense modernization contracts; set-aside work appears limited to Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II and Phase III efforts where the small-business status qualifies the vendor to compete. The company's core capabilities—air gap software development, biometric authentication, machine learning applications for weapon system assurance, cloud-native desktop as a service, and secure software delivery—are grounded in a sustained SBIR/STTR portfolio and anchor most of its defense work.

Customer concentration sits heavily with the Department of the Navy Naval Sea Systems Command, which accounts for 10 awards and $4.41 billion in combined potential value—96% of the vendor's total potential-value footprint. The top five agencies by award count account for 80% of awards: the Department of the Air Force Materiel Command Research Laboratory (13 awards, $32.6 million), Naval Sea Systems Command (10 awards, $4.41 billion), Air Education and Training Command (6 awards, $134 million), the Aeronautical Systems Center (2 awards), and the Electronic Systems Center (2 awards). The concentration is driven by three large single-award IDICs anchoring the dollar value while the Air Force Research Laboratory places many smaller SBIR Phase I and Phase II efforts.

Defense Unicorns holds three large parent vehicles. The Naval Sea Systems Command awarded a $300 million single-award IDIQ for SBIR Phase III air gap software delivery and related cybersecurity work running through September 2027, with six task orders issued to date including a $89.2 million delivery order for air gap software development (labor-hours priced, ultimate completion September 2027). Air Education and Training Command awarded a $92.07 million single-award IDIQ for Integrated Defense Cyber Systems architecture platform support running through February 2030, with two task orders totaling $23.2 million in combined potential value for cybersecurity and software sustainment work in San Antonio, Texas (both orders complete September 2026). On December 29, 2025, the Missile Defense Agency awarded Defense Unicorns a $151 billion multiple-award IDIQ for the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) contract covering research, development, prototyping, and modernization across air, missile, space, cyber, and hybrid threat domains through December 2035; the vendor also holds a $4 billion multiple-award seat on the Navy SeaPort-NxG vehicle (Naval Sea Systems Command, ultimate completion January 2029).

Representative prime work includes a $3.99 million firm fixed-price definitive contract awarded by Air Force Research Laboratory on March 24, 2026 for modernizing secure software delivery across USSF mission environments with Unified Data Solutions (performance through March 2027, Colorado Springs); a $15 million Sequential Phase II SBIR award from Air Force Research Laboratory on December 16, 2024 for advanced software development and cybersecurity solutions (performance through December 2027, Patrick Space Force Base, Florida); a $2.46 million Other Transaction Agreement from Naval Information Warfare Systems Command on March 19, 2026 for RCC CSO prototype research and development (completion June 2026, Colorado Springs); and a $1.25 million SBIR Phase II purchase order from Air Force Research Laboratory on August 27, 2025 for edge-ready identity management powered by cloud-native delivery (completion June 2027, Colorado Springs).

Activity has accelerated in recent years—from four awards in 2022 to seventeen in 2025—reflecting growth in SBIR Phase III task order volume and IDIC vehicle positioning. Eight awards (combined potential value $148.8 million) face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, creating recompete exposure primarily tied to SBIR Phase III derivatives and platform sustainment orders already on the Air Force and Navy books.

On the subcontractor side, Defense Unicorns supports Science Applications International Corporation on cloud services and software life cycle development work, Sierra Nevada Company on Big Safari services, Linquest Corporation on SBIR Phase III engineering, CACI Federal on software COTS, and Georgia Tech Applied Research on electronic warfare testing supporting Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command. Sub work reflects Defense Unicorns' role as a specialized software delivery and cybersecurity component within larger defense prime teams rather than a full systems integrator.

SCI-reported invoiced revenue for federal service contracts above the $150,000 reporting threshold totaled $3.2 million in FY2024 across 12 FTEs on a prime contract; the SCI dataset is sparse and captures only a subset of the vendor's federal services activity above the threshold, excluding goods, products, and classified work. Median government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable prime service contracts ran $127.57 per hour; across prime contracts recorded in SCI, the vendor performed 100% of contractor hours internally with no sub-hour engagement reported. The SCI footprint does not reflect the vendor's total federal revenue or full workforce, which are substantially larger given the scale of the IDIC vehicles and the recent acceleration in annual awards.