BARNSTORM RESEARCH CORP
Department of Defense · Contract
AI-Readiness Score
16/19
AI / ML Relevance
7/9
Problem Framing
5/5
Awardee Quality
4/5
Award
$1,804,932
Award amount
—
Award date
HR001120C0179
PIID
Awardee
1
Total awards
$1,804,932
Total $ won
16.0/19
Avg AI score
Description
THE NO MANNING REQUIRED, SHIP (NOMARS) PROGRAM WILL DESIGN, BUILD, AND FIELD TEST AN UNMANNED SURFACE SHIP THAT CAN OPERATE AUTONOMOUSLY FOR LONG DURATIONS AT SEA WITH NO HUMAN INTERVENTIONS OR UNDERWAY MAINTENANCE.
Score Rationale
Autonomous maritime operations inherently require perception, decision-making, and path planning AI/ML systems (obstacle avoidance, navigation, situational awareness), making this a genuine AI-native problem—but the award description emphasizes engineering/fielding over algorithmic innovation, placing it in the 'primary component' rather than 'core deliverable' tier. Problem framing is excellent: specific operational objective (long-duration autonomous ship), clear end-user need (no manning/maintenance), and measurable success criteria (autonomous operation at sea). Awardee quality is ambiguous—'Barnstorm Research Corp' lacks the legacy integrator naming pattern (no 'Systems,' 'Solutions,' 'Technologies') and suggests a smaller/modern firm, but without market intelligence on this company, we cannot confirm AI-native status vs. a specialized engineering contractor.