STRATFI/TACFI

Space PY26.1 STRATFI Notice of Opportunity: Guidance & Templates Now Available

The PY26.1 STRATFI Guidance is now publicly available.
Templates are accessible to your government partners via the PY26.1 STRATFI DAF Notice of Opportunity Teams channel.
Please coordinate with your government counterparts to obtain the necessary documentation.

The Space PY26.1 STRATFI Program is operating as a continuous, rolling process – providing increased flexibility to meet evolving operational needs and respond to emerging opportunities. Launched on July 28, 2025, the program features a new rolling submission and evaluation system. Proposals will be reviewed as they are received, with the intent to assess each submission individually and make selection decisions on an ongoing basis.

Submission and Evaluation

Higher Priority Submissions: If a submission receives a high rating, it will be selected for funding. The team will be notified and will have 120 days to complete the BtA (Board to Award) process.
Lower Priority Submissions: Submissions with moderate to low ratings won’t be immediately rejected. Instead, they will be held and consolidated for potential trade-offs if more funding becomes available. The submitting organization will receive evaluator comments and have a chance to update their package to better explain the merits of their technology.

The Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) and Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) program catalyze the relationships between the United States Space Force (USSF), private-sector innovators, and investors. These programs bridge the capability gap between current SBIR/STTR Phase II efforts and Phase III scaling efforts, facilitating the delivery of strategic capabilities for the USSF.

In 2023, the SpaceWERX team invested $72M in its strategic and tactical funding increase matching program. The matching program provided additional development reach for both dual use and military specific technologies. The program by capturing the outside investments stretched that investment to over $125M benefit across 14 promising technologies programs to accelerate these war winning technologies to the field and into the hands of our guardians. Our program is designed to mature technology through additional investments to mature technology by utilizing small business ingenuity to get after national space needs.

SpaceWERX awarded 142 space-focused contracts through the technology-agnostic Open Topic Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program in 2023. These awards, reflecting SpaceWERX’s dedication to fostering technology excellence, boast a projected value of $151 million. The breadth of research and development work being conducted underscores our pivotal role in shaping the future of the industry.

SpaceWERX STRATFI Spotlight

Check out what some of the SpaceWERX STRATFI awardees have to say about how the program has helped their small business, presented during a panel presentation at Fed Supernova 2024.

Starfish Space
Program Year 24.1 Awardee

Orbit Fab
Program Year 22 Awardee

SpaceWERX TACFI Spotlight

Check out what some of the SpaceWERX TACFI awardees have to say about how the program has helped their small business, presented during a panel presentation at Fed Supernova 2025.

Cognitive Space
Program Year 21 Awardee

Electroninks
Program Year 24.2 Awardee

STRATFI/TACFI Showcase

The below list represents the recent history of SpaceWERX STRATFI/TACFI awards. Further detail about each of these can be viewed in the SpaceWERX Portfolio.

Program Year 25.1 Space STRATFI *Awarded companies as of 12/1/25

Beast Code

CesiumAstro

LeoLabs

Rise8

Program Year 24.2 Space STRATFI

American Lithium Energy Corp.

Apex Technology, Inc.

Impulse Space, Inc.

K2 Space Corp.

Outpost Technologies Corp.

Turion Space Corp.

Wildstar, LLC

Program Year 24.1 Space STRATFI

Astranis Space Technologies Corp.

Defense Unicorns, Inc.

Lunar Outpost, Inc.

Nooks, LLC

Starfish Space, Inc.

True Anomaly, Inc.

Program Year 22 Space STRATFI

ABL Space Systems

Capella Space Corp.

Omni Fed, LLC

Spire Global Subsidiary, Inc.

Varda Space Industries, Inc.

Program Year 21 Space STRATFI

MicroLink Devices

Orbit Fab, Inc.

Slingshot Aerospace, Inc.

The Tomorrow Companies, Inc.

Program Year 20 Space STRATFI

Orbital Insight, Inc.

Orbital Sidekick, Inc.

Program Year 25.2 Space TACFI

Atomic-6 LLC

Program Year 24.2 Space TACFI

Agile Space Industries, Inc.

Anametric, Inc.

City Labs, Inc.

ConductorAI Corp.

Electroninks, Inc.

Hydrosat, Inc.

Physical Sciences, Inc.

Quindar Inc.

Rhea Space Activity

Rise8, Inc.

Scout Space, Inc.

Trans Astronautica Corp.

Wallaroo Labs, Inc.

Program Year 24.1 Space TACFI

Antaris, Inc.

Apex Technology, Inc.

Atomic-6 LLC

Blushift Aerospace, Inc.

Coldquanta, Inc.

Exploration Laboratories, LLC

K2 Space Corporation

Longshot Space Technologies Corp.

Rapidfort, Inc.

Rebel Space Technologies Inc.

Rescan, Inc.

Scout Space, Inc.

Terasense, Inc.

Turion Space, Corp.

Wallaroo Labs, Inc.

Wildstar, LLC

Xona Space Systems, Inc.

Program Year 23.6 Space TACFI

Geodex, Inc. DBA Danti

Program Year 22 Space TACFI

Agile RF Systems, LLC

AI Solutions, Inc.

Cubic Aerospace, LLC

Earth Observant, Inc.

Enduralock, LLC

Innovative Rocket Technologies, Inc.

Resilient Solutions 21, Inc.

The Provenance Chain Network, Inc.

Xage Security, Inc.

Program Year 21 Space TACFI

Blue Eye Soft Corp.

Cognitive Space, Inc.

Hart Scientific Consulting International, LLC

Northstrat, Inc.

Resources

PY26.1 SBIR/STTR Definitions and Suitability Resources PY26.1 STRATFI Notice of Opportunity PY26.1 STRATFI Program Matching Funds Guidance

Gov Partners Only: View PY26.1 STRATFI NOO Submission and Guidance Documents and Submission App Link on MS Teams

STRATFI/TACFI FAQs STRATFI/TACFI Overview

PY26.1 STRATFI Ask Me Anything (AMA) Webinar

PY26.1 STRATFI Overview Presentation RECORDING: PY26.1 STRATFI Notice of Opportunity – AMA Webinar (July 24)Register for Future PY26.1 STRATFI Notice of Opportunity AMAs

In The News

Col. Elliott Leigh, AFWERX director and chief commercialization officer for the Department of the Air Force, and Arthur Grijalva, SpaceWERX director, pose with industry partners and select recipients of the Program Year 2025.1 Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) from Phase II eligible applicants at Capital Factory House in Austin, Texas, March 8, 2025.

AFWERX & SpaceWERX helping small business innovators transition their technology from prototype to operational use

AUSTIN, Texas -- AFWERX and SpaceWERX the innovation arms of the Department of the Air Force and U.S. Space Force, respectively, have selected 23 small businesses with Phase II contracts awarded...

SpaceWERX announces Program Year 24.2 STRATFI selections at Fed Supernova

AUSTIN, Texas (AFRL) – SpaceWERX, the innovation arm of the U.S. Space Force and a unique division within AFWERX, announced the Program Year 2024.2 Strategic Funding Increase, or STRATFI, contract awa...

AFWERX, SpaceWERX announce Strategic Funding Increase selections at South by Southwest

AUSTIN, Texas – AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force and powered by the Air Force Research Laboratory, and SpaceWERX, the innovation arm of the U.S. Space Force and a unique d...