Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio (AFRL) – With the ever-evolving needs of the modern warfighter, AFWERX stands at the forefront of the relentless pursuit of innovation and collaboration. New and inspiring ways to engage those interests must be met through different strategies, and AFWERX's latest approach is the Weapons Program Executive Office's (PEO) Sprint and Challenge design. As the name says, PEO Weapon Game is an incubator for weapons-based technologies and developments.
“Our first PEO Weapons Challenge has participants working with the Armaments Directorate to design an enterprise test vehicle that will serve as the infrastructure for future low-cost cruise missile variants,” said Kylie Diamond, AFWERX Challenge Team Leader. “The directorate's goal is to design a weapon with a range of approximately 500 nautical miles, high subsonic speed, and a target cost of $150,000 per unit in bulk orders.”
In addition, the teams were tasked with increasing weapons capacity and delivering them in large quantities at affordable prices. They must also ensure that the outcome is scalable and readily available to partner nations and allies. The criteria were addressed in the Design Sprint, which concluded in September.
The Design Sprint was a very intense and focused workspace where teams collaborated to brainstorm ideas and begin the innovation process. It featured experts in the weapons innovation community including Sandia National Laboratory, federally funded R&D, MIT, Lincoln Laboratories, Georgia Tech, Kansas City National Security Campus, MITRE, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and many others.
“AFWERX provided meeting structure guidelines and logistical support to ensure streamlined execution of our event; it made it really easy as an organizer of this government event to show up and know that everything was taken care of logistically,” said Hartley Postlethwaite, a participant from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. “The most interesting support was the artist and the ideas that came from the AFWERX facilitator. By the end of each day, AFWERX was able to provide a graphic poster summarizing each day's activities and decisions.
The second phase of the PEO Arms Challenge will take place in early 2024 and will pick up where the Design Sprint left off. Participants will be tasked with tackling key challenges, including accelerating the testing and deployment of advanced weapons capabilities, developing a range of systems, and providing a manufacturing test bed for on-demand production concepts.
“The PEO Weapons Challenge is a cornerstone in moving weapons systems forward, and features pivotal initiatives: incorporating a flight-test-ready design by early 2024, maximizing industry input for superior technology evaluation, showcasing unparalleled speed and cost efficiency, and defining trade,” Dimond said. : “Space and defining design constraints.” “It's about building a formidable team that is ready to succeed in the next phases of the project.”
The PEO Weapons Challenge is just one of over 50 challenges put together by the AFWERX team. The challenges serve as an expanded market research program, linking solutions from the innovation ecosystem to areas of Department of the Air Force needs. The success of the initiative depends on cooperation with industry and the provision of high-quality ideas, emphasizing the importance of effective participation to achieve value for government stakeholders. Those interested in participating in current or future AFWERX Challenges can participate by:
- Create an account on afwerxchallenge.com For notifications.
- Monitor AFWERX social media for challenge opportunities.
- Attend a challenge definition workshop as subject matter experts.
- Providing solutions to the challenge request on afwerxchallenge.com.
- Participate in webinars during the open application period.
About AFRL
The Air Force Research Laboratory is the Department of the Air Force's primary scientific research and development center. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space and cyber forces. With a workforce of more than 12,500 in nine technology areas and 40 other operations worldwide, AFRL provides a diverse science and technology portfolio ranging from basic to advanced research and technology development. For more information visit afresearchlab.com.
About Averex
As the innovation arm of DAF and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX brings cutting-edge American ingenuity from small businesses and startups to address the most pressing challenges facing DAF. AFWERX employs approximately 325 military, civilian and contract employees across six centers and locations, operating an annual budget of $1.4 billion. Since 2019, AFWERX has executed 4,697 new contracts worth more than $2.6 billion to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability. For more information visit: afwerx.com.
