AFWERX, the catalyst for fostering innovation within the U.S. Air Force, announced HawkEye 360 as one of the top 26 participating teams out of 809 total teams selected from across the globe competing in the EngageSpace challenge, working to revolutionize how the space ecosystem works, dismantle the walls between sectors and close the “believability gap” for what’s possible in space.
The EngageSpace Challenge is centered around four key topics – Department of Defense Commercial Space Partnerships, Global Space Transport and Delivery, Persistent ISR and Space Asset Resiliency.
Located in Herndon, Virginia, HawkEye 360 competed in the Department of Defense Commercial Space Partnership Challenge alongside a diverse group of teams – originating from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil and other allied countries – that represent entrepreneurial startups, small businesses, large enterprises, academic institutions and research labs all vying to enable government buyers to pursue the most promising solutions to the most pressing challenges in the space domain.
“The AFWERX EngageSpace Challenge is critical to the future of industrial development in space,” stated Mark Rowlandof AFWERX. “On behalf of AFWERX and the Department of Defense, we congratulate the teams advancing to the next phase. Their contributions are invaluable and have the potential to create game-changing results across the Air Force enterprise.”
The Department of Defense Commercial Space Partnership Challenge focuses on magnifying the capabilities of the Department of Defense (DoD) by expanding and strengthening its commercial portfolio. Teams competed to identify cutting-edge commercial satellite technology and uncover new payload ideas, designs, and prototypes to expand the DoD’s capabilities.
HawkEye 360 will provide its on-orbit satellite constellation to collect, store and transmit shared RF GEOINT to the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and its mission partners. This proven and cost effective ISR platform will augment and collaborate with existing overhead, airborne and terrestrial systems to provide a more complete and sharable stream of actionable data to the warfighter. HawkEye 360’s signals library and analytics platforms will be extended to reflect potential threats and systems of interest identified by the USAF.
“HawkEye 360 is honored to have been selected by AFWERX as one of the top teams that competed in the DoD Commercial Space Partnerships Challenge. We are ready to expand on our current work with the U.S. Air Force to provide a revolutionary commercial ISR platform in support of operations globally. The American commercial space industry has become a valued mission partner that is cost effective, innovative and agile, and HawkEye360 is at the forefront of exploiting the opportunities that Space offers,” said Rob Rainhart, COO, HawkEye 360.
The AFWERX EngageSpace Challenges attracted 809 solutions and featured over 50 space subject matter experts from the U.S. government to review the submissions. Throughout the event, teams showcased virtual booth’s complete with video links, their challenge submission, and digital brochures. The top 171 teams were invited to pitch their solutions to a panel of subject matter experts, followed by a Q&A from the evaluation team. The top 31 solutions from a total of 26 teams were then identified and invited to further engage with the Air Force with the hope of obtaining contracts. For a complete list of participating teams visit Engage.Space/exhibitors.
ABOUT HawkEye 360
HawkEye 360 is a new source of global knowledge based on radio frequency (RF) geo-analytics, so those working to make the world a safer place gain insight to act with confidence. The company operates the first-of-its-kind commercial satellite constellation to identify and geolocate a broad range of RF signals. We extract value from this unique data through proprietary algorithms, fusing the result with other sources to create powerful analytical products that offer increasing levels of clarity for our global customers. Our products include maritime domain awareness and spectrum mapping and monitoring, serving a wide range of commercial, government and international organizations. HawkEye 360 is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.
More information about HawkEye 360 can be found at www.he360.com.
ABOUT AFWERX
Established in 2017, AFWERX is a product of the U.S. Air Force, directly envisioned by former Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson. Her vision of AFWERX — to solve some of the toughest challenges that the Air Force faces through innovation and collaboration amongst our nation’s top subject matter experts. AFWERX serves as a catalyst to unleash new approaches for the warfighter through a growing ecosystem of innovators. AFWERX and the U.S. Air Force are committed to exploring viable solutions and partnerships to further strengthen the Air Force, which could lead to additional prototyping, R&D, and follow-on production contracts.
