Find the Right Path to Working With DIU

Background and Problem Statement

The Department of War (DoW) requires advanced sensor and seeker systems to support interceptor engagements against ballistic and hypersonic threats. As these threats continue to advance, there is an increasing need for systems leveraging diverse phenomenologies capable of high-fidelity identification, tracking and discrimination under extreme environmental conditions and on short time scales. These systems must deliver high data throughput while adhering to rigorous Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) constraints inherent to aerospace and interceptor platforms. A significant challenge remains in aligning these complex technical requirements with modern manufacturing efficiencies.

To address this, the DoW seeks to leverage advancements in commercial sensing and processing to prototype sensor and seeker solutions that support endo-atmospheric and/or exo-atmospheric engagements. The objective is to transition toward designs that are affordably produced, minimize supply chain risks, and maximize scalability to meet the urgent demand for space- and interceptor-based sensing capabilities.

Desired Solutions and Key Objectives

The DoW is seeking integrated sensing solutions to support the prototyping and demonstration of LIDAR/LADAR, EO/IR, RF, and other active or passive modalities, separately or in combination – that are capable of fire-control-quality detection, tracking and discrimination.

Key objectives include:

• Threat Detection, Tracking, and Discrimination: Demonstrate capabilities to detect, track and support the engagement of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) or Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGVs) across multiple flight phases (boost, midcourse, and glide). Advanced technologies to deliver the precise positional data and target characteristics required to reliably discriminate lethal payloads from non-threats, such as debris and countermeasures.
• Fire Control Enablement: Provide high-accuracy, real-time tracking data (including precise range, angular resolution and high update rates) necessary for successful Kinetic Kill Vehicle (KKV) engagements in endo-atmospheric and/or exo-atmospheric environments. Key characteristics for consideration:
  • Measurement type (e.g., range, angle, Doppler, intensity, polarization, spectral information).
  • The achievable measurement accuracy and update rates.
  • The processing approach (onboard vs. offboard, edge processing, AI/ML, sensor fusion).
  • How the system handles harsh environments (vibration, shock, thermal, vacuum, radiation, weather)
  • Timing or synchronization capabilities that support precise tracking (e.g., GPS-synchronized time stamping, clock accuracy, latency budget).

Key Solution Attributes

• Modular Form Factor: Sensor designs must be suitable for integration as either a primary seeker into a KKV or as a hosted payload on a space vehicle.
• Operational Durability: Designs must be compatible with a 5-year design life in Low Earth Orbit (LEO); seeker solutions must withstand high-dynamic launch and/or re-entry environments.
• Sensor Performance: Space-rated sensors are required to detect and discriminate hot or cold objects at LEO-ranges and high cross-track velocities, while functioning against both Earth and space backgrounds. This capability necessitates rapid initialization (within seconds), high frame rates, and substantial data throughput.
• Aggressive Prototyping Timeline: 
  • Lab-based demonstration (6 - 9 months from award): Benchtop or lab environment demonstration showing key performance metrics (e.g., detection, tracking, discrimination) using targets or scenes that are relevant to an engagement scenario (e.g., small, fast-moving, hot or cold objects against cluttered backgrounds).
  • On-orbit demonstration (12–24 months from award): An on-orbit demonstration as hosted payload in a relevant environment. DIU anticipates working with selected partners to integrate into a space vehicle.

Desired Attributes for Compelling Solutions

• Optimized SWaP-C: Designs that aggressively minimize Size, Weight and Power while maintaining mission-critical performance and low unit cost.
• Commercial Scalability: Solutions that prioritize "Design for Manufacturability" by leveraging commercial high-volume production processes and cross-industry components, i.e, 100+ units/year.
• Disruptive Economics: Proposers should demonstrate a path to a price point significantly lower than legacy defense-specific sensors when produced at scale.

Area of Interest (AoI) Statement:

Problem

The U.S. Department of War (DoW) lacks a scalable autonomous capability to safely interact with unprepared satellites (defined as space vehicles not designed for third-party interaction or controlled end-of-life disposal) in order to execute reliable deorbit operations. As proliferated constellations expand, satellites that experience anomalies or reach the end of mission persist in orbit as hazards that constrain maneuver space, increase collision risk, and degrade mission resilience. 

Without a deliberate means to remove these satellites, the DoW remains dependent on potentially multi-decade natural orbital decay followed by replacement launches, limiting operational flexibility. Addressing this gap requires solutions that can safely engage unprepared satellites to enable controlled deorbit while also establishing a foundation for future space interaction and sustainment missions.

