U.S. Special Operations launches push for next-gen maritime weapons

U.S. Special Operations Command published a broad industry solicitation on Friday, calling on companies, nonprofits, and research organizations to join a new technology development initiative aimed at pushing cutting-edge capabilities into the hands of special operations forces — with a particular focus on the maritime domain and the multi-domain fight that USSOCOM believes defines the next era of conflict.

The initiative, called the Advancing Naval Capabilities through Holistic Opportunities and Resources program — ANCHOR — is structured as a long-term partnership framework rather than a traditional contract competition. USSOCOM’s Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics directorate is running it, and the command is using Other Transaction Authority under 10 U.S.C. 4022 and 4023 to do so. That legal framework matters: OTA agreements bypass the Federal Acquisition Regulation entirely, allowing USSOCOM to move faster, negotiate more flexibly, and transition successful prototypes directly to production contracts without a new competition. For companies used to the glacial pace of standard defense procurement, an OTA-based vehicle like ANCHOR is a meaningfully different kind of relationship with the government. Responses are due June 1, 2026.

The six technology focus areas USSOCOM laid out in the solicitation amount to a detailed wish list for what the command thinks it needs to stay ahead of adversaries who are adapting quickly and fielding new capabilities at a pace that traditional acquisition cannot match. Unmanned systems top the list — maritime drones, autonomous surface vessels, underwater platforms — with an emphasis on persistence in contested environments, long-range surveillance, and reduced logistics burden for deployed forces. The command is equally focused on the counter side of that equation, seeking technologies that can detect, track, and neutralize hostile unmanned systems ranging from individual platforms to coordinated swarms, all within the size, weight, and power constraints of special operations units that cannot haul heavy equipment to the fight.

The C5ISR focus area — command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance — reflects the reality that information dominance has become as important as physical presence in special operations. USSOCOM is specifically calling for AI-enabled analytics that can fuse intelligence from multiple sources and push actionable awareness to operators in real time, edge connectivity that works in denied or degraded communications environments, and cyber-secure data networks that keep the command picture intact even when adversaries are actively trying to disrupt it. The vision is a force where every sensor feeds every shooter, and where the decision cycle runs faster than the adversary can respond.

Scalable effects — the fourth focus area — is where the solicitation gets particularly interesting for the defense industry. USSOCOM is not just looking for weapons. It wants tunable effects: capabilities that can be dialed from reversible disruption all the way to permanent disablement depending on the mission, the rules of engagement, and the political context. Directed energy, electronic warfare, cyber-enabled effects, and precision engagement tools that can be employed from distributed maritime platforms are all explicitly named. The emphasis on limiting collateral damage and managing attribution reflects the political realities of special operations — missions where what you do and how it looks can matter as much as whether it works.

The final two focus areas — human performance and human-machine teaming — address the people who use all of the technology above. On the human performance side, USSOCOM is looking for programs that push physical conditioning, cognitive resilience, and neurological health monitoring, all aimed at extending the operational careers of experienced operators whose institutional knowledge takes years to develop and cannot be quickly replaced. The human-machine teaming focus is about reducing the cognitive burden of controlling autonomous systems — voice commands, gesture recognition, natural interfaces that let an operator direct a drone without taking their attention off the tactical situation — combined with augmented and virtual reality training environments that let operators rehearse high-risk scenarios without the logistical cost and safety constraints of live exercises.

What ties all six focus areas together is USSOCOM’s stated intent to evolve toward a truly integrated multi-domain approach — synchronizing effects across maritime, air, land, cyber, and space simultaneously. The maritime environment is the explicit grounding for ANCHOR, but the command is clear that it wants capabilities that connect seamlessly across domains, enabling what it calls distributed, networked, and resilient force employment from competition through high-end conflict. That language describes a force designed to operate in the gray zone as comfortably as in open warfare, projecting effects from platforms and positions that adversaries cannot easily locate or target.

Companies interested in joining ANCHOR must demonstrate technical relevancy in the designated focus areas — marketing material alone will not be considered. A government team of subject matter experts evaluates submissions independently, and acceptance remains at USSOCOM’s sole discretion. Entities accepted into the initiative operate under a Participant Basic Agreement, and the OTA structure means that a successful prototype project can lead directly to a follow-on production contract without going back through a competitive process.

USSOCOM is not the only command searching for next-generation maritime and multi-domain capabilities, but it may be the one with the most operational urgency and the most flexible acquisition authority to act on what industry brings. The ANCHOR initiative is, at its core, a standing invitation to solve hard problems fast — and a signal that the command believes the problems it faces right now are hard enough that it cannot afford to wait for the normal system to catch up.

The response deadline is June 1.