December 8, 2023. Dragoon Technology LLC announces it has been selected by AFWERX for a SBIR Phase II in the amount of $1.25M focused on air launched, attritable effects to address the most pressing challenges in the Department of the Air Force (DAF). The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and eliminating bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution. The DAF began offering the Open Topic SBIR/STTR program in 2018 which expanded the range of innovations the DAF funded and now on November 27, 2023, Dragoon Technology LLC will start its journey to create and provide innovative capabilities that will strengthen the national defense of the United States of America.
Dragoon is excited to move forward with Air Force partners to create novel solutions to some of the most difficult challenges facing the Nation. The Air Force SBIR program has been extremely beneficial in moving advanced unmanned systems technology forward and will continue to do so.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
About Dragoon Technology LLC
Dragoon Technology was founded by Sean Culbertson, Jason Douglas, and Carlos Murphy in August of 2020. In prior work, the founding team developed and fielded Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) capabilities for group 2 and 3 Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). Their company, Latitude Engineering, was acquired by L3 Technologies (now L3Harris) in 2018. Sean, Jason, and Carlos co-founded Dragoon Technology to pursue new concepts related to uncrewed systems; specifically, they saw a need for long-endurance, small UAS enabled by a novel fuel-burning hybrid powertrain.
About Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
The Air Force Research Laboratory is the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development, and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space and cyberspace force. With a workforce of more than 12,500 across nine technology areas and 40 other operations across the globe, AFRL provides a diverse portfolio of science and technology ranging from fundamental to advanced research and technology development. For more information, visit www.afresearchlab.com.
About AFWERX
As the innovation arm of the DAF and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX brings cutting-edge American ingenuity from small businesses and start-ups to address the most pressing challenges of the DAF. AFWERX employs approximately 325 military, civilian and contractor personnel at six hubs and sites executing an annual $1.4 billion budget. Since 2019, AFWERX has executed 4,697 contracts worth more than $2.6 billion to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability. For more information, visit: www.afwerx.com.