Insider Brief
- RISE Robotics awarded $3M AFWERX Tactical Funding Increase to refine and field its Beltdraulic SuperJammer Vehicle platform for operational testing, aiming to modernize the Air Force’s decades-old lift truck systems.
- Program falls under the DAF’s Open Topic SBIR/STTR initiative, designed to speed contracting, expand participation from small businesses, and streamline innovation delivery for defense applications.
- Project marks the start of RISE Robotics’ work with the Air Force to deliver advanced material handling capabilities that strengthen U.S. national defense.
PRESS RELEASE – RISE Robotics announces it has been selected by AFWERX for a Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) in the amount of $3M focused on refining and fielding the RISE Beltdraulic SuperJammer Vehicle platform for testing and demonstration in an operational environment. This development will address one of the more pressing challenges in the Department of the Air Force (DAF): modernizing a 60+ year old lift truck platform.
The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and eliminating bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution. The DAF began offering the Open Topic SBIR/STTR program in 2018 which expanded the range of innovations the DAF funded and now on 29 July, 2025, RISE Robotics will start its journey to create and provide innovative capabilities that will strengthen the national defense of the United States of America.
“The SuperJammer Vehicle is the result of years of collaborative work with Air Force stakeholders and a deep commitment to solving problems that directly affect mission success,” said Hiten Sonpal, CEO of RISE Robotics. “This award enables us to bring our Beltdraulic-powered munitions handling platform into real-world operational environments to validate its safety, precision, and reliability.”
