Low-Cost Kill Vehicles

The Missile Defense Agency seeks solutions to dramatically decrease the cost of kill vehicles for defense against ballistic and hypersonic threats by prioritizing readily available technologies on a compressed schedule. The requested scope includes complete kill vehicles or subsystems covering key technology areas such as divert and attitude control systems, low-cost seekers, warheads, guidance navigation and control hardware, and cooperative engagement algorithms. To be eligible, offerors must be registered in the System for Award Management at the time of response and possess an active SECRET or higher Facility Security Clearance with SECRET safeguarding capability. Interested offerors must have their Facility Security Officer email information to the designated address no later than September 4, 2026, to request the Offerors Library. Offerors must submit Step-One SECRET-level white paper responses by October 2, 2026. Evaluations use a peer or scientific review process based on criteria including the Rough Order of Magnitude cost for each development phase, production unit cost, performance specification requirements, key personnel qualifications, and team past experience. The total period of performance is 36 months, split into three 12-month phases for design, prototyping, and testing. There is no defined budget or funding level due to varying technical approaches.