The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Munitions Directorate released its broad agency announcement (BAA) to support “short-term seedling projects” in two research areas. The primary goal of this opportunity is to solicit innovative research from academics who do not have an existing relationship or grant with AFRL; however, AFRL will accept all proposals. This BAA seeks proposals that will allow AFRL to assess high values of feasibility, technical quality, and return on investment. All applicants are required to propose one of the following topic areas:

• Bioprincipic Sensors, Information Processing & Control: The Air Force is interested in increasing its capabilities of biological swarming and collective behavior through research on “sensors used to enable emergent behavior in the agents comprising the dynamic swarm, enabling representative modeling of the exemplar animal (agent).” Agents of interest include relationships between sensor properties and the structure of the resulting swarm.
• Weapon Autonomy and Control Technology Research: ARFL is interested in developing guidance and control (G&C) algorithms that “enable novel agent behaviors in complex environments.”

Research with a focus on “optimization theory, machine-learning methods, and/or multi-agent guidance concepts” as well as “resilient solutions that allow for disaggregated system performance” is highly encouraged. 

Additional information and examples for each research topic areas can be found here.

Prior to submitting white papers for these research areas, AFRL highly recommends consulting the point of contact (POC) for the relevant research area to discuss ideas.

Funding and awards anticipated: AFRL expects to grant five to six awards with a projected 12-month period of performance. AFRL anticipates to provide $75,000 to $100,000 per award.

Eligibility: Only universities based in the U.S. are eligible to apply.

Due Date: Proposals for this BAA are due by 3:00 PM CST on May 14, 2025. After submitting the proposal through Grants.gov, applicants must notify the Government Point of Contact (POC), Adam Noffke, at mailto:mafrl.afrl.rwkbaacallsworkflow@us.af.mil. Applicants will be notified if their proposal will be considered for an award around June 23, 2025.

Sources and Additional Background:

The full solicitation can be accessed here or by searching funding opportunity number “FA865122S0001-CALL05” on www.grants.gov.

Source: Lewis-Burke Associates, LLC, April, 2025