AIM-ING HIGH
ARTFUL DODGER
A government-built unmanned aerial vehicle traverses an obstacle course using a small business technology developer’s software. AIM made it possible for emerging technology developers to pursue rapid, needs-based technology progression from the laboratory to demonstrations for government customers. (Photo courtesy of Combat Capabilities Development Command)
together,” said Wallace. “Te Chemical Biological Center can also offer our industry and academic collaborators access to world- class advanced manufacturing, laboratory live agent testing and large-scale experimentation capabilities.”
A SIMPLIFIED PROCESS Te industry attendees were invited to submit a two-page white paper and a quad chart on the CBRN defense solution they could provide. Te government received 192 submissions. From there, a diverse evaluation panel of government agency partners narrowed the submissions down to 44 that showed exceptional promise.
“It was one of the most straightforward processes my company has ever participated in,” said one of the participants, James Kehaya, director of the products business unit at Two Six Tech- nologies, a 400-person company headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. “Formal requests for proposal tend to be very rigid, and it can cost a small business a lot of money to generate the
proposal. With AIM, we simply put together a quad chart in PowerPoint and wrote a two-page concept paper. Tat was a really good format for us.”
In early May, the government invited the submitters of those 44 proposals to return to SOFWERX to pitch their proposed solutions in person. Tey were each given 45 minutes and were allowed to discuss their proposed technology with government subject matter and acquisition experts.
By the end of May, the government had whittled the number of submissions down to eight. In some cases, two separate submitters joined forces to advance a single technology solution by combin- ing their respective strengths. Te eight finalists submitted a range of innovative technology approaches. Among the standouts were:
• A team of robots that autonomously conduct safety surveys. The proposal combines unmanned aerial vehicles with
34
Army AL&T Magazine Winter 2022
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92
