The U.S. Air Force has awarded a contract to advance AI airfield FOD detection — tapping a defense firm that refined its computer-vision technology identifying landmines in active conflict zones.
Safe Pro Group Inc. (Nasdaq: SPAI) announced July 13 that AFWERX — the Air Force’s innovation directorate — awarded it a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to develop the dataset. No contract value was disclosed.
Pentagon’s Innovation Pipeline Reaches the Runway
AFWERX sits within the Air Force Research Laboratory and manages the service’s SBIR program — a federal mechanism that funds early-stage R&D at small businesses and accelerates dual-use technology into uniform. Phase I awards support feasibility work up to $200,000; Phase II awards can reach $2 million. Safe Pro has not specified which phase applies.
The contract tasks Safe Pro with building a labeled imagery library of FOD — tools, fasteners, loose materials, and other debris — captured across military and civilian airfield surfaces. Those images would then train computer-vision models to flag hazardous objects on runways, taxiways, and aprons.
From Minefields to the Flight Line
Safe Pro’s core platform, SPOTD (Safe Pro Object Threat Detection), identifies landmines and unexploded ordnance from drone imagery in conflict zones. The company says it has processed more than 2.75 million images in Ukraine — scale that maps to the demands of airfield FOD scanning. The underlying challenge is the same: spotting small, irregular objects against a cluttered background, fast.
Notably, the AFWERX award follows a separate U.S. Army invitation for Safe Pro to provide AI support during an upcoming airfield exercise, pointing to growing multi-service interest in the capability.
DoD’s Track Record on AI for FOD
AFWERX has backed AI-based runway monitoring before. The federal SBIR database shows a 2023 Phase II award of $1.25 million to Analytical AI Inc. for a camera-based FOD detection system at Ellsworth Air Force Base. That prior award reflects sustained Air Force investment in automating inspections that have historically relied on slow, manual visual sweeps by Airmen.
FOD incidents cost the global aviation industry an estimated $4 billion annually. For military airfields, the risk extends beyond safety to operational readiness: debris that damages a jet engine can ground a high-value aircraft for days.
What Remains Unconfirmed
Contract value, SBIR phase, and the specific Air Force program office behind the award have not been publicly disclosed. The announcement originated from a Safe Pro Group press release distributed July 13, 2026. FODNews has not received independent confirmation of contract terms from AFWERX or the Air Force Research Laboratory.
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