Aircraft Defensive Electro-optical Protection Technologies (ADEPT)
Federal contract funding for development of electro-optical aircraft defense countermeasure technologies, including expendable, directed-energy, and other novel solutions to protect U.S. aircraft and aircrew in contested environments.
⚑ Federal contract solicitation; applicant restrictions apply but no specific class limit stated in the notice. · Technical proposal page limit revised to 15 pages per technical area. · No set-aside used.
This is a defense engineering R&D solicitation for aircraft countermeasure technologies in the electro-optical spectrum, centered on hardware, directed energy, and threat-analysis systems. It is far outside IPPRA’s social-science, survey, risk-perception, warning, and policy-evaluation lines, with no plausible PI match on the roster.
JUDGED AGAINST THE ROSTER'S PUBLICATION DOSSIER · GPT-5.4-MINI · 2026-09-29
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 topic: 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
28 September 2026 Amendment- Solicitation amended to revise technical proposal page limit to 15 pages per Technical Area. In support of the AFRL Information and Spectrum Dominance Directorate (AFRL/RF), the objective of the ADEPT effort is to develop pre-emptive or reactive countermeasure solutions —including expendable, directed energy, and novel developmental solutions in the EO spectrum—to protect U.S. aircraft and aircrew in contested environments. The ADEPT program is divided into two separate technical areas: Hardware & Executable Analysis of Threats (HEAT) Advanced Countermeasure Engineering (ACE)
Eligibility
Applicant restrictions (federal contract). Set-aside: No Set aside used. Notice type: Solicitation. Organization: DEPT OF DEFENSE / DEPT OF THE AIR FORCE / FA2377 USAF AFMC AFRL PZL AFRL RYKS.
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