Tidal Flight, Inc. announces it has been selected by AFWERX for a SBIR Direct to Phase II (D2P2) contract in the amount of $1.25M focused on developing the iron bird for the Polaris hybrid-electric amphibious aircraft to address the most pressing challenges in the Department of the Air Force (DAF). The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and eliminating bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution. The DAF began offering the Open Topic SBIR/STTR program in 2018 which expanded the range of innovations the DAF funded and now on August 25, 2025, Tidal Flight will start its journey to create and provide innovative capabilities that will strengthen the national defense of the United States of America.

“We are proud to bring modern aircraft technology to the warfighter with a platform that is uniquely suited to the Pacific. By operating from water, Polaris can deliver low-signature runway independence as a simple, fixed-wing aircraft with a small logistics footprint that is easy to maintain and sustain in forward environments,” said Jude Augustine, Co-Founder & CEO of Tidal Flight. “The development work under this award is a strong example of dual-use technology leveraging collaboration between defense and commercial stakeholders to accelerate delivering new capability to both industry and the warfighter.”