The War Department Announces First Round of FY 2026 APFIT Projects, Surpassing $1 Billion Awarded to Small Businesses

The War Department today announced the first round of Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) projects selected for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, marking a historic milestone in advancing defense innovation and small business engagement for the program. With this announcement, APFIT has now awarded more than $1 billion to small businesses and non-traditional defense contractors across the nation, accelerating groundbreaking capabilities, strengthening the U.S. industrial base and enhancing warfighter readiness.

The FY 2026 project slate represents the next wave of innovative technologies rapidly transitioning from development to fielding and initial production. These awards continue to focus on delivering mission-critical capabilities at scale while expanding opportunity for small businesses in every region, including those in traditionally underrepresented and remote states.

"Crossing the billion-dollar threshold underscores APFIT's commitment to America's small business innovators," said Emil Michael, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, "and we are proud to accelerate the delivery of these critical capabilities to our warfighters."

This year's initial selections reflect the growing scale and maturity of the APFIT portfolio, with the average FY 2026 award now exceeding $30 million per project. The program also recorded its highest single award to date at $49.7 million, issued just under APFIT's $50 million maximum statutory cap, demonstrating both the depth of operational need and APFIT's ability to efficiently transition and scale mature technologies.

APFIT remains a cornerstone of War Department's strategy to accelerate innovation and ensure the United States maintains its technological advantage. Additional FY 2026 projects will be announced throughout the fiscal year as they are selected.

The initial round of FY 2026 selections include*:

• Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) for Ground Based Air Defense (GBAD), $20.00 million, U.S. Marine Corps
• Deployable, Attritable Optical Systems, $22.15 million, U.S. Space Force
• Domestic High Performance UAS Batteries, $28.00 million, U.S. Navy
• Gremlin Low-Cost Munition, $35.00 million, U.S. Marine Corps
• High Frequency Intercept Direction Finding and Exploitation (HIDES), $21.66 million, U.S. Army
• Kraken 18 Communications Pod, $33.00 million, U.S. Navy
• Miniaturized Gyroscope for Resilient Navigation, $20.00 million, U.S. Marine Corps
• Mobile Smart Manufacturing for Airframe Spares, $25.00 million, U.S. Air Force
• Augmented Maneuver Vehicle for Satellites, $48.50 million, U.S. Space Force
• Real-Time Command and Control at the Tactical Edge, $49.70 million, U.S. Army
• Small Uncrewed Maritime Vessels, $24.00 million, U.S. Navy/U.S. Marine Corps
• Tactical High-Bandwidth, Low-Latency, high-capacity data network, $10.00 million, U.S. Marine Corps
• Trolling Uncrewed Navigation Assistant (TUNA) Seeker, $35.00 million, U.S. Marine Corps
• Whaleshark Autonomous Low-Profile Vessel (ALPV), $29.49 million, U.S. Marine Corps

*Does not include classified selections.