AFWERX Energy Prime

Category	Opportunity
DoD Communities of Interest	Energy and Power Technologies
Subject	AFWERX Energy Prime
Due Date	8 April 2021
Government Organization	AFWERX
Description Welcome to AFWERX Prime, where the Department of the Air Force seeks successful industry and investor partnerships to identify key technology sectors that, if “primed,” could advance US national security and US economic prosperity. This is a win-win public-private alliance. Through AFWERX Prime, public and private industries can partner with the Department of the United States Air Force to advance innovation in the energy sector by participating in a market research campaign meant to inform how resources, technical support, access to testing facilities, regulatory support or other engagement can accelerate specific market segments. This initiative relies on source input from industry, investors, academia, and others like you with the purpose of validating a viable market and an interest for a public-private partnership. Ways To Engage Create a profile at prime.afwerx.com to participate in the market research, access materials, and connect with members of the energy industry ecosystem: Submit your response to the survey for market research for Next Generation Aviation Fuel and/or Ultra Efficient Aircraft by April 8th to contribute to the validation of a viable market and the potential for a public-private partnership in this sector. If a decision is made to “prime” this key sector, the ultimate benefits to you from your collaboration could be connections, possible funding, and other resources to accelerate your product/services/research in relation to Next Generation Aviation Fuel and/or Ultra Efficient Aircraft . We are now in the Market Research Phase for Energy Prime and five other areas of interest including autonomous systems, supersonic transport, space, digital engineering, and microelectronics. Market Research is open until Tuesday, April 8th and once all is received there will be an assessment against our 5C criteria to evaluate whether to proceed to the Request for Proposal Phase. The ultimate goal of Prime is to accelerate our future through partnerships that benefit both national security and economic benefit. To be considered to be a Prime, there must be: • Major strategic importance for the US DoD and US industrial sector. • An opportunity for the US government to provide financial and technical support and help remove barriers. • A contested market where acceleration is critical in the development of solutions. • Beneficial collaboration opportunities between industry, investors and government. Next Generation Aviation Fuel The scope of the next-generation aviation fuel campaign currently includes both the use of non-traditional fuels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as fuel conversion technology, which could create drop-in jet fuel from renewable feedstocks and current hydrocarbon feedstocks; with higher overall process efficiency, avoid energy-intensive intermediates and processing as key. Fuel conversion technology could be mobile and modular to provide additional flexibility. Rapid on-site conversion between fuel types and portable liquefaction are also capabilities of interest. Ultra Efficient Aircraft The scope of the ultra-efficient aircraft campaign targets aircraft configurations and/or propulsion systems that would be dual-use for the military and commercial sector. Significant utility overlap often exists between military and commercial aircraft. In 2013, RAND published a study titled “Reducing Long-Term Costs While Preserving a Robust Strategic Airlift Fleet.” In this study, one of the conclusions was that a “highly advanced conceptual-design aircraft” (specifically, a high-proportion composite blended wing body) is the most-cost effective option for new, large Air Force cargo aircraft. The life-cycle cost-savings of going that direction, when compared to buying another fleet of aircraft with design characteristics similar to those of the 20th century, was estimated by RAND to be $40 billion.
Website	https://prime.afwerx.com/