Project Spectrum Strike

Project Spectrum Strike is the high-demand signal to industry to move proven, high technology readiness level (TRL) software technologies from live demonstration to Enterprise procurement at the speed of relevance.

Problem

The Department of War (DoW) is currently facing challenges in integrating modern technology into legacy spectrum management systems, putting American innovation, companies, and the military at a significant disadvantage compared to our adversaries. 

The rapid proliferation of advanced uncrewed systems (UxS) and dynamic, multi-band radios by peer and near-peer adversaries has fundamentally crowded the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS), requiring the U.S. Government to adopt next-generation spectrum management solutions. However, the current U.S. spectrum authorization process—governing allocation, licensing, and equipment certification—remains a manual, sequential, and paper-based bottleneck that can take 75 to 180 days to complete. 

The legacy system forces tactical units to navigate disconnected databases and operate under unrealistic mission constraints. Ultimately, this analog bureaucracy degrades tactical readiness, heightens the risk of blue-on-blue EMS interference, and severely stifles the integration of critical capabilities required to maintain spectrum dominance.

Desired Solution Attributes 

DIU and its interagency partners seek a "ready-now" automated, software-driven spectrum deconfliction and authorization ecosystem. Run by DIU in partnership with the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, NTIA, FCC, FAA, and DHS, this Prize Challenge serves to dismantle "compliance-based bureaucracy."

The primary goal is to identify mature, usable enterprise software capabilities (TRL >= 7) ready for deployment. The objective is to drastically reduce approval timelines from 90+ days to less than five days and establish a standing library of approved spectrum activities. This spectrum activity playbook will allow DoW Units to ‘one-click’ submit requests for known/routine activities that do not represent significant risks outside of DoW property.

The core deliverable is a deployable "one stop shop" dashboard accessible across the DoW and federal partners that visually depicts the EMS environment geographically and utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents to triage and route coordination requests. 

All data produced, ingested, or processed on this platform must be securely housed within authorized government cloud infrastructure. 

Proposed solutions must conform to open architecture principles. These will be employed initially at the Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) level to enhance lethality, survivability, and mission effectiveness, with employment tailorable to both strategic (cloud) and tactical (edge) environments. Submissions must feature mature, mission-ready architectures capable of participating in live, virtual, and constructed evaluations. 

If the software solution proves successful, we intend to buy it as an enterprise service pending DoW funds availability.

To maximize competitiveness, proposed solutions must align with the following technical capabilities and evaluation priorities:

• Agentic Automation & UI/UX:
  • Must feature a "One Stop Shop" dashboard that utilizes AI to automate interagency rule logic (Redbook/FCC/FAA) and triage workflows without persistent human-in-the-loop bottlenecking (while providing human-on-the-loop functionality).
  • AI agents must autonomously parse complex forms (e.g., vendors’ information documentation, DD Form 1494/JF-12, Special Temporary Authorization Licenses).
  • Conduct initial triage to determine if proposed spectrum requests can be authorized in the U.S., in foreign nations (at least by region), and U.S. territories. 
• High-Fidelity Modeling & Simulation (M&S):
  • Must include high certainty, physics-based RF propagation and spectrum modeling that includes clutter, terrain losses, power thresholds, and aggregate interference potential.
• Architecture & Integration:
  • Must feature viable machine-to-machine APIs capable of seamlessly ingesting and exporting data from siloed Federal databases (e.g., Spectrum XXI).
  • Must provide agile, transparent mapping and generation of workflows, allowing for auditable equipment coordination governance as policies change.
• Cybersecurity & Compliance:
  • National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) compliance is required.
  • Must have a clear roadmap for all software environments and databases must ensure that any data produced, simulated, or ingested on the platform is housed at least within government cloud infrastructure. 
  • Must show a clear pathway to achieving DoD Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide (CC SRG) Impact Level 5 (IL5) and Impact Level 6 (IL6) cloud security accreditations.
• Performance & Efficiency Metrics:
  • Must deliver a 0% false negative rate for critical safety-of-flight or GNSS physics interference issues.
  • Must achieve a 60-70% reduction in manual data entry touchpoints.
  • Equipment Spectrum Certification (ESC) Automation: Must provide initial capabilities with a verifiable roadmap to automate the generation, review, and coordination processes of ESC data, fully replacing the requirement for human data input.
• Business & Market Analysis:
  • Demonstrated ability to scale the software environment.
  • Provide a range of pricing for enterprise licensing, cloud hosting, and lifecycle support.

