Special Program Announcement for Office of Naval Research Research Opportunity: FY27 Communications and Networking Applied Research

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is seeking proposals for research and development in the area of Communications and Networking. The goal of this program is to support the Navy's Information Warfare vision by developing measurable advances in technology that can directly enable and enhance end-to-end connectivity and quality-of-service for mission-critical information exchange among widely dispersed naval, joint, and coalition forces. The program is interested in white papers for potential FY27 Applied Research projects under the following focus areas: development of long-range VHF-band data link, novel design and prototyping of compact electronically-steered apertures, innovative approaches and technologies for low probability-of-detection communications, advanced techniques for distributed network control, and new algorithms for predicting network behavior. • The proposed topic will develop and mature Communications and Networking technologies for Naval operations. • The program is interested in white papers for potential FY27 Applied Research projects under the following focus areas: development of long-range VHF-band data link, novel design and prototyping of compact electronically-steered apertures, innovative approaches and technologies for low probability-of-detection communications, advanced techniques for distributed network control, and new algorithms for predicting network behavior. • The ONR plans to fund five to six individual awards with a value of $250,000 to $500,000 per year. • The period of performance for projects may be from one, two, or three years. • Funding decisions should be made by October 5, 2026. • Selected projects will have an estimated award date of April 15, 2027.