The U.S. Navy Just Posted 13 Defense-Tech Funding Opportunities.
The U.S. Navy’s 13 New Defense-Tech Opportunities: What They Are, Who Should Apply.
As most Israeli founders know, the U.S. Navy runs a number of Small Business Innovation Research programs, which include “Phase I” contracts worth up to $200,000, with a route to additional dollars.
Last week, the Navy released 13 new topics, 12 that are considered “conventional” SBIRs, and one high-priority open topic for Counter Unmanned Air Systems, funded under a Commercial Solutions Opening mechanism. The proposals open on June 24 and close July 22 at 12:00 p.m. ET. That gives you roughly six weeks from today to put together a submission.
Please remember that the SBIR program funds U.S.-owned small businesses; Israeli companies cannot apply directly. The path in is through a U.S. subsidiary, a U.S. partner who takes the prime role, or a technology licensing arrangement with a U.S. entity. CET Sandbox exists precisely to help bridge that structure. If you are reading this and your company fits one of the profiles below, reach out before proposals open on June 24.
Let us go through what is on the table.
THE DEADLINES YOU NEED IN YOUR CALENDAR
Pre-release period (direct contact with topic authors allowed): June 3 through June 23, 2026
Proposals open: June 24, 2026
Proposals close: July 22, 2026, at 12:00 p.m. ET
Online Q&A window (public, anonymous): closes July 8, 2026
THE BIG ONE FIRST: COUNTER-UAS OPEN TOPIC (DON26BX03-NP002)
Issued by: NAVAIR and NAVSEA
https://www.navysbir.com/n26_3/DON26BX03-NP002.htm
Industry Day Webinar (June 16, 1–3 p.m. ET): https://www.navysbir.com/ot3-02.htm
This is the topic that demands the most attention. NAVAIR and NAVSEA have opened a joint Commercial Solutions Opening specifically for Counter Unmanned Air Systems technology. It is structured differently from the conventional topics: awards will use Other Transaction agreements rather than standard contracts, which means faster award and transition timelines. The Navy has confirmed it intends to fund multiple Phase I awards.
Phase I budget: up to $200,000 for six months, with an optional additional $115,000 for a second six months.
The Navy’s ask is direct: it needs technology that can detect, track, identify, and neutralize individual and swarming UAS in operationally realistic environments. The four technology areas it is explicitly funding are AI-powered target recognition from sensor inputs including imagery and RF signatures; AI/ML-enhanced swarm detection, tracking, and behavioral anomaly analysis; non-kinetic or low-kinetic defeat systems for Group 1 and 2 UAS with a focus on size, weight, and power constraints for naval platform integration; and AI/ML frameworks for countering UAS that use programmable signature management to evade traditional sensors.
There is a critical clarification already on the record from the Navy’s own published Q&A: a proposal that addresses only the detect, track, and identify side of the equation, without a defeat or neutralization mechanism, is fully responsive. Passive acoustic sensing approaches focused on detection and cueing are also explicitly acceptable. You do not need to solve the entire kill chain to compete.
There is also a live webinar on June 16, 2026, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. ET, hosted by NAVAIR and NAVSEA specifically for this topic. No registration required. This is a real opportunity to ask technical questions directly before the proposal window opens.
Who should apply: Companies with AI-based drone detection and classification capabilities, whether sensor-agnostic fusion platforms, RF-based detection systems, acoustic detection systems, or optical/EO-IR detection with onboard processing. Companies building non-kinetic defeat systems including directed RF, jamming, and spoofing technologies targeted at small UAS. Companies working on swarm behavior modeling and AI frameworks for multi-target tracking. If your core technology addresses any portion of the UAS detect-through-defeat chain at the sensor or software layer, this topic is written for you.
THE 12 CONVENTIONAL SBIR TOPICS
1. LONG-RANGE LISTENING DEVICE (DON26BZ03-NV054)
Issued by: Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC)
https://www.navysbir.com/n26_3/DON26BZ03-NV054.htm
Marine Corps intelligence units need a compact, deployable listening device that can accurately identify and record sound at distances of 200 meters or more, with a target area no larger than 2 meters at range. The device must be portable enough for a single operator to carry and set up from a transit case within one hour, must run on battery power for a minimum of 24 continuous hours, and ideally should be non-military in appearance. The objective is to give CI/HUMINT Marines an organic, field-deployable surveillance tool without relying on bulky or conspicuous infrastructure.
This is Phase I only at this stage: the ask is to design and validate a concept that meets those parameters, with a Phase II development plan.