Timeline

All dates are tentative and subject to change.

• Round 1 - Initial Pitch Deck:
  • June 1, 2026: Challenge Issued & Open Call Release.
  • June 15, 2026: Initial Pitch Deck Submissions Due (Initial Down-Select Gate).
  • June 22, 2026: Invitations to Round 2 Issued.

• Round 2 - “One Stop Shop” MVP Demonstration:  
  • July 10, 2026: Submissions Due (MVP Dashboard - Virtual Demonstration).
  • July 24, 2026: Down-select Announced to Round 3.

• Round 3 - Agentic Automation and Modeling:
  • August 25, 2026: Validation & Live Demonstrations (Fort Carson, Colorado).



• Post-Round 3 (To Be Determined): 
  • Secure Cloud Integration & Follow-On Procurement.
  • Prototyping deployment with an Army unit, pending appropriations 

Challenge Structure & Prize Breakdown

This challenge will be conducted via an initial down-select round followed by two consecutive evaluation rounds to move from a conceptual architecture to a fully modeled prototype. The total prize purse of $2,000,0000 is distributed across multiple phases, with up to 10 advancing vendors sharing a $500,000 pool in Round 2, and up to 3 final winners sharing a $1,500,000 pool in Round 3.

Round 1: Initial Down-Select (The Pitch Deck)

• The Goal: To rapidly assess the industrial base and identify commercial vendors possessing mature, enterprise-ready software architectures
• (TRL >= 7) that maps directly to the multi-agency spectrum management requirements.
• Submission Requirement: A 15-slide horizontal presentation deck (PDF, 16:9 format). Submissions must provide a clear and concise overview of the company’s core technology, principal team members, software maturity levels, relevant past performance, and a high-level conceptual strategy for achieving architectural interoperability with legacy Federal databases (e.g., Spectrum XXI). Submissions should directly address the evaluation criteria outlined in the evaluation criteria to maximize competitiveness. 
• Outcome: Submissions will be rigorously evaluated against the Round 1 criteria. Qualifying companies with compliant, competitive, and highly viable submissions will be formally selected and invited to participate in Round 2. Participation in Round 1 is a prerequisite for challenge advancement; however, no prize money is awarded at this initial gateway.

Round 2: The "One Stop Shop" Minimum Viable Product

• The Goal: Develop a Minimally Viable Product (MVP) dashboard demonstrating seamless interagency coordination. The platform must feature a unified user interface where a spectrum authority (acting as DoW, NTIA, FCC, and FAA) can view, annotate, and approve or deny certification and allocation requests. It must include basic geospatial plotting of the request and a static emission profile.
• Prize Purse: $500,000 total Round 2 prize pool. Up to 10 winners will receive a proportionate share of the Round 2 pool. The Government may award up to 10 prizes with this Round but is not obligated to do so.
• Submission: A 10-page maximum technical architecture white paper detailing API integration strategies with legacy databases (e.g., Spectrum XXI, NTIA databases) integration approach for propagation and spectrum coexistence modeling, and AI/automation strategy, accompanied by a 5-minute video demonstration of the MVP UI/UX. 

Round 3: Agentic Automation & Propagation/Spectrum Coexistence Modeling

• The Goal: Demonstrate military battlespace coordination with high-fidelity Modeling & Simulation (M&S). Advancing teams will integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents designed to automatically receive structured and unstructured documents, extract data, create and disseminate packets, triage requests, and highlight high-risk interference packets for human review. This requires demonstrating successful, automated coordination of a massive emitter footprint equivalent to an Army Brigade Combat Team (ABCT), including high certainty propagation and spectrum coexistence modeling, including but not limited to clutter, aggregate interference, and atmospheric effect (including, but not limited to degradation).
• Prize Purse: $1,500,000 Round 3 prize pool. Up to 3 winners will receive a proportionate share of the Round 3 pool. The Government may award up to 3 prizes with this Round but is not obligated to do so.
• Submission: A live, virtual demonstration of the software routing a simulated ABCT deployment dataset at Fort Carson in Colorado, plus delivering source code snippets or technical data packages (TDPs) validating the propagation and spectrum coexistence modeling engine.

