Robotic Exclusion & Engagement Framework (REEF)

REEF Area of Interest

Robotic Exclusion & Engagement Framework

This is a bilateral solicitation involving collaboration between the U.S. and UK. Submitted solutions will be assessed by both U.S. and UK government innovation teams with the aim of identifying potential vendors for suitability toward U.S. and UK defense applications. Please note the “Export Controls” section of this AoI.

Problem Statement:

Adversaries and non-state actors are increasingly utilizing autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), including Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs), Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), and semi-submersibles, posing a growing threat to United States Government (USG) critical infrastructure, waterways, ports, harbors, and expeditionary forces. Despite interest across the USG, across all Combatant Commands, and UK Ministry of Defence in countering these threats, current solutions are fragmented, expensive, and limited in number.

Solution:

This Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) seeks a suite of systems approach to address the REEF challenge. By leveraging commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) sensors, edge processing, sensor fusion, software, and interdiction methods, this program aims to create a flexible, stand-alone system adaptable to various environments and integrable with existing USG systems. The primary focus is protecting ports and harbors from underwater threats of varying size and sophistication, while the broader goal is to protect all US critical waterways. The system must provide sufficient detection-to-response time for human in-the-loop decision-making such that underwater threats can be safely interdicted or neutralized. 

The USG requires a cohesive suite of scalable, rapidly deployable passive and active sensing systems, coupled with advanced signal processing and sensor fusion engines, to enable interdiction methods to address this evolving threat. This system must cover the entire Detect-Track-Classify-Defeat kill chain and be robust and flexible enough to protect diverse environments requiring subsurface maritime protection. See below for a more detailed description of each “Solution Component.” The government will assess the potential of each solution component to be integrated into a comprehensive REEF system that meets the requirements of this AOI. Preferences will be given to those solutions that demonstrate a technically and operationally feasible path to a complete REEF solution.

Solution Component 1: Detect, Track, and Classify Capabilities:

• Detection: At a minimum, provide detection information (e.g., bearing, estimated range, bearing rate) for rapid operator decision-making via a single sensor. Ideal solutions would be low-cost and highly reliable even in challenging tidal and salinity environments.
• Track Estimation: Generate confident tracks of one or more subsea threats using single or multiple sensors (mobile/static), providing estimated target and speed information.
• Classification/Discrimination: Distinguish between biological contacts and non-biological subsea objects. Further classification of underwater threat size and type using AI/ML is highly desired.
• Clutter/False Alarm Reduction: Robustly reject clutter and false alarms from surface traffic (e.g., fishing vessels, recreational watercraft, shipping vessels, etc.) and undersea biologicals. Allowance for end users to toggle the filter sensitivity is of interest.
• Sensor Types: All sensor types are of interest such as, but not limited to, active and passive sonar, EO/IR, fiber optic cable distributed acoustic sensing, magnetic, acoustics such as vector sensor arrays, etc.
• Deployment: Fixed systems (e.g., moored buoys, buried cables, subsea data nodes, etc.) should be easily deployable/recoverable with minimal environmental impact. Mobile systems (Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs), UUVs, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), drifting buoys, etc.) must support autonomous and/or remote control.
• Open Architecture: Sensors must be packaged for integration into an open-architecture system, rapidly deployable, and scalable across fixed and mobile platforms. Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) compliance required.

Solution Component 2: Defeat Capabilities:

• Non-Kinetic: Capabilities to prevent access to critical waterways or assets (e.g., rapidly deployable nets, bubble curtains, synthetic barriers, etc.).
• Kinetic: Capabilities to disrupt/destroy detected threats (e.g., kinetic payloads, acoustic directed energy, physical coupling devices, etc.).
• The Government will consider both Kinetic and Non-Kinetic defeat capabilities but preference will be given to Non-Kinetic Solutions.
• Decoy: Capabilities to confuse adversarial underwater craft are of high interest. These can be low-cost attritable systems or more technologically advanced systems that use signals to act as a decoy to prevent the successful completion of the adversary's mission.

Solution Component 3: Data and Network Architecture:

• Data Transmission & Security: Secure, data transmission (raw or edge-processed) for near real-time sensor-level visibility. Data must be encrypted and compliant with relevant DoW interface requirements.

Solution Component 4: COP/C2:

• Common Operating Picture (COP) / Command and Control (C2): Integrate tracking/fusion data with existing USG COP/C2 software or provide a dedicated COP/C2 solution. The system must be easy for a non-technical user to use with minimal training (several hours/days), without sacrificing fidelity. The ability to “see” the advanced data driving the on-screen display is valuable.
• AI/ML Decision-Making Assistance: Any COP/C2 system should provide suggestions to the user and be able to clearly articulate why it is recommending a particular action.
• Multi-Modal Sensor Fusion: Fuse data from various sensor types (e.g., Automatic Identification System (AIS), Radar, Radio Frequency, Acoustic, Electro-Optical, etc.)

Respondents must clearly state which Component(s) their solution addresses on the first slide or on the title page of their whitepaper. While holistic solutions are appreciated, vendors are invited to submit proposals for any component(s) they think they can satisfy. Individual components are welcome to apply and will not be looked upon unfavorably. Regardless of the number of components pitched, a vendor is limited to one submission consisting of no more than 15 slides or 5 pages, if a whitepaper. Vendors that are selected will be expected to work closely with other vendors and government partners. Integration will be key. There will be several week long technical development sessions during the course of the project and technologies will be expected to be ready to conduct in-water testing and able to integrate with other systems within 90 days of Other Transaction award.

Export Controls:

U.S. EAR: Information sharing with the U.K. will be conducted in accordance with the Bureau of Industry and Security, Department of Commerce’s Interim Final Rule dated April 19, 2024, which removed many export licensing requirements under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) for 600-series items and missile-technology (MT) controlled items for exports, reexports, and in-country transfers to or within the U.K., subject to certain exceptions (e.g., items requiring a license under § 742.6(a)(9) or other “license to all destinations” requirements).

U.S. ITAR: Information sharing with the U.K. will be conducted in accordance with 22 CFR § 126.4, Transfers by or for the United States Government, paragraph (b), which removes the licensing requirement for the export, reexport, retransfer, or temporary import of a defense article or the performance of a defense service, when made by another person for a department or agency of the U.S. Government.

Solutions submitted by U.K. companies are eligible for export control relief under General Export Authorisation No. 001 (Partner Countries), provided they meet the conditions of the authorisation. Non-U.S.-based companies should consider any applicable home-nation export controls on technical information when preparing solution briefs for review by U.S. and U.K. government teams.