IMPORTANT UPDATE: Effective 1 October 2025, SBIR/STTR program authorization has expired. New activity is paused; ongoing awards remain valid. Awardees are encouraged to contact their TPOCs and contracting officers with questions regarding active awards.
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.
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
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
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 STRATFI Ask Me Anything (AMA) Webinar
In The News
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...