Post-Challenge: Enterprise Procurement & Fielding

Following a successful Round 3 demonstration and technical review, the Government may pursue one or more acquisition pathways based on system maturity, end-user feedback, and available funding. 

Participation in this Challenge does not guarantee an award, contract, or agreement. However, in accordance with 10 U.S.C. § 4022, the Government reserves the right to award a follow-on prototype Other Transaction (OT) agreement or a traditional Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-based procurement contract to any participant who successfully completes the project under this competitive Prize Challenge. 

The Government further reserves the right to utilize any FAR or non-FAR rapid acquisition vehicle, prototype framework, procurement instrument, or baseline prototyping modification deemed appropriate to transition successful technologies from live evaluation directly to enterprise fielding. 

To be eligible for any subsequent prototype or procurement award, the end solution must be architected to operate within a Government Cloud environment, capable of achieving Impact Level 5 (IL5) and eventually Impact Level 6 (IL6) cloud security accreditations.

Evaluation Criteria

Submissions will be rigorously evaluated by a Board of Advisors featuring representatives from DoW CIO, OUSD(R&E), Army G-6 (ASMO), NTIA, FCC, FAA, and DHS.

Round 1 – Initial Pitch Deck

The initial 15-slide commercial pitch deck submissions will be screened for challenge advancement. Evaluators will score submissions across two primary pillars:

• Technical Feasibility & Maturity: Assesses whether the underlying commercial software architecture is highly mature (TRL >= 7) and structurally viable for rapid modification and enterprise deployment without requiring foundational research and development.
• Mission Alignment: Assesses how comprehensively and innovatively the company's baseline capability addresses the defined problem space, specifically mapping to the core mandates of automated workflow routing, Agentic AI data extraction, architectural openness, and high-fidelity propagation and spectrum coexistence Modeling & Simulation (M&S).

Round 2 – Proposal Evaluation

Round 2 submissions will be evaluated against the criteria below. 

• Interoperability & Architecture (30%): The viability of the platform's machine-to-machine Interfaces (e.g., APIs, Message Queues, Event Driven, Graph Interfaces) to ingest and export data from siloed Federal and non-Federal databases (e.g., Spectrum XXI, NTIA, and FCC databases). Evaluates the credibility of data standardization methods and the architectural pathway to achieve IL5/IL6 security accreditation. For federal systems that represent an architectural dependency demonstration of connectivity is a factor. 
• Agentic Logic & Triage Accuracy (25%): The agent's ability to accurately parse complex DD Form 1494/JF-12 data, apply NTIA Redbook and FCC rule logic, and successfully flag high-risk interference profiles (e.g., GPS/GNSS interference) while automating low-risk approvals. A key metric is determining if the authorization is likely to be approved by spectrum managers/regulators. Adaptability over time is a key performance metric
• Modeling & Simulation Fidelity (20%): The accuracy of the physics-based RF propagation modeling and spectrum co-existence analysis, accounting for terrain losses, power thresholds, and atmospheric effects, and its ability to deconflict a congested EMS environment.
• User Experience / UI (25%): The intuitiveness and clarity of the "One Stop Shop" dashboard for a human spectrum manager. Evaluates how the UI streamlines the workflow to approve, deny, or annotate an AI-flagged packet.

Round 3 – Operational Demonstration & Integrated Technical Review

Building on the Round 2 down-select, Round 3 is a hands-on, operational software assessment. Evaluation combines the live virtual demonstration with a technical debrief to form a complete picture of the capability. Criteria include:

