The Air Force Explore competition will take submissions for ideas that have "transformational potential, operational viability, cost and technical feasibility," the branch said in a statement
Organizers project four to seven awards will be given out valued at between $1 million to $2 million each.
"This call is intended as a catalyst to transform our capabilities to become the Air Force we need," said Maj. Gen. William Cooley, Air Force Research Laboratory commander. "We will focus first on transformational capabilities and then identify how technology fuels them."
The initiative will call for capability ideas that advance the basic tenets of the Air Force Science and Technology 2030 strategy.
The Air Force asks that ideas promote one of the following: global persistent awareness; resilient information sharing; rapid and effective decision making; complexity, unpredictability and mass; and speed and reach of disruption and lethality.
The initiative brings together Air Force Acquisition Executive, Air Force Warfighter Integration Capability and the Air Force Research Laboratory. It also encourages collaboration between academic organizations, government and private industry.
"This is a shift in the way we do business," Sakulich said. "The Air Force is open to all avenues and we're letting the unlimited national market show us where the best ideas are."
The submissions deadline is Nov. 11, and funding invitations will go out by March 2020.
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