The command that oversees the bulk of the U.S.’s top special operations units is looking for private companies, research groups and non-profits who can help develop new technologies for its wide and often dangerous missions.
On Friday, April 24, U.S. Special Operations Command put out a broad solicitation on a government contracting website looking for participants to “accelerate” the use of high-tech tools as part of the Advancing Naval Capabilities through Holistic Opportunities and Resources (or ANCHOR) Initiative.
The sources sought solicitation, from SOCOM’s Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics team, lays out how the ANCHOR Initiative wants to work on identifying what technologies special operations forces require and develop prototypes to fill that need.
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Defence Blog first reported on the listing, which, unlike most military solicitations posted to the bidding website is working under Other Transaction Authority under 10 U.S.C. 4022. That legal provision allows the Department of Defense to move more quickly to develop prototypes than it normally would using regular procurement processes.
The solicitation offers a clear look at how Special Operations Command imagines current special operations capabilities and tactics integrating with emerging technologies such as lasers, drones and artificial intelligence.
“While grounded in the maritime environment, the focus is on capabilities that seamlessly connect and operate across domains, enabling distributed, networked, and resilient force employment from competition through high-end conflict,” the solicitation notes.
The development wish list centers around six key focal areas. The first one is about uncrewed systems, or drones. The military as a whole has been rapidly working to adapt to the proliferation of small and cheap drones and SOCOM’s document calls for using them for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering without putting deployed units into greater danger.
Full-spectrum force
The proposal also calls for projects in the area of Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, or C5ISR. Those projects would include protected communications and real-time analytics assisted by artificial intelligence systems centered around command and control capabilities. These capabilities will “form the backbone of multi-domain maritime operations,” the solicitation reads, “empowering USSOCOM to outpace emerging threats and sustain operational advantage across mission execution.”
Another field includes kinetic and non-kinetic systems that can be used in support of special operations missions, including directed energy systems (i.e., lasers) and electronic and cyber warfare effects as technologies it wants to be able to use on maritime platforms.
The last two focal points center on the humans at the heart of these missions and finding ways to mitigate “psychological burnout.” That also calls for helping troops use the other high-tech systems Special Operations Command wants with as little extra work as possible. To do so, Special Operations Command wants “natural control methods,” such as gesture recognition or voice commands, to control drones.
The solicitation is also notable for how short the window is. Responses from interested parties are due by June 1, just over a month after the notice was posted.
