Trusted and Elastic Military Platforms and Electronic Warfare (EW) System Technologies (TEMPEST)
Federal contract funding for research and development of secure avionics, open system architecture, electronic warfare, and cyber-resilient military platform technologies for Air Force and DoD systems.
⚑ Federal contract solicitation; applicant restrictions are governed by the contracting notice rather than a grant-style program. · Focus is defense avionics/EW/open-system architecture and cyber vulnerability mitigation; not a human-subjects or general academic research program.
This is a defense-technology applied R&D solicitation centered on avionics, cyber protection, EW, open system architecture, and sensor/platform engineering. It does not match IPPRA’s social-behavioral program lines in risk perception, public opinion, warning communication, education policy, or energy/public acceptance research.
JUDGED AGAINST THE ROSTER'S PUBLICATION DOSSIER · GPT-5.4-MINI · 2026-07-18
Unit fits — one characterization, each unit's own rules
| Physical Sciences & Engineering (demo) | 90 strong | technical depth: central; funds applied research |
| IPPRA | 45 partial | portfolio topics: cybersecurity, national_security_defense (primary); social/behavioral work is none; funds applied research; capped at 45 (limited social-science role) |
| Tom Love Innovation Hub | 45 partial | funds applied research; prototyping/demonstration stage; deep-tech content |
Description
UPDATE July 2026: Update to the Contracting POCs. UPDATE April 2026: Minor administrative updates to convert existing legacy FAR and DFARS citations to Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) and Revolutionary DFARS (R-DFARS) citations. UPDATE January 2026: Minor administrative update to extend the solicitation close date. AFRL/RFW has a need to investigate and develop methodologies, tools, techniques, and capabilities to identify susceptibilities and mitigate vulnerabilities in avionics systems, protect those systems against cyber-attack, provide simulation capabilities required to develop, mature and transition advanced sensor and avionics technologies, develop platform architecture technologies that enable revolutionary and agile capabilities, and expand emerging open system architecture standards and approaches for existing and next-generation Air Force and DoD weapon systems in multi-domain environments. The goal is to explore new and emerging concepts related to development, integration, assessment, evaluation, and demonstration of cyber security, open system architecture (OSA), novel avionics and sensor technologies, and multi-domain technologies. For this solicitation, avionics is defined to include manned, unmanned, autonomous, and remotely piloted vehicles, on-board Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems, Electronic Warfare (EW) systems, munitions, and any equipment, component, or subsystem that could compromise mission assurance of the Air Force weapon system or tactical platform.
Eligibility
Applicant restrictions (federal contract). Set-aside: . Notice type: Presolicitation. Organization: DEPT OF DEFENSE / DEPT OF THE AIR FORCE / FA2377 USAF AFMC AFRL PZL AFRL RYKS.
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Proposal brief SEE AN EXAMPLE →
A one-page internal memo: fit assessment, submission requirements, document scaffold, and next steps dated back from the deadline — tailored to your project idea if you add one.
Proposal shell · Department of Defense (BAA-style) conventions SEE A DOD EXAMPLE →
Funder-faithful document skeletons — Department of Defense (BAA-style)'s document set with section headings, page limits, reviewer guidance, and writing prompts; add a project idea to get [DRAFT] starter bullets. Download as .md for Word or Overleaf.