RFPs: Deep Blue Observer Maritime Domain Awareness Joint Challenge

Deadline: 24-Sep-2026

The Deep Blue Observer Maritime Domain Awareness Joint Challenge invites companies, startups, and academic institutions worldwide to propose innovative technologies that strengthen maritime security through advanced intelligence and data-fusion capabilities. The challenge focuses on developing solutions that can combine multiple maritime intelligence sources into a unified operating picture around Singapore waters, enabling near-real-time analysis and faster decision-making. The initiative is a collaboration between Singapore’s Ministry of Defence and the United States Department of War Innovation Unit. It seeks platform- and sensor-agnostic technologies that can improve the speed, accuracy, explainability, granularity, computational efficiency, and latency of maritime intelligence while supporting the detection and monitoring of vessels across different size categories. The Deep Blue Observer Maritime Domain Awareness Joint Challenge is designed to advance maritime domain awareness through commercial innovation and open-source maritime intelligence. The challenge seeks solutions that can improve existing maritime intelligence capabilities in areas such as: The objective is to develop capabilities that can provide a more comprehensive and timely understanding of activity around Singapore waters. The challenge is a collaborative initiative between: The initiative brings together government and commercial innovation capabilities to explore new approaches to maritime domain awareness. The challenge is looking for innovative solutions that can automate the integration and analysis of multiple intelligence sources.

These include:

The proposed technology should combine these sources into a unified operating picture that can support maritime security and operational decision-making. Proposed solutions should be designed to operate across different platforms and sensors.

Important capabilities include:

The challenge emphasizes technologies capable of integrating diverse sources rather than relying on a single sensor or intelligence stream. The challenge specifically identifies several types of intelligence and information that solutions should be able to integrate. GEOINT can provide location-based information that helps create a broader understanding of maritime activity and vessel movements. Imagery can provide visual information for identifying and analyzing vessels and maritime activity. AIS data can provide information about vessels and their movements, contributing to a wider maritime operating picture. SIGINT can contribute additional information about maritime activity and signals detected in the operating environment. Open-source information can complement other intelligence sources and provide additional context for maritime analysis. Solutions are expected to address several performance metrics. These metrics are important for determining whether a proposed solution can support rapid and reliable maritime decision-making. The challenge is open to organizations and researchers from around the world.

Eligible participants include:

Participants should have innovative ideas or technologies that address the published challenge statement. Maritime environments generate large amounts of information from different sensors, platforms, and data sources. Bringing these sources together quickly can help create a more complete understanding of maritime activity. The Deep Blue Observer challenge focuses on improving this process through automated intelligence fusion and advanced data analysis.

The initiative aims to support:

Organizations preparing a solution should consider how their technology can: The proposed solution should directly address the challenge statement and demonstrate how it improves existing maritime intelligence capabilities. Participants should clearly explain how their technology addresses the specific maritime domain awareness problem.

A strong submission should describe:

Participants should ensure that their proposal directly responds to the published challenge statement rather than presenting a general maritime technology concept.

Participants should keep the following points in mind

Participants should avoid

A strong challenge submission should:

It is an innovation challenge seeking advanced commercial and academic solutions to improve maritime domain awareness through multi-source intelligence integration and analysis. Companies, startups, and academic institutions from Singapore, the United States, and other countries worldwide can participate. The challenge seeks advanced intelligence solutions capable of automatically combining multiple maritime information sources into a unified operating picture. The challenge identifies GEOINT, imagery, AIS, SIGINT, and open-source maritime data as key intelligence sources. It means the proposed solution should not depend on a specific platform or sensor and should be capable of working across different systems and data sources. Yes. Solutions are expected to support near-real-time processing and transmission to enable rapid decision-making. Solutions should have the ability to detect adversarial vessels across various size categories. Key metrics include prediction accuracy, explainability, granularity, computational cost, and latency. Yes. The challenge is open to companies, startups, and academia globally, including participants outside Singapore and the United States. The Deep Blue Observer Maritime Domain Awareness Joint Challenge provides a global opportunity for companies, startups, and academic institutions to develop innovative approaches to maritime security and intelligence. By focusing on automated multi-INT fusion, near-real-time processing, platform- and sensor-agnostic technologies, and measurable intelligence performance, the challenge seeks solutions that can strengthen maritime situational awareness and support faster, more informed decision-making. For more information, visit Singapore Minis