CG-RAPTOR - COASTAL SENTINEL INDUSTRY DAY

NOTE:

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is conducting market research to gather industry input regarding relevant technologies that could strengthen the Coastal Sentinel capability portfolio.  This RFI does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Invitation for Bid (IFB), or Request for Quotation (RFQ), and it is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to enter a contract, nor will the Government pay for the information submitted in response to this request. All information contained in this RFI is preliminary and is subject to change if, and when, a solicitation is issued. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the U.S. Government to form a binding contract, and unsolicited proposals will not be accepted. It is the responsibility of the interested parties to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this RFI, or future solicitations.

1. Purpose

The United States Coast Guard Office of Rapid Response and Prototyping (CG-RAPTOR) invites industry to submit information on mature, operationally relevant technologies that could strengthen the Coastal Sentinel capability portfolio. Based on the responses, the Coast Guard intends to down-select to no more than ten companies to participate in an invitation-only Coastal Sentinel Industry Day the afternoon of 29 September 2026 in San Diego, California. The Government may select fewer than ten companies at its discretion.

The objective is to identify technologies that can be evaluated rapidly with operators, integrated with existing or emerging maritime data and command-and-control workflows, and transitioned at a pace consistent with urgent operational needs.

A response may address one technology area or an integrated solution spanning multiple areas. The Government is especially interested in solutions that are already demonstrated in relevant environments, can show measurable operational value, and can be presented or demonstrated on the event date without significant Government-funded development.

2. Background

CG-RAPTOR is the Coast Guard's Office of Rapid Response and Prototyping. It brings operators, industry, and Government stakeholders together to test proven innovative concepts, evaluate real-world effectiveness, and close urgent operational gaps through rapid learning and prototyping.

Coastal Sentinel is the Coast Guard's next-generation maritime surveillance, command-and-control, and communications capability. It is intended to help operators sense maritime activity, make sense of diverse data, and act through a data-rich common operating picture. This RFI focuses on technologies that can improve the quality, persistence, integration, and operational usefulness of maritime sensing and analytics.

3. Industry Day Overview

3.1 Date and Location

Date: Tuesday, 29 September 2026. Location: San Diego, California. The exact venue, access procedures, parking information, and any facility restrictions will be provided to invited participants. The venue is anticipated to be at a site near Imperial Beach, CA. Attendance will be limited and controlled by the Government.

3.2 Planned Format

Afternoon

Demonstrations, technical presentations, and operator exchanges by the companies selected through this RFI. Each selected company will receive a scheduled slot; exact duration and set-up instructions will be provided in the invitation. Vendors should expect an approximately 30-minute time slot.

Event Close

Government observations, next steps, and administrative wrap-up. Participation does not imply endorsement, qualification, or a commitment to acquire the demonstrated technology.

The event is expected to be unclassified. The Government will not accept classified information, Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), or export-controlled technical data in response to this notice. Additional handling restrictions for the event will be provided to selected participants.

4. Technology Areas of Interest

The Coast Guard seeks mature technologies in the following four areas. The examples are illustrative and are not intended to exclude other approaches that directly address the stated operational objective.

4.1 Mature Integration with the Team Awareness Kit Ecosystem

Technologies should demonstrate functioning, mature integration with the Team Awareness Kit (TAK) ecosystem rather than an integration roadmap alone. Relevant integrations may include ATAK, WinTAK, TAK Server, Cursor-on-Target data exchange, TAK plugins, or other applicable TAK components and services. Responses should describe the integration that exists today, the environment in which it has been tested or deployed, and the operational functions enabled.

• Bidirectional exchange of tracks, detections, alerts, imagery, tasking, or other mission data, as applicable.
• Demonstrated interoperability with relevant TAK clients, servers, plugins, application programming interfaces, and data standards.
• Operation in disconnected, intermittent, limited-bandwidth, or degraded-network conditions.
• Identity, access control, data-sharing, federation, audit, and cybersecurity features appropriate to operational use.
• Evidence of operational deployment, user testing, integration testing, or repeatable laboratory demonstration.

4.2 Improved Maritime Tracks and Detections

Technologies should improve the quality and operational usefulness of maritime tracks and detections beyond basic position reporting. Areas of interest include:

• Multi-source track correlation;
• Sensor fusion;
• Confidence scoring;
• Identity resolution;
• Track history and behavior;
• Kinematic analysis;
• Anomaly detection;
• Sensor provenance;
• Alert generation; and
• Data enrichment for operational decision-making.

4.3 Alternatives or Complements to Traditional Long-Range Electro-Optical/Infrared Sensing

The Government is interested in technologies that expand maritime awareness, persistence, or coverage while reducing cost, manpower, or operational burden. Areas of interest include:

• High-altitude balloons;
• Uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) deployed from or integrated with uncrewed surface vessels (USVs);
• Maritime buoys;
• Distributed sensing architectures;
• Lower-cost wide-area sensing approaches;
• Persistent or semi-persistent maritime coverage; and
• Systems that increase coverage while reducing cost or operational burden.

4.4 Mature Full-Motion Video and Computer Vision for Maritime Operations

Technologies should apply mature full-motion video (FMV), computer vision, or related machine-learning models to maritime operational needs. Areas of interest include:

• Maritime object detection;
• Vessel classification;
• Activity recognition;
• Pattern-of-life analysis;
• Anomaly detection;
• Automated cueing;
• AI-assisted watch standing;
• Model outputs integrated into the common operating picture;
• Confidence scoring; and
• Operator feedback loops for validation, correction, and model improvement.

5. Desired Maturity and Cross-Cutting Attributes

The Coast Guard is seeking demonstration-ready capabilities, not basic research or marketing-only concepts. Respondents should state the Technology Readiness Level (TRL), commercial maturity, or equivalent evidence of readiness. Preference may be given to technologies that have been tested in a relevant environment, have current users or customers, or can provide repeatable performance evidence.

Across all technology areas, the Government values the following attributes:

• Clear operational utility and a measurable improvement over current practice;
• Modular architecture, documented interfaces, and practical integration pathways;
• Operation at the edge and under constrained communications conditions;
• Transparent confidence measures, data provenance, explainability, and operator control;
• Cybersecurity, identity, access-control, logging, and data-governance features appropriate to the intended environment;
• Human-centered design that reduces workload and supports rapid operator comprehension;
• Scalability, affordability, maintainability, and reduced training or sustainment burden; and
• A credible path to rapid operator evaluation and, if warranted through a separate action, transition or procurement.

6.  RFI Response Instructions

See the attached (CG-RAPTOR_Coastal_Sentinel_Industry_Day_RFI) for repsonse package instructions, down-select information and other important instructions/information that is required for responding to this RFI.