By Josh Fultz, EVP of Mission Services & Innovation
When the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Program goes quiet, warfighters in the most demanding mission areas lose a critical pathway that carries their needs into rapid, workable solutions.
Modernization in defense is not only about creating better technology. It is about delivering the right capability to the right people at the right moment, grounded in operational insight and tested in realistic conditions. Getting capability to the field quickly protects lives and preserves the advantage over adversaries who adapt with precision and intent.
One of the most effective mechanisms for identifying early operational needs, the SBIR/STTR Program, is currently inactive. Its absence highlights a central truth:
- The greatest risk to defense innovation is not a shortage of technology. It is the absence of the warfighter’s voice in shaping it.
Operators in specialized fields such as electronic warfare, cyber operations, spectrum dominance, and sensitive intelligence roles often do not see their needs reflected in major acquisition programs. Their challenges are too specific, too time sensitive, or too operationally nuanced to survive long requirements cycles.
The SBIR/STTR Program is one of the few pathways that elevates these insights. It converts frontline observations into funded prototypes, enables early experimentation, and ensures emerging solutions are shaped by the people who rely on them. When the program is inactive, many of these insights never reach development, and capability gaps remain unaddressed.
For organizations like Knowmadics, which works directly with operators through training and mission-focused exercises, the loss is tangible. When this early-stage channel goes quiet, innovation continues, but it becomes less connected to the realities of the mission.
How Warfighters’ Needs Become Overlooked
The SBIR/STTR Program’s unique value is its ability to surface needs that do not fit neatly into traditional acquisition structures. These include operators who:
- work in the electromagnetic spectrum against opponents who shift tactics rapidly
• manage signals and spectrum tasks requiring precise timing and coordination
• defend critical networks in cyber roles where commercial tools fall short
• conduct multi-domain operations that demand specialized, scenario-driven solutions
• serve in small units whose requirements rarely reach program offices
In these environments, delays in capability development translate directly into operational vulnerability. When a gap appears, it must be addressed while the need is current. The SBIR/STTR Program has been the mechanism that makes this possible.
Knowmadics: Turning Operational Insight Into Capability
At Knowmadics, linking operational feedback to technical development is the core of our work. Our training and exercise programs, led by former special operations personnel and conducted with current operators, expose real capability gaps as they emerge.
These scenarios reflect today’s joint and multi-domain environments, combining electronic warfare, cyber effects, and spectrum operations. They prepare warfighters to operate confidently in contested conditions and give us clear insight into the requirements that matter most.
From this foundation, we follow a consistent process:
- Operators identify practical gaps during training.
- Our teams develop prototypes that address those gaps.
- Operators test these prototypes in realistic mission conditions.
- We refine solutions based on direct feedback.
- Capabilities mature through repeated engagement with users.
This cycle supports rapid adaptation in fields where slow improvement increases risk on the battlefield.
Knowmadics has succeeded across all three phases of the SBIR/STTR Program with topics spanning electronic warfare, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality, supporting multiple government agencies. These projects produce defense-focused R&D that directly strengthens national security.
While the SBIR/STTR Program fuels the earliest stages of innovation, it is not our only mechanism. We also leverage Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs) and similar tools that enable agile prototyping once a concept has taken shape.
OTAs accelerate development and transition. The SBIR/STTR Program identifies the problems worth solving and gives small businesses a protected pathway to pursue them.
Why SBIR/STTR Data Rights and Sole-Source Pathways Matter
The SBIR/STTR Program offers protected data rights and sole-source Phase II and Phase III pathways that small companies rely on to develop and advance capabilities for specialized mission needs. These protections allow early innovations to mature without being displaced by larger contractors, which is essential when the technology serves high-impact warfighter requirements that rarely attract commercial investment. This structure preserves a pipeline where niche operational needs can grow into fielded solutions.
The program also includes transition-focused funding tools such as the Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) and the Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) programs, which help move promising prototypes into operational use. These awards are especially valuable for advancing niche warfighter capabilities and complement SBIR/STTR data rights and sole-source authorities.
If Speed Is the Goal, Stability Must Be the Foundation
Defense leaders consistently call for greater speed, but speed is impossible without a stable system that captures and elevates warfighter needs. The SBIR/STTR Program does not need to be flawless, but it must be dependable.
When the program is inactive, early insights fade, niche gaps remain unaddressed, prototypes stall, innovators divert focus, adversaries gain time, and warfighters lose influence over the capabilities designed to support them.
Modernization requires more than intent. It requires reliable pathways that preserve warfighter insight and allow innovation to move at mission speed. Restoring and stabilizing the SBIR/STTR Program is not simply a funding decision. It is a commitment to ensuring the people closest to the mission retain a voice in shaping the tools they rely on.
If defense leaders expect innovation to move with urgency, Congress must ensure that early-stage pathways like the SBIR/STTR Program remain steady enough for operational insights to reach development before the need has passed.
About the Author:
Josh Fultz, Executive Vice President, Knowmadics, and former U.S. Special Operations leader, brings more than two decades of military and technology experience to driving strategic growth and innovation, with expertise spanning secure mobility, ISR, electronic warfare, and advanced mission-enabling systems.
