AF to host virtual weapons pitch day

  • Published
  • By Ilka Cole

The Armament Directorate will host a Weapons Pitch Day April 29, 2021. The event will be live-streamed via AirForceWeapons.com at 8 a.m. CST.

WPD brings together innovative entrepreneurs and small businesses to propose emerging weapons technologies to a panel of judges made up of U.S. Air Force leaders.  The AD will award Phase II contracts valued at millions of dollars to owners of selected proposals.

WPD is the culminating event for small business industry engagement. In October 2020, the Armament Directorate received 213 Phase I proposals for WPD. This was the largest number of proposals received for any Program Executive Office Pitch Day team. In early November 2020, more than 50 technical subject matter experts from the AD, Air Force Research Lab, Special Operations Command, and Air Force Special Operations Command participated in a five-day evaluation sprint. The WPD team evaluated all 213 proposals in record time and awarded 60 $50K/three-month Phase I contracts.

Each of the 60 small businesses awarded Phase I contracts will submit Phase II proposals for evaluation. Only small businesses awarded Phase I contracts are eligible to submit proposals for a Phase II contract and receive an invitation to pitch at WPD. From these pitches, a senior leader judging panel will decide which small businesses will be awarded Phase II contracts ranging from 12 to15 months valued at $1 million. 

 For more information, please visit airforceweapons.com/events.