SSBN Security Technology | N00014 15 R BA12

Opportunity Information: Apply for N00014 15 R BA12

The SSBN Security Technology grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number N00014-15-R-BA12) is a discretionary research grant run by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), in coordination with the Undersea Influence, Counter-USW Branch (N974B) under the Chief of Naval Operations Undersea Warfare Division (N97). Its central goal is to solicit science- and physics-based ideas that improve the Navy's understanding of how submarines, especially ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), could be detected and therefore how their security and survivability might be affected now and in the future. In practical terms, ONR is looking for research that identifies, explains, and ultimately helps counter or mitigate detection pathways that adversaries could use to find or track submarines.

The program is broadly interested in signal detection technologies and the underlying phenomenology that makes detection possible. Proposals can focus on passive detection (sensing emissions or signatures without transmitting energy into the environment) as well as active detection (systems that transmit energy and analyze returns). A key feature of this opportunity is the explicit interest in multiple time horizons: near-term concepts that could have relevance within 0 to 5 years, mid-term approaches with 5 to 10 year implications, and far-term research that might matter in 10 to 20 years. That framing signals that ONR is open to both relatively mature technical concepts and earlier-stage foundational work, as long as it is tied to plausible detection mechanisms and can inform future submarine security decisions.

Within the SSBN Security Technology Program (SSTP), ONR emphasizes improving understanding of how submarine-related signals are generated, how they radiate from the platform, how they propagate through the environment, how they scatter or interact with boundaries and materials, and how they may ultimately be detected. The solicitation highlights a wide spectrum of signal modalities, including acoustic, chemical, optical, electromagnetic, hydrodynamic, and radiological signatures. This means the opportunity is not limited to traditional sonar acoustics; it also spans areas like trace chemical or particulate signatures, optical phenomena in the ocean environment, electromagnetic emissions or perturbations, wake and flow-related effects, and any radiological aspects that could contribute to detectability. In many cases, the most valuable work may connect physics-based modeling, environmental characterization, sensor concepts, and detection theory into a coherent picture of what is observable and under what operational or oceanographic conditions.

ONR also signals that it is seeking performers capable of advanced science and technology research and of supporting demonstrations of capability aligned to the announcement's goals. That implies interest in teams that can do more than paper studies: groups that can combine theory, simulation, laboratory work, and where appropriate field-relevant experimentation or prototyping to validate key effects and show measurable progress toward detection-relevant insights. While the notice does not specify an award ceiling or the number of expected awards, it lists eligible applicants as unrestricted, indicating a wide range of potential proposers could participate (subject to standard federal and naval research requirements).

Administrative details in the source indicate the opportunity falls under the Science and Technology and other Research and Development activity category, with CFDA number 12.300, and uses the grant instrument type. The original closing date listed is October 16, 2017, and the creation date is October 1, 2015, which places it in a past funding cycle; however, the technical scope described captures the kinds of research themes ONR has used to understand and anticipate evolving undersea detection threats and the resulting implications for SSBN security.

• The Office of Naval Research in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "SSBN Security Technology" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.300.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2015-10-01.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-10-16. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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