Raft to Create New Development Pipelines for Air Force

Raft, a digital consulting firm, will create automated software development and hardware-in-the-loop pipelines for the Air Force.

Work will be done under two Air Force Small Business Innovation Research direct-to-Phase II contracts as part of the AFWERX program, Raft said Monday.

AFWERX is an initiative aimed at fostering innovation within the Air Force technology community. The program provides small amounts of funding to startup projects while lowering the barrier to entry for entrepreneurs.

Shubhi Mishra, founder and CEO of Raft, said the new pipelines will make the Air Force’s existing infrastructure and resources more operationally flexible.

Raft added that it will take advantage of its capabilities in data streaming and digital twinning, which is the concept of creating real-time digital counterparts of real-world objects.

In February, the Air Force launched a research effort to develop digital twin technology to more quickly and cost-effectively fix or upgrade future capabilities.

Digital twins are commonly used in modern digital engineering, which is a development method championed by former Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper.

Roper, a past Potomac Officers Club event speaker and a three-time Wash100 awardee, previously said that the digital engineering would allow the Air Force to retire old systems through the rapid development of new capabilities in smaller batches.

The Air Force used digital engineering to develop a new fighter jet as part of the Next-Generation Air Dominance program, as well as the T-71 Red Hawk jet fighter trainer and the Ground-Based Strategy Deterrent system.

Raft Chief Technology Officer Bhaarat Sharma said the company was invited to showcase its ideas during the Air Force’s Digital Engineering pitch day. 

“We look forward to working with our stakeholders to bring Dr. Ropers’ vision of the digital trinity to reality,” Sharma added.