AF TENCAP

The Air Force Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities (AF TENCAP) program is designed to enhance warfighter effectiveness by integrating national capabilities into military operations, training, and intelligence activities. It focuses on exploiting existing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities across air, space, and cyber domains. By rapidly prototyping and demonstrating new capabilities, AF TENCAP facilitates the transition of projects to operational use by warfighters or national intelligence agencies. This initiative also influences the design and operation of current and future systems while providing situational awareness to both warfighters and intelligence organizations.

A key objective of AF TENCAP is the development of Exploitation Applications that deliver rapid, cost-effective solutions for ISR requirements. These applications support areas such as battlespace awareness, command and control, space operations, special operations forces, and advanced capabilities. The program focuses on increasing air domain awareness and enhancing command and control capabilities to meet the needs of the Air Force and joint warfighters. By prioritizing resources based on mission areas, AF TENCAP ensures that emerging warfighter needs are addressed promptly.

Another significant goal within AF TENCAP is the Moving Target Engagement (MTE) initiative. This initiative supports the Department of the Air Force's operational imperative to engage moving targets at scale in contested environments. The MTE portfolio includes efforts in data acquisition and conditioning of signals of interest (SOIs), enhancing data processing capabilities through supporting technologies, and defining infrastructure enhancements for MTE activities. These efforts aim to optimize data flows for actionable intelligence delivery to warfighters in time-sensitive scenarios.

AF TENCAP employs a disciplined systems engineering approach with an incremental acquisition strategy for project execution. Projects are selected based on identified needs from various Department of Defense entities and executed through single-award contracts or existing agreements with other agencies. The program emphasizes competitive procedures for contract awards whenever possible. Once successfully demonstrated by AF TENCAP, developed capabilities are transitioned to sponsoring government organizations responsible for acquisition, deployment, logistics, sustainment, and further development.