The Department of the Air Force’s Spark Tank program concludes its final year with the Top 5 ideas selected out of 350 total submissions. These ideas endured strict subject matter evaluation from 1,394 members casting nearly 26,000 votes, evaluation from command leadership, and final determination by a panel of innovation leaders.
Out of 350 total submissions from across the Air and Space Forces, the Spark Tank 2026 Top 5 are:
Automated Master Storage Plan (Air Combat Command) – Leverages artificial intelligence to plan warehouse layouts for munitions, enabling weeks of planning to be executed in minutes.
M-UAS-D, MANET-enabled UAS Detector (Air Combat Command) – Low-cost for large scale deployment, a counter sUAS to detect drones, share real-time range data to users and response teams.
Project CAPYBARA (Air Mobility Command) – A set of tutorials and parts lists provided to any organization to build custom rovers for any capability needed in the field, replacing costly TDYs and certification programs.
Secure STIG Checker (Air Force Special Operations Command) – Replaces Enterprise Network manual compliance checks with a tool capable of analyzing millions of lines of code in under 500 seconds.
Tac-Hub: Agile Communications for the Modern Mission (Air Force Global Strike Command) – Modular command and control suite to enable rapid deployment; designed for military and emergency response teams.
Spark Tank is the Department of the Air Force’s premier campaign where Guardians and Airmen present their innovative solutions to top leaders and industry experts, seeking sponsorship to bring their concepts to life.
The Top 5 teams will now accelerate prototypes and forge strategic partnerships with the help of AFWERX Refinery and DAF Enterprise Innovation support.
A panel of judges also reviewed the following semi-finalist submissions, which will be migrated for support and progression:
Aerial Minefield (Air Combat Command) – Low cost solution to create dense clouds of aerial obstacles to defend against and disable low-cost adversarial drones.
Agile Cyber Training Environment: Portable Cyber Ops Center (Air Combat Command) – Portable, battery-powered, network-independent center globally deployable by a single person in less than a minute for agile cyber operations.
Contingency Remote Optical Charging Spacecraft (Space Systems Group) – Charges dead spacecraft with ground lasers to prevent abandoned spacecraft and lost satellites due to loss of power.
Energy Resilience Command Platform (Air Force Reserve Command) – Dashboard unifying all base energy, power, water, heating, and mission critical data into a real time “Base Resilience Percentage”, indicating operational sustainment during disruptions.
Flight Room 3D Models (Air Education and Training Command) – Standardizes and institutionalizes 3D printed models of pilot curriculum items.
Project HOPLITE (Air Force Special Operations Command) – Integrates key components from Land Phalanx Weapon System, tactical truck, or FMTV load handling system to create a flexible and rapidly deployable air defense solution, transportable by C-130.
(ReSearch) an Advanced Search Engine for EPubs (Air Force Material Command) – Integrates Advana’s advanced search engine, natural language processing, and data analytics into the EPubs platform to allow Airmen to find exactly what they are looking for.
SpartReg 36-2903 Pictures of Dress Right vs. Wrong (Pacific Air Forces) – Digital interactive guide with side-by-side “correct vs. incorrect” examples, hyperlinks, and visual decision trees for dress and appearance standards.
Streamline 1205 Narrative Sync (Pacific Air Forces) – Standardize Air Force writing style by switching from character count format that matches EPB/ORB narrative standards.
The Sheppard Blueprint: A Proven Model for CONUS MTF Pharmacy Recapture (Air Education and Training Command) – Low-cost and highly replicable, a text message outreach and 24/7 prescription lockers to prevent lost cost in on-base pharmacies.
Vehicle Diagnostic System (Air National Guard) – Consolidates 5 tools and 7 software licenses into 1 tool for vehicle diagnostics.