A $26M partnership between Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) and local Shreveport technology powerhouse Outerlink Global Solutions officially launched this August with the announcement of a four-year Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) contract award. This is the first STRATFI contract ever designated to AFGSC, which marks a pivotal step forward in the Command’s modernization efforts as featured in their strategic plan. Outerlink’s focus is integrating their cutting-edge communications equipment, called IRIS (Iridium Certus), to the B-52 Stratofortress, bringing much needed capabilities updates to the bomber.
Outerlink’s contract award comes on the heels of a demonstrative flight test in June of ‘22, where B-52 crews at Barksdale Air Force Base successfully fielded IRIS’s beyond line of sight (BLOS) communication capabilities. The new tech decreased transmission times by significant orders of magnitude, added new capabilities with video file transmission, and enabled instantaneous push-to-talk radio comms over the entire globe. It’s evident that IRIS may be part of a greater Air Force mindset to shift from solely maintaining the B52’s legacy platforms and implementing modern capabilities. Now after a two-year product testing journey, Outerlink is rising to the next level of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and may begin equipping the IRIS system with dedicated support from AFGSC. The STRATFI contract award is a high tier of the SBIR, program supported by AFWERX. It's designed to build relationships between small US businesses and the military by providing the necessary time and funding to adapt and field commercial technology on government platforms. SBIR grants have enabled thousands of small business innovators to successfully test and deliver solutions to the Air Force.
Vice president and managing director of Outerlink, Don Rucker, is thrilled to take this next step with the Command. “There was this initiative to incorporate small, nimble, creative companies into the supply chain,” he recounts, “For me, it's the opportunity for some fresh innovation that's specific to the Air Force that’s so great. I know when we get these building blocks into warfighter’s hands, there's going to be some exciting things that we get to do together. I like to create, I like to move forward, and this is a special opportunity.”