HawkEye 360 Among Top Teams to Participate in AFWERX DoD Commercial Space Partnerships Challenge and EngageSpace

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Sep 23, 2020, 08:00 ET

HERNDON, Va., Sept. 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- AFWERX, the catalyst for fostering innovation within the U.S. Air Force, announced HawkEye 360 as one of the 178 top participating teams selected from The AFWERX Space Challenge initiative to exhibit at EngageSpace, a two-day virtual event on September 29-30.

The AFWERX Space Challenge initiative is made up of four challenges targeted at creating integrated space operations leveraging the best in technology while maintaining security, being resilient and increasing agility. Four challenges were run concurrently focused on separate topics – Persistent ISR, DoD Commercial Space Partnerships, Global Space Transport and Delivery and Space Asset Resiliency.

Located in Herndon, Virginia, HawkEye 360 is competing in the DoD Commercial Space Partnerships Challenge alongside a diverse group of teams that represent entrepreneurial startups, small businesses, large enterprises, academic institutions and research labs.

"The solutions submitted for these space challenges represent the bleeding edge of space innovation," stated Brennan Townley, AFWERX Challenge Collaboration Lead. "We're excited to highlight these innovators and connect them with opportunities across the Space ecosystem."

The DoD Commercial Space Partnerships Challenge strives to identify cutting-edge commercial satellite technology and uncover new payload ideas, designs, and prototypes to expand the DoD's capabilities.

HawkEye 360's on-orbit satellite constellation is able to collect, store and transmit shared RF GEOINT to the US Air Force and its mission partners. This proven and cost effective ISR platform can augment and collaborate with existing overhead, airborne and terrestrial systems to provide a sharable stream of actionable data to the warfighter. HawkEye 360 plans to extend its existing signals library with new waveforms identified by the US Air Force that exploit systems of interest.

"HawkEye 360 is honored to have been selected by AFWERX to compete in the DoD Commercial Space Partnerships Challenge. We are ready to expand on our current work with the U.S. Air Force to provide a revolutionary commercial ISR platform in support of operations globally. The American commercial space industry has become a valued mission partner that is cost effective, innovative and agile, and HawkEye360 is at the forefront of exploiting the opportunities that space offers," said Rob Rainhart, COO, HawkEye 360.

The EngageSpace event will feature highly engaging opportunities to connect, educate and innovate with other like-minded attendees, industry leaders, individual innovators, academia, investors, as well as military and government leaders. The entire event is designed to transform and accelerate the industry and enable government buyers to pursue the most promising innovative solutions to the most pressing and threatening Space scenarios.

ABOUT HawkEye 360
HawkEye 360 is a Radio Frequency (RF) data analytics company. We operate a first-of-its-kind commercial satellite constellation to identify, process, and geolocate a broad set of RF signals. We extract value from this unique data through proprietary algorithms, fusing it with other sources to create powerful analytical products that solve hard challenges for our global customers. Our products include maritime domain awareness and spectrum mapping and monitoring; our customers include a wide range of commercial, government and international entities.

More information about HawkEye 360 can be found at www.he360.com.

ABOUT AFWERX
Established in 2017, AFWERX is a product of the U.S. Air Force, directly envisioned by former Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson. Her vision of AFWERX — to solve some of the toughest challenges that the Air Force faces through innovation and collaboration amongst our nation's top subject matter experts. AFWERX serves as a catalyst to unleash new approaches for the warfighter through a growing ecosystem of innovators. AFWERX and the U.S. Air Force are committed to exploring viable solutions and partnerships to further strengthen the Air Force, which could lead to additional prototyping, R&D, and follow-on production contracts.

Fast Company named AFWERX Best Workplaces for Innovators on the 2020 List, honoring the top 100 businesses and organizations that demonstrate a deep commitment to encouraging innovation at all levels. AFWERX, U.S. Air Force's innovation arm and catalyst for fostering innovation within the Air Force, came in at #16 ranking in the top 20 alongside brands such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. Preview the live announcement with Stephanie Mehta, Editor-in-Chief of Fast Company, unveiled during the AFWERX Fusion 2020 Base of the Future Event & Showcase.

SOURCE HawkEye 360