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APFIT's Fiscal 2027 Cohort Will Reward Products That Get Cheaper at Scale
Most DOW innovation programs fund research. Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) funds production, and its next round has a stated preference: systems that can be built cheaply and in volume.
What the CTO said
Emil Michael, the department's chief technology officer, told DefenseScoop that the next cohort will look for products that "can be made cheaply at scale." He tied that to current conflicts and the Pacific: "With what we're seeing in Ukraine and Russia, what we're seeing in Iran, and what we're expecting in the Pacific, unmanned, autonomous, AI-driven systems are really important." He did not give a date for the first fiscal 2027 cohort. (Update, 31 October 2026: APFIT's program page reports that the FY27-1 selection cycle has been in final selection since 20 October 2026.)
How APFIT works
- Purpose: deliver production-ready equipment to the force years ahead of normal acquisition timelines through direct procurement funding. The program started in 2022 to bridge the gap where successful R&D fails to win production funding (DefenseScoop).
- Eligibility: small businesses and nontraditional defense contractors.
- Track record: over $2 billion awarded to more than 100 small businesses, according to Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.).
- Selection: each command and component ranks the submissions, and the department adjudicates (DefenseScoop).
Michael pointed to the Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drone from SpektreWorks, recently used against Iran in Operation Epic Fury and produced for far less than many legacy missiles, per the same report.
The funding risk
Congress remains deadlocked over the department's budget, and APFIT's money for fiscal 2027 and beyond is not settled. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), who chairs the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, put it this way, per DefenseScoop: "Things that succeed, we tend to find money for."
What to prepare
APFIT is built for a company that already has a finished product and a believable plan to produce it. UDC recommends a production plan that shows unit cost falling as quantity rises, and evidence that a specific command or component wants the product, since those organizations rank the submissions.
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First published in Closing Rate on July 22, 2026. Read the original.
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