This is a Department of War SBIR/STTR contract topic, not a general grant: it funds R&D of an agentic AI-based cognitive radar for resilient GEOINT missions. Only for-profit US small businesses with 500 or fewer employees and majority US ownership can apply. Nonprofits, and businesses outside radar, AI, or defense R&D, should not bother.
| Industry | Estimated fit |
|---|---|
| Technology & SoftwareMatches your industry (sbir, sttr) | 64 |
| Energy & Clean TechLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 46 |
| Healthcare & BiotechLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 42 |
| Housing & Real EstateLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 39 |
| Agriculture & FarmingLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 37 |
| Retail & E-CommerceLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 37 |
| Industry | Estimated fit |
|---|---|
| Construction & InfrastructureLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 36 |
| Food & BeverageLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 36 |
| Transportation & LogisticsLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 36 |
| ManufacturingLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 35 |
| Finance & BankingLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 33 |
| Arts & CultureLimit: This program does not accept nonprofit applicants. | 0 |
| Education & TrainingLimit: This program does not accept nonprofit applicants. | 0 |
| Environment & ConservationLimit: This program does not accept nonprofit applicants. | 0 |
| Social Services & NonprofitLimit: This program does not accept nonprofit applicants. | 0 |
These are our matcher’s estimates for a typical business in each industry. A real match depends on your size, your state and what you need the money for — check your own fit.
SBIR Phase I/II contract topic open only to US for-profit small businesses (500 or fewer employees, majority US-owned). Funds R&D of an agentic AI-based cognitive radar that autonomously senses interference, clutter and signal conditions and optimizes waveforms to keep GEOINT missions resilient in contested environments.
Agentic AI enables autonomous control of expert systems for desired information gathering or completing a task. Compared to the general AI systems, an agentic AI system can make its decision by sensing the environment autonomously without relying on human input. Hence, agentic AI is desired for many expert systems such as self-driving car (Tesla) and many other systems. In this research, we are seeking development of an agentic AI based cognitive radar system for next generation, resilient radar system. Once initiated, agentic AI enabled radar will sense the environment for operating conditions such as interference, clutter, and signal to noise ratio. Based on this information, the system will learn (i.e., cognition process) to transmit optimum waveforms with desired frequency, bandwidth, pulse repletion frequency (PRF) and other critical parameters. This will enable future GEOINT capabilities to be resilient in the presence of asymmetric operating environments that adversaries may impose to significantly reducing our GEOINT mission.
Program: SBIR, Phase I and Phase II Agency: Department of War, Office of the Secretary of Defense Topic number: OSW26BZ06-DV033 Solicitation: 26.BZ Released September 2, 2026; proposals accepted from September 23, 2026 Closes October 21, 2026. Check the official solicitation for the exact due time. Award type: contract, not a grant. Official solicitation: https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/topics-app/ Listed on SBIR.gov: https://www.sbir.gov/topics/12969. SBIR.gov copies agency solicitations and can lag behind them; the official solicitation is the final word.
Small businesses only: a for-profit US business with 500 or fewer employees, including affiliates.
More than 50% owned and controlled by US citizens or permanent residents (some agencies also accept majority ownership by venture capital, hedge fund or private equity firms; the solicitation says).
SBIR: the principal investigator is primarily employed by the business. STTR: the business partners with a US nonprofit research institution or university, which does at least 30% of the work.
Registered in SAM.gov before submitting.
Check the official solicitation for its own conditions, proposal limits and security review.
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