The U.S. Air Force on March 18 announced its latest 23 industry entrants competing for up to $950 million in indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts for Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2), an effort to use artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing to build a cross-service digital architecture for multi-domain operations that are to rely on the fast provision of information from sensors to shooters.
Thus far, more than 100 companies are in the mix.
The newest entrants include HawkEye 360 Inc.; ARD Global LLC; Astranis Space Technologies Corp.; Atomus; Black Cape Inc.,; CFD Research Corp; CodeMettle LLC,; Conceptual Research Corp.; Dispel LLC,; Dittolive Inc.; Expeditionary Engineering Inc; Fairwinds Technologies LLC; Fearless Solutions LLC,; Feddata Technology Solutions LLC,; Fuse Integration, Inc.; Oakman Aerospace LLC; Primer Federal Inc.; Robust Intelligence Inc.; SciTec Inc.; Shift5 Inc.; Tangram Flex Inc.; Tribalco LLC; and The Ulysses Group LLC.
“This contract will leverage open systems design, modern software and algorithm development in order to enable Joint All Domain Command and Control, providing for the development and operation of systems as a unified force across all domains,” the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio said in the contract announcement.
Work under the $950 million contract is expected to be completed by May 28, 2025.
In May, 2020, the Air Force announced its first tranche of 28 JADC2 competitors, and last July, the Air Force announced its third group of 29 JADC2 contestants (Defense Daily, July 9, 2021). In 2020, one of those companies, Redmond, Wash.-based Kymeta Corp., a developer of flat-panel satellite antenna and mobile connectivity services, announced that it had raised $85.2 million, including $78 million from Microsoft [MSFT] founder Bill Gates.
In May last year, the Pentagon issued its JADC2 strategy, and on March 15, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks signed the Pentagon’s implementation plan for JADC2.