A sensor built to track tiny insects might also detect hostile drones. Software that coordinates uncrewed aircraft might help satellites work together. For commercial UAS companies, these types of dual-use opportunities may be just the key to funding and growth.
At Q Station, we encourage companies to explore dual-use applications, those that serve both commercial customers and government missions, as part of their growth strategy. Government funding can help advance their technology while opening another market for the business. So, a company developing a capability for agriculture or infrastructure inspection may already be working on part of a solution that a defense or space customer needs.
Through our Partnership Intermediary Agreement with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), we help connect commercial innovation with government mission needs. As a U.S. Space Force accelerator, we also help companies examine how their capabilities could apply in space.
That dual-use opportunity shaped the panel I led at the 20th annual UAS Summit in North Dakota. The panelists’ experiences showed how founders can identify a government application, find support to develop it and build toward commercial growth. Understanding the mission is essential to making that strategy work.
Finding A Government Application For Commercial Technology
Kytyra’s move from agriculture into counter-UAS shows how a commercial capability can lead to a defense opportunity. Founder and CEO Sonia Dagan’s sensor technology is capable of identifying and tracking insects as small as two millimeters. A conversation with someone from the defense community raised another possibility: could it distinguish an insect from an insect-sized drone?
Dagan assembled enough funding to test the idea in the laboratory and saw potential. Finding a receptive defense customer proved more difficult. Early conversations brought skepticism about the need for another counter-UAS sensor, but as the war in Ukraine made drone threats more visible, the response changed. “Now you’re not telling them what the problem could be, but they get it,” she said.
Even with growing interest, Dagan needed people who could evaluate the technology against military requirements and help her navigate the market. The Army’s xTech competition provided a connection. She credited winning with being paired with an Army champion who helped the company chart its path. “I didn’t really have anyone on the inside that could tell me where to go and which door to knock on,” she said.
The opportunity began with technology developed for a commercial purpose. Recognizing a defense application gave Kytyra another direction to explore, with its own customers and development requirements. For other commercial companies, the question is where their existing capabilities could address a government need and what additional work would make those capabilities useful to that customer.
Connecting Mission Needs With Funding
Luis Cordova, Q Station Chief Technology Officer, described three conditions that need to come together:
- a government customer with a problem the company can solve
- funding to address it and
- a mechanism that connects the solution to that funding
A champion inside the organization can help a company understand how those pieces fit. For a commercial company seeking government support for dual-use development, technical relevance gives that relationship substance.
Dr. Amin Maghareh, technical advisor for space and autonomy at Verus Research, described productive government engagement as a conversation about the customer’s problem and the technology’s ability to address it. “My understanding of a government champion is someone who can see the technology that you’re developing as a potential solution” to a problem they must solve, he said.
Companies also need to be administratively ready. For businesses seeking to bid directly on federal contracts or apply directly for federal assistance, that includes completing an entity registration in SAM.gov and obtaining a Unique Entity ID. Individual opportunities have additional eligibility requirements that companies should review early. “The two first things,” Cordova said, are to “find friends that can help you navigate the ecosystem and be eligible.”
Organizations such as Q Station and APEX Accelerators can help companies prepare. Q Station helps businesses identify potential dual-use applications and connect with government and industry expertise. APEX Accelerators can assist with government contracting preparation. That guidance helps companies pursue opportunities where government-funded development could advance their technology and establish a path into a new market.
Advancing Technology Toward Commercial Markets
Funding is one way government engagement can support a dual-use business. Research partnerships and testing opportunities can also help a company develop its technology and demonstrate performance. Those advances may strengthen its offering to commercial customers as well as government users.
For Bandelier Technologies, a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with Los Alamos National Laboratory was a pivotal step. Cofounder and head of growth Josh Heebner described how the collaboration supported the company’s quantum technology work and its progress toward commercial applications, including a planned utility pilot in Taos, New Mexico. Access to researchers, commercialization connections and talent helped the young company grow. “They’re really good at breakthroughs and discovering things,” he said of the laboratory, “but it takes industry to take it out and get it to a commercial client.”
Heebner’s experience also showed why companies need to plan for the time between a promising opportunity and a funding decision. At the time of the discussion, Bandelier had multiple submissions pending and venture backing that helped it continue operating while it waited.
A dual-use strategy needs to account for those timelines. Companies should consider how government-supported work contributes to their broader technology development and which improvements could benefit commercial customers. They also need to plan for operating costs while decisions are pending. The strongest opportunity has a clear role in the company’s growth, with a government need that justifies the work.
Space As A Dual Use Opportunity
Space is a major dual-use opportunity for commercial UAS companies. The autonomy, sensing and communications capabilities developed for aircraft have relevance to missions beyond Earth. The national security stakes are substantial. The United States relies on space systems for secure communications, navigation and missile warning. Protecting those systems and sustaining their operation creates a compelling reason to connect commercial innovation with defense needs.
Maghareh’s work at Verus Research includes mission-planning software for multi-agent satellite systems. Drones inspecting infrastructure and satellites coordinating tasks operate in different environments, but they share underlying problems involving perception, information exchange and coordinated decisions. “The math, the science behind that is the same thing,” he said.
He also described using quadcopters in laboratory environments to evaluate capabilities relevant to space autonomy, allowing researchers to test algorithms before an opportunity to fly them in space.
Heebner described a similar shift in perspective after conversations with Q Station prompted Bandelier to explore potential space applications for its neuromorphic sensing work. Its Mantis counter-UAS project provided a starting point for satellite-related discussions.
Customer discovery helps companies identify where those capabilities fit. Cordova emphasized understanding the mission before approaching government personnel and maintaining relationships as people rotate into new assignments. His mantra is, “Customer discovery, customer discovery, customer discovery.”
Maghareh agreed and stressed listening closely enough to translate a customer’s challenge into a technical problem. That understanding gives companies a basis for pursuing a new application.
Q Station recently launched the UASpace Challenge to help UAS and counter-UAS companies identify where their technologies could meet AFRL and U.S. Space Force mission needs. It is one example of the programming available to help commercial companies explore dual-use applications and prepare to pursue government opportunities.
For commercial companies, the case for dual use remains strong. Government mission needs can create opportunities to fund technology development and reach new customers. Pursuing the right fit can build a stronger business while delivering capabilities that strengthen national defense and security.
Q Station is an innovation hub connecting government, industry, academia and entrepreneurs to advance space and defense technologies based in New Mexico. An AFRL partnership intermediary and U.S. Space Force accelerator, Q Station supports technology scouting, business acceleration, workforce development and strategic partnerships, helping companies commercialize technologies and navigate government markets while connecting military partners with emerging mission solutions.