Office of the Secretary of Defense SBIR/STTR topics
18 open or upcoming topics from Office of the Secretary of Defense (Department of War (DoD)). Next deadline: Oct 21, 2026.
Common technology areas: Sensors & sensing (7) · Autonomy & robotics (4) · Cybersecurity (3) · Communications & networking (3) · Artificial intelligence & machine learning (3) · Advanced materials (3)
5G Signature Tracking Mitigation via Cyber Deception
As military and government personnel increasingly rely on commercial mobile networks, the management of digital signatures has become a critical operational concern.
Agentic AI Based Cognitive Radar for GEOINT Mission
Agentic AI enables autonomous control of expert systems for desired information gathering or completing a task.
Architected Energy Dissipation Structures with Tunable Rigid-flexible Behaviors
The DoW requires lightweight protection materials for a variety of applications, including personal protection, vehicle safety, and shielding sensitive electronics.
Bio-inspired Underwater Teams
Bio-inspired underwater vehicles have nearly matched the speeds and efficiencies of real fish.
Compact Passive Radar
In contested A2/AD environments, active radar emissions act as beacons for adversary Electronic Warfare.
Defect Metrology and Charge Trapping Dynamics in Transfer-Doped Diamond Transistors
Hydrogen-terminated (surface-channel) diamond transistors hold great promise for next-generation, high-frequency, high-power RF electronics and advanced communications due to diamond's high breakdown field and superior thermal conductivity.
Design of RoomTemperature THz and Infrared Sensing Devices Using Non-Toxic, Supply-Chain Secure Material Platform
Infrared sensing sits at an inflection point.
Development of Ultrafast Nonvolatile Memory Based on Sliding Ferroelectricity in Moiré Polar Homostructures
Twisted stacks of van der Waals (vdW) crystals can form moiré superlattices with polar domains whose dipoles are antiferroelectrically aligned and controllable by applied electric fields [1].
Engineered Microstructures for Enhanced IR Aperture Performance
The Navy has demonstrated within its laboratories that a composite ceramic exhibiting IR transparency can be produced with distinct phases, microstructural feature sizes below 100 nm in all phases, and porosity content below 0.1% on component parts as large as 0.4 inch in lateral dimension.
Expeditionary Solar Refinery for Direct Synthesis of Methanol Feedstock from Water and Air
Modern warfare tactics have demonstrated the need to shift toward small, specialized, dismounted tactical units which can operate free from the supply line.
Monolithic Graphene–CMOS Broadband (UV-LWIR) Focal Plane Arrays for target detection in low-light conditions
The Navy continues to field multiple seeker technologies to detect, identify and engage targets in multi-domain operations through obscurants. However, you cannot detect something you cannot see.
Scalable Processing of Large Area, Oriented 2-Dimensional Polymer Films
2-dimensional polymers (2DPs) such as covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are an emerging class of materials which have displayed significant potential in applications ranging from catalysis, energy storage, dielectrics, nanofiltration, gas storage, and mechanically robust engineering materials.
Smart Manufacturing
The realistic near-to-mid-term serviceable addressable market for private 5G among U.S.
Smart Venues and Stadiums
The realistic near-to-mid-term serviceable addressable market for private 5G/6G-ready platforms among U.S.
Telecom Band Geometric Amplifier
Present-day devices for amplifying telecom laser light mostly produce gain by incoherently pumping a medium (optically or electrically), or by coherently pumping a nonlinear medium with a laser.
Vision Language Model (VLM) for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) target search and classification from Sensor Independent Complex Data (SICD)
Vision language models (VLMs) combine multimodal (Video, SAR and Infrared Imagery) data/imagery and generative AI models to understand and process video, image, and text.
Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems Rapid Maturation
Inexpensive, highly maneuverable, commercially available unmanned aerial systems (UAS) threaten tactical forces, critical infrastructure, and installations.
Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems Rapid Maturation
Inexpensive, highly maneuverable, commercially available unmanned aerial systems (UAS) threaten tactical forces, critical infrastructure, and installations.
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