Desired Solution Attributes

The DoW seeks solutions that enable the rapid, safe, and reliable deorbit of unprepared satellites. Desired solutions must reduce orbital congestion and sustain proliferated orbit operations by enabling a deorbit even after loss of command or catastrophic system failure. While some approaches may involve active interaction with a client satellite, the DoW prioritizes solutions that minimize operational complexity and reliance on continuous ground control. Solutions should be scalable, resilient, cost-effective, and capable of operating across diverse orbital conditions as constellation density increases. Although deorbit is the primary objective, the ability to safely interact with unprepared satellites also establishes a foundation for secondary missions that involve “to, through, and from” operations, providing additional flexibility and long-term benefit to U.S. space operations.

Compelling Solutions must:           

• Provide a complete system-level deorbit solution, inclusive of both hardware and software, that is adaptable to a wide range of client satellite configurations.
• Deliver test reports within 90 days of award, showing functional integrated hardware and software validated in relevant test environments to perform precise Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) and/or other deorbit functions using a controlled and safe execution method.
• Prove sufficient technical and manufacturing maturity to support prototyping and on-orbit demonstration to deorbit an unprepared space vehicle within 18 to 24 months.
• Include a high-level description of the planned CONOPS, including the technologies used during key stages.
• Provide a high level Safety CONOPS for all proximity operations, including planned approach and ingress trajectories, fault management architecture, and collision avoidance and protection measures.
• Minimize risk to other spacecraft and the terrestrial environment against cooperative and non-cooperative space vehicles.
• Be compatible with a range of client space vehicle sizes, configurations, and mission architectures.
• Meet CNSSP-12 and CUI level cyber (NIST 800-171) requirements within 1 year of ATP.

Solution Differentiators include:

• Cost efficiency per client spacecraft deorbit and sustaining capability (including launch, deployment, operations, sustainment, and end-of-life disposal).
• Extended operational life and survivability for servicer spacecraft and/or assets required to conduct deorbit operations at altitudes and inclinations ranging from LEO to GEO.
• Ability to communicate spacecraft deorbit operation CONOP, performance, and effects through computational modeling and simulation 
• Spacecraft delta-V (ability to deorbit multiple spacecraft over operational life).
• Timeline to on-orbit demonstration.
• Timeline to achieve Initial Launch Capability (ILC) of the deorbit system.
• Timeline to initiate deorbit operations (within a number of weeks, days, or hours of tasking) once the solution is in orbit.
• Ability to adapt trajectories and operations in response to changing orbital dynamics or mission requirements.
• Persistence in a staging orbit for extended durations while maintaining readiness.
• Redundancy and fault tolerance when interacting with non-cooperative client space vehicles.
• Identifying the readiness of individual components and/or subsystems, and describing methods of increasing the readiness of low TRL components within the period of performance.
• A demonstrated willingness and ability to team with other companies offering complementary expertise to deliver an integrated deorbit capability.
• Effective collaboration with government stakeholders and commercial partners.
• Evidence of prior production, launch, or on-orbit execution supporting scalability and near-term implementation.
• Suitability for rapid, scalable production and commercial rideshare launch with proven manufacturability and integration readiness, including a credible plan for transition beyond the prototype phase, supporting sustained operations and long-term viability.
• Flexible business model (e.g., De-orbit as a Service) enabling the government to procure capability only as needed and without the added overhead costs associated with a government-owned and government-operated (GOGO) system.
• Additional value-added features or methodologies that enhance the proposed solution’s effectiveness or efficiency in meeting the program objectives and that are not otherwise captured in the differentiators.     

Vendor Solution Brief Submission Options

Vendors have flexibility in how they submit their solution briefs, which can be proposed either independently or through a teaming arrangement. 

Process

Submissions will be evaluated in accordance with CSO HQ084520SC001 available on https://DIU.mil and https://SAM.gov. Vendors selected for Phase 2 will receive an amplification letter with expanded details to help inform their Phase 2 pitches. Those vendors will be expected to provide their Rough Order of Magnitude ROM) cost breakdown. The vendorsʼ Phase 2 pitch shall address the Phase 2 evaluation factors contained in CSO HQ084520S C001. DoW requires companies without a CAGE code to register in SAM https://SAM.gov if selected for an agreement award. The Government recommends that prospective companies begin this process as early as possible.