• Demonstrated Mission Performance: The solution's effectiveness in routing a simulated Armored Brigade Combat Team or similar Army unit dataset. Validates the AI's data parsing, rule logic, and the modeling engine's accuracy under complex, simulated conditions (accounting for terrain, power thresholds, signal degradation, and integration of differing models provided by FCC, FAA, NTIA, and DoW/Army). Performance will be directly evaluated on its ability to meet or exceed the target time reduction (under 96 hours), accuracy, and efficiency metrics outlined in the Technical Capabilities List. 
• Agentic Logic & Triage Accuracy: The AI's ability to accurately parse complex technical data, apply interagency rule logic, flag high-risk interference profiles, and automate low-risk approvals or generation of alternative lower-risk COAs. 
• Warfighter-Centric Assessment: Direct feedback from end-user representatives (e.g., tactical communicators) on the intuitiveness of the dashboard, ease of use, and its tangible impact on the workflow of personnel who must quickly assess an AI-flagged packet.
• Technical and Integration Review: Following the live demonstration, company engineers and operators will conduct a critical Q&A technical debrief with the government evaluation team to address:
  • Integration Pathway: The speed and feasibility of hooking APIs into legacy government platforms (e.g., Spectrum XXI, NTIA databases).
  • Security & Compliance: The roadmap to achieving IL5/IL6 cloud security accreditations and NDAA compliance.
  • Sustainment & Support: Plans for continuous AI model training, software patching, and lifecycle support.

Demonstration Event Logistics

Demonstrations at the event will occur in a live, virtual environment using complex, simulated datasets. All submissions will be tested and operated by a designated team of DoW/Interagency end-users to the maximum extent possible. All simulated datasets provided by the Government must be treated and protected as Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). 

Post-Challenge – Procurement and Fielding

Following a successful Round 3 demonstration and technical review, the Government may pursue one or more rapid acquisition pathways based on system maturity, end-user feedback, and available funding. The Government reserves the right to award a follow-on prototype Other Transaction (OT) agreement in accordance with 10 U.S.C. § 4022, or a traditional Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-based procurement contract, to any participant who successfully completes the project under this competitive Prize Challenge. The Government further reserves the right to utilize any FAR or non-FAR rapid acquisition vehicle, prototype framework, procurement instrument, or baseline prototyping modification deemed appropriate to transition successful technologies from live evaluation directly to enterprise fielding.

About the Defense Innovation Unit

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) strengthens national security by accelerating the adoption of commercial technology in the DoW and bolstering our allied and national security innovation bases. DIU partners with organizations across the DoW to rapidly prototype and field dual-use capabilities that solve operational challenges at speed and scale. With offices in Silicon Valley, Boston, Austin, Chicago and Washington, DC, DIU is the Department’s gateway to leading technology companies across the country.

Intellectual Property Considerations: Applicants retain ownership of existing Intellectual Property (IP) submitted under this Challenge and agree that their submissions are their original work. Applicants are presumed to have sufficient rights to submit the submission. For any submission made to the Challenge, you grant DIU a limited license to use this IP for testing and evaluation for efforts specifically related to the Challenge. DIU will negotiate with individual competitors in the event additional usage, integration, or development is contemplated.

Other Transaction Authority: This DIU Challenge public announcement is an open call to small businesses and non-traditional defense contractors seeking innovative, commercial technologies proposed to create new DoW solutions or potential new capabilities fulfilling requirements, closing capability gaps, or providing potential technological advancements, technologies fueled by commercial or strategic investment, but also concept demonstrations, pilots, and agile development activities improving commercial technologies, existing Government-owned capabilities, or concepts for broad Defense application(s). As such, the Government reserves the right to award a contract or an Other Transaction agreement for any purpose, to include a prototype or research, under this public announcement. The Federal Government is not responsible for any monies expended by the applicant before award and is under no obligation to pursue such Other Transactions.

Satisfying Competition Requirements: This DIU Challenge Open Call Announcement is considered to have potential for further efforts that may be accomplished via FAR-based contracting instruments, Other Transaction Authority (OTA) for Prototype Projects 10 USC 4022 and Research 10 USC 4021, Prizes for advanced technology achievements 10 USC 4025, and/or Prize Competitions 15 USC 3719. The public open call announcement made on the DIU website is considered to satisfy the reasonable effort to obtain competition in accordance with 10 USC 4025(b), 15 USC 3719 (e) and 10 USC 4022 (b)(2). Accordingly, FAR-based actions will follow announcement procedures per FAR 5.201(b).

DIU reserves the right to cancel, suspend, and/or modify the Challenge, or any part of it, for any reason, at DIU’s sole discretion.