The underwater robotics company UUV Aquabotix Ltd. was accepted as a member of the Navy’s new Information Warfare Research Project (IWRP) consortium, the company said on Monday.

The IWRP, falling within the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), aims to give participants a forum to pitch new information warfare (IW) capabilities to SPAWAR officials.

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The consortium will run competitions for individual prototype projects to find IW tools for SPAWAR to use. This includes technologies in cyber warfare, data analytics, assured communications, model-based systems engineering, and internet of things (IoT) devices.

In June SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic awarded Advanced Technology International (ATI) a three-year $100 million contract to manage the consortium through an OTA (Defense Daily, June 27).

SPAWAR is using the Other Transaction Authority (OTA) to advance information warfare technologies and innovation delivery to the Navy and Marine Corps.

When the ATI deal was announced, commander of SPAWAR Systems Command, Rear Adm. C.D. Becker, said the OTA “will accelerate acquisition and bring non-traditional sources, research and development labs, and industry together to provide new, innovative information warfare solutions.”

Navy officials at the time said the IWRP would begin accepting proposals for capability prototype projects in August.

Aquabotix characterized the OTA as allowing the IWRP members to engage in a wide set of activities to advance the technology and allows it to be delivered faster and more efficiently than with traditional federal acquisition regulations.

Aquabotix said it was specifically approved as a demonstrated technology leader with particular competencies in autonomy, assured communications, and battlespace awareness.

“We anticipate participation in this consortium will provide access to key partners and customers while enabling rapid research and prototyping using non-dilutive funding options under the OTA to support our goal of continuing to develop innovative and leading-edge solutions and product offerings for the U.S. and allied governments,” Whitney Million, CEO of Aquabotix, said in a statement.

This is the third technology consortium Aquabotix has joined in as many months. In June it agreed to support the Navy’s Forward Deployed Energy and Communications Outpost (FDECO) program as a member of the Innovative Undersea Prototype Development Consortium (iUPDC) (Defense Daily, June 22) and early this month it joined the Undersea Technology Innovation Consortium (UTIC) (Defense Daily, Aug. 3).

FDECO prototypes are forward-deployed, scalable, and coordinated data management and communications infrastructure for undersea vehicles while iUPDC helps industry prototypes technology research for the program. Similarly, UTIC helps contractors, suppliers, academia, and others organizations work with the government to develop undersea and maritime technology for defense purposes.