Who should apply: Companies in acoustic sensing, directional microphone arrays, passive surveillance systems, and low-power edge audio processing. Companies whose technology bridges consumer or law enforcement surveillance tools and military-grade portability and environmental performance. This topic has dual-use transition written into it from the start: the Navy explicitly flags FBI, DEA, Secret Service, and ATF as likely follow-on customers.
2. MULTI-BAND APPROACH TO TARGET DISCOVERY (DON26BZ03-NV055)
Issued by: NAVSEA
https://www.navysbir.com/n26_3/DON26BZ03-NV055.htm
The commercial SAR satellite industry is optimized for X-band, high-resolution imagery suited to agriculture, urban planning, and disaster response. The Navy needs something different: wide-area maritime surveillance in open ocean environments for vessel tracking, search and rescue, and monitoring of illegal activity. This topic funds the development of a dual-band SAR system that adds an S-band or C-band capability alongside existing X-band infrastructure, enabling wider coverage swaths, improved target discrimination across sea states, and enhanced environmental monitoring including oil spill detection and sea ice monitoring. Phase II work will likely be classified, and the requirement for U.S. ownership and clearance capability applies.
Who should apply: Companies in spaceborne or airborne SAR sensor development, multi-spectral remote sensing, or maritime domain awareness platforms that use satellite-derived data. Companies building novel waveform or aperture designs that can enable dual-band operation within the size, weight, and power constraints of commercial satellite form factors. Given the classification trajectory, this is primarily an opportunity for companies that have or are building a U.S. operational presence.
3. OPTIMIZING SATELLITE IMAGERY ACROSS COMMERCIAL VENDORS (DON26BZ03-NV056)
Issued by: NAVSEA
https://www.navysbir.com/n26_3/DON26BZ03-NV056.htm
The Navy currently depends on a limited set of dedicated satellite assets and Government-contracted providers for imagery. That creates single points of failure and limits the speed of collection. This topic funds a software application that acts as a scheduling hub, dynamically allocating imaging tasks across multiple commercial satellite providers to optimize resolution, collection speed, and cost in real time. The system must integrate with commercial provider APIs, account for weather and cloud cover, prioritize time-sensitive targets, minimize redundant collections, and maintain security and data integrity across vendors. Phase II will likely be classified.
Who should apply: Companies building multi-vendor satellite tasking and scheduling software, geospatial intelligence platforms, or space-as-a-service middleware that interfaces with commercial imagery APIs. Companies experienced in optimization algorithms, predictive scheduling, or data fusion pipelines in space-derived contexts. This topic is heavily software and architecture-oriented, making it accessible to companies without proprietary hardware, provided the U.S. entity and clearance path is in place.
4. GUN WEAPON SYSTEMS AMMUNITION HANDLING AND CONTROLS MODERNIZATION (DON26BZ03-NV057)
Issued by: NAVSEA
https://www.navysbir.com/n26_3/DON26BZ03-NV057.htm
The MK 45 5-inch naval gun system still relies on electro-hydraulic ammunition handling technology from the 1960s. The Navy needs to modernize it: the target is automated ammunition loading with operational availability of 0.9 or greater, a sustained firing rate above 12 rounds per minute, and reduced dependence on petroleum-based hydraulic fluids. The solution must fit within the existing MK 45 footprint without requiring ship modifications. The Navy is open to electric motor drives, industrial control systems, and human-assist technologies, and requires Model-Based Engineering design principles throughout. Phase II is likely to be classified.
Who should apply: Companies in industrial automation, electro-mechanical actuation, ammunition handling, or shipboard systems integration. Companies with experience adapting industrial material handling systems to military-grade environments, particularly where SWaP constraints and reliability under sustained operation are core design parameters. This is primarily a hardware engineering topic with a meaningful path into the Navy’s destroyer fleet.
5. HIGH-THROUGHPUT EMBARKED DATA TRANSFER (DON26BZ03-NV058)
Issued by: NAVSEA
https://www.navysbir.com/n26_3/DON26BZ03-NV058.htm
Ships equipped with the Ship Self-Defense System generate massive volumes of combat system data that need to be transmitted back to shore for analysis, tactics development, and system improvement. The current methods are slow and bandwidth-constrained. The Navy is asking for a device with a total stowed volume of one cubic foot, including transceiver, that can transmit four terabytes of data in 60 seconds, at a sustained bandwidth of approximately 67 gigabytes per second, over distances greater than 5,000 nautical miles. The system must deploy in under ten minutes and must integrate with DoW communications architecture. Free-space optical and other advanced modalities are explicitly welcomed. Phase II is likely classified.
