Navy SEALs fire at opposing forces from an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter during the Titans of the Sea Presidential Review seapower demonstration Oct. 5, 2025, in the Atlantic Ocean. (Trey Hutcheson/U.S. Navy)
Special Operations Command is asking American companies, researchers and nonprofit organizations to assist it in rapidly putting new tech into the hands of the U.S. military’s most elite forces.
The command responsible for training and employing the nation’s special operators said it was looking to “accelerate” a new effort aimed at fielding cutting-edge capabilities, especially those for use in maritime operations, in an April 24 industry solicitation posted to the SAM.gov government contracting website. SOCOM calls it the Advancing Naval Capabilities through Holistic Opportunities and Resources, or ANCHOR, Initiative.
The ANCHOR Initiative intends to “form a sphere of technological excellence … to rapidly and efficiently propose and carry out … the development of prototype solutions that sustain and expand strategic superiority within broadly stated special operations focus areas of interest,” according to the solicitation.
The program is being run by SOCOM’s Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics organization under a legal authority designed to allow the Defense Department to quickly develop and field prototypes outside of the constraints of the normal acquisitions process, which can take years to develop and field weapons, according to the solicitation.
SOCOM officials did not respond to requests for more information about the program or the rapid procurement process.
A Pentagon official said the military uses such provisions to quickly prototype and field weapons and gear that do not rise to the level of major defense programs, like manned aircraft, ships or armored vehicles. The SOCOM request outlines the needs defense officials have identified as critical to special operators’ success on their wide-ranging missions now and in the future, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The solicitation outlines six key areas in which SOCOM wants help from partners under the ANCHOR initiative.
First, SOCOM wants help in developing new unmanned and autonomous platforms, including aerial drones and surface and underwater maritime platforms. The command is especially interested in “capabilities that improve cross-domain coordination, reduce the logistical footprint of deployed forces, and deliver reliable data and effects in dynamic maritime conditions,” according to its solicitation.
SOCOM also wants help building new counter-drone capabilities, especially “technologies that detect, track, and neutralize unmanned threats — from individual platforms to coordinated swarms —within the constraints of maritime special operations.”
SOCOM wants to develop new command, control, communications, computer, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or C5ISR, platforms that enable “operators to sense, process, and act faster than the adversary.”
It also wants to bolster its “scalable effects” portfolio, which includes both lethal and non-lethal means to impact operations. The solicitation lists SOCOM as interested in “directed energy, electronic warfare, cyber-enabled effects, and precision engagement tools.”
SOCOM is also seeking help with human performance capabilities, including efforts to build “comprehensive physical conditioning programs” and “cognitive performance enhancement” plans.
Finally, the command is seeking help improving human-machine teaming capabilities, especially those that enable “intuitive control of unmanned systems through natural human interfaces” and those that provide “immersive training environments for high-risk scenarios,” including through augmented or virtual reality.
“This combination of natural system control and immersive training capabilities enhances tactical proficiency while optimizing the division of tasks between human judgment and machine processing power, ultimately improving mission effectiveness in the complex and demanding maritime special operations environment,” the solicitation reads.
SOCOM has given interested parties until June 1 to participate in the ANCHOR program, according to the solicitation.