Who should apply: Companies in free-space optical communications, high-bandwidth wireless data transmission, or novel RF/microwave transmission systems. Companies building compact, rapidly deployable communication hardware for military or maritime environments. This is a genuinely hard engineering problem with no current COTS solution, which means the Navy is looking for innovation rather than an integration of existing products.
6. REAL-TIME ZERO TRUST DATA AND ACCESS CONTROL FOR COMBAT SYSTEMS (DON26BZ03-NV059)
Issued by: NAVSEA
https://www.navysbir.com/n26_3/DON26BZ03-NV059.htm
Naval combat systems need to verify every data access request in near-real-time, regardless of the user’s device or location, and do so fast enough to support operational tempo in a live threat environment. The Navy’s specific performance targets: reduce authentication time from 15 seconds to under 5 seconds; reduce unauthorized data access risk by at least 90%; reduce administrative overhead by at least 25%. The solution needs to incorporate advanced multi-factor authentication, AI/ML-based anomaly detection, micro-segmentation, and blockchain-based access logging. It must also be resilient in degraded environments where communications infrastructure may be compromised. Phase II is likely classified.
Who should apply: Companies in cybersecurity, Zero Trust architecture, identity and access management, and AI-driven threat detection platforms. Companies with experience adapting commercial Zero Trust frameworks to operational technology or industrial control system environments, where low-latency performance and degraded-mode resilience matter. This is a software-centric topic with a direct path into shipboard combat systems.
7. INTRA-SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS (DON26BZ03-NV060)
Issued by: NAVSEA
https://www.navysbir.com/n26_3/DON26BZ03-NV060.htm
Commercial satellites today do not talk to each other directly. Each satellite routes data through ground stations, which introduces latency and breaks track continuity when a target moves from one satellite’s field of view to another’s. This topic funds the development of hardware to be installed on Government satellites that enables direct inter-satellite communication within and across commercial constellations, allowing seamless target handoff, faster data transmission to decision-makers, and persistent tracking of maneuvering targets without ground station intervention. Phase II is likely classified, and U.S. ownership with clearance capability is required.
Who should apply: Companies in satellite hardware, inter-satellite link technology, and communications systems for space environments. Companies with experience in laser or RF inter-satellite communication, constellation networking, or low-latency data relay architectures. Given the classification trajectory and the U.S.-ownership requirement, this is primarily relevant to companies with a U.S. presence and either existing clearance infrastructure or a clear path to obtaining it.
8. PREDICTIVE MOVEMENT FOR OBJECT ORIENTED TRACKING (DON26BZ03-NV061)
Issued by: NAVSEA
https://www.navysbir.com/n26_3/DON26BZ03-NV061.htm
The Maritime Targeting Cell receives data from satellites, sensors, and other intelligence sources on a continuous basis covering thousands of objects: Navy ships, allied vessels, commercial traffic, adversary submarines, underwater drones, aircraft, and more. Current manual processes cannot scale to that volume. This topic funds an AI-driven platform that automates tracking, generates pattern-of-life analysis, predicts future object states, detects deviations from expected behavior, and presents prioritized target hierarchies to analysts. The system must scale as new sensors come online without requiring proportional increases in analyst staffing. Phase II is likely classified.
Who should apply: Companies in AI-based multi-object tracking, maritime domain awareness, geospatial intelligence, and pattern-of-life analytics. Companies building sensor fusion platforms that ingest heterogeneous data streams and produce explainable, actionable outputs for human operators. Companies with experience in AI for ISR applications, including predictive analytics, behavioral analysis, and autonomous prioritization.
9. SECURE TASKING OF COMMERCIAL ASSETS (DON26BZ03-NV062)
Issued by: NAVSEA
https://www.navysbir.com/n26_3/DON26BZ03-NV062.htm
The Navy wants to task commercial satellites for sensitive targeting missions, including at CUI and Secret classification levels, without that tasking being discoverable by adversaries. Commercial providers currently do not offer the classification levels required. The current standard tasking process can take up to 14 days from order to delivery. The Navy’s target is a 90 percent reduction in tasking time. The solution needs end-to-end encryption within existing commercial tasking interfaces, quantum-resistant cryptography for long-term security, and blockchain-based verification of tasking authenticity. Phase II is likely classified.
Who should apply: Companies in secure communications, satellite tasking software, quantum-resistant cryptography, and classified cloud infrastructure. Companies building encryption and authentication layers that can be embedded into commercial API workflows without requiring vendors to redesign their own systems. This topic rewards companies that can bridge commercial space infrastructure with Government security requirements without relying on expensive, bespoke military-grade hardware.
10. ANOMALOUS BEHAVIOR DETECTION AND ALERTING FOR CONGESTED MARITIME ENVIRONMENTS (DON26BZ03-NV063)
Issued by: NAVSEA
https://www.navysbir.com/n26_3/DON26BZ03-NV063.htm
Navy ships transiting congested maritime regions face adversaries who deliberately hide within legitimate traffic patterns. Manually monitoring every vessel and aircraft in a 360-degree coverage area over an extended transit is a task that overwhelms watchstanders and produces attentional fatigue. This topic funds an automated Pattern of Life analysis system that ingests AIS, ADS-B, and radar tracks, establishes behavioral baselines, identifies contacts that deviate from expected patterns, and generates explainable alerts with machine-confidence assessments for human operators. The system must function without large pre-loaded historical databases, since ships frequently transit new or changing operating areas. Phase II is likely classified.
Who should apply: Companies in maritime domain awareness, anomaly detection, traffic pattern analysis, and AI-based situational awareness platforms. Companies that have built explainable AI systems for behavioral analysis in high-clutter environments, particularly where operator trust and transparent machine reasoning are core design requirements. Companies whose technology is already operating in commercial maritime monitoring, port security, or air traffic applications may find a short translation path into this requirement.
11. TERMINAL DEFENSE WEAPON SYSTEM COORDINATOR (DON26BZ03-NV064)
Issued by: NAVSEA
https://www.navysbir.com/n26_3/DON26BZ03-NV064.htm
When the Navy upgrades a terminal defense weapon system like RAM, CIWS, or a directed energy system, the upgrade currently requires a corresponding update to the ship’s combat management system. That process takes years of development and years of fielding. This topic funds the development of a software coordinator that sits between the combat system and the weapon systems, decoupling them so that weapon system upgrades can be developed and fielded in as little as two months. The coordinator uses AI heuristics and machine learning for engagement coordination, implements MBSE for requirements and architecture documentation, and must run on a Red Hat Linux platform. Phase II is likely classified.
Who should apply: Companies in combat systems software, model-based systems engineering, AI-based decision engines, and weapons integration architecture. Companies experienced in real-time embedded systems, military engagement management software, or autonomous engagement coordination at the software layer. This is a complex systems engineering topic that rewards companies with a deep understanding of naval combat system architecture and a proven ability to deliver explainable, real-time AI for safety-critical applications.
12. ADAPTIVE SENSOR MANAGEMENT (DON26BZ03-NV065)
Issued by: NAVSEA
https://www.navysbir.com/n26_3/DON26BZ03-NV065.htm
Aircraft carriers and amphibious ships defended by the Ship Self-Defense System operate multiple radar systems simultaneously: rotating radars, phased-array radars, fire control illuminators, and electronic support sensors. Each sensor competes for tasking resources, and there are conditions in which adding more data from one sensor on a well-characterized track produces diminishing returns. This topic funds an algorithm that dynamically identifies when sensor resources can be reallocated to higher-value tasks without degrading track quality on existing targets, and specifies which alternative tasking would produce the greatest improvement in situational awareness. The solution must be explainable, run in real time, and work across the specific SSDS sensor suite. Phase II is likely classified.
Who should apply: Companies in radar systems engineering, multi-sensor fusion, dynamic resource allocation algorithms, and AI for sensor management. Companies that have built Bayesian optimization, model predictive control, or reinforcement learning systems for multi-sensor environments. Companies with experience in fire control quality tracking and radar resource management for military or air traffic management applications. This is a technically demanding topic that requires familiarity with radar phenomenology and combat system architecture.
BEFORE YOU APPLY: THE FOREIGN NATIONAL QUESTION
Most of the topics in this release require the applicant to disclose any foreign nationals working on the program and their country of origin. Multiple topics explicitly note that Phase II work will likely be classified and will require U.S. facility clearances. This does not prevent Israeli technology from playing a role, but it does require the right corporate structure. A U.S. subsidiary, a U.S.-based partner in the prime role, or a technology transfer arrangement are all viable paths. If your technology fits one of these topics and you need help structuring the approach for U.S. market entry, that is exactly what this ecosystem was built for.
Proposals open June 24. Closes July 22. The C-UAS Industry Day is June 16.
Source: https://navysbir